James Massey v. State

CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 6, 1997
Docket03-95-00181-CR
StatusPublished

This text of James Massey v. State (James Massey v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
James Massey v. State, (Tex. Ct. App. 1997).

Opinion

TEXAS COURT OF APPEALS, THIRD DISTRICT, AT AUSTIN



NO. 03-95-00181-CR



James Massey, Appellant



v.



The State of Texas, Appellee



FROM THE DISTRICT COURT OF TRAVIS COUNTY, 167TH JUDICIAL DISTRICT

NO. 0932561, HONORABLE MICHAEL LYNCH, JUDGE PRESIDING



This appeal is taken from convictions for aggravated sexual assault of a child (1) and indecency with a child. (2) The offenses were alleged in a single indictment in separate counts. (3) Both counts were submitted to the jury which found appellant James Massey guilty of both offenses. The jury assessed appellant's punishment at 12 years' imprisonment for the aggravated sexual assault of a child and at 10 years' imprisonment and a $10,000 fine for the offense of indecency with a child, but recommended "probation" on the latter offense. The trial court followed the binding recommendation. Two separate judgments of conviction were entered.

Appellant advances three points of error. First, appellant contends that the trial court erred in admitting "false extraneous acts" in evidence under the guise of the rule of optional completeness. Second and third, appellant contends that the double jeopardy provisions of the federal and state constitutions were violated when the trial court submitted both counts of the indictment to the jury in its charge "when the evidence showed, at most, a single act, and each offense charged failed to contain an element which the other did not."

The sufficiency of the evidence is not challenged. The record reflects that on January 9, 1991, the three-year-old complainant, E. W., was left with her maternal aunt, Gail Jackson, who was the regular baby sitter while the complainant's mother and stepfather were at work. According to Walter Smith, the stepfather, E. W., and Gail Jackson were not at the Jackson house when he and his wife arrived about 4:30 p.m. on the day in question to pick up E. W. Shortly thereafter, Jackson and E. W. arrived and Smith learned that they had been at the home of appellant and his wife, the maternal grandmother of E. W. Jackson had been advised not to take E. W. to the Massey home.

After arriving home, E. W. made an outcry to her mother and stepfather about what appellant, her step-grandfather, had done to her that day. According to Etta Smith, E. W.'s mother, the child revealed that appellant had her lay on her back and hold her legs up, that "he pulled a black stick out of his pants" and put it "down here," pointing to the area of her vagina, and got on top of her. The mother also stated that E. W. reported her grandmother came into the room and started chasing appellant with a switch or belt. E. W. hid in a closet.

E. W. was seven years old at the time of the trial and testified about the incident that had occurred approximately four years earlier. With the use of what were apparently anatomically correct dolls, she related that appellant had her lay on her back while she was in her grandmother's bedroom that he pulled down her underwear and then took down his pants and underwear and got on top of her. E. W. had no name for the "part of a man or boy" to which the prosecutor apparently was pointing to on a doll. The prosecutor noted for the record that E. W. had placed the "James Doll" on top of "her doll" and asked if "this part" touched "any part on here." E. W. indicated that she did not understand. The record then reflects: "Q.  Okay. This is how you placed it? A.  Yes." When asked if the part of the body for which E. W. had no name touched her body, she could not remember.

Austin Police Officer Roy Lee Shipp testified that he responded to a call on January 12, 1991, and proceeded to the house where E. W. lived. After talking to her mother, he discussed the matter with E. W., who told him that she had been molested by appellant. Using dolls that were in the living room, E. W. demonstrated how appellant had gotten on top of her, and then stated that appellant had spread her legs apart, "pulled out a stick and got up after he finished." E. W. told the officer that her grandmother had chased appellant with a switch. The officer was unable to explain why E. W.'s mother had waited four days to report the matter to the police. Etta Smith related that she had waited several days to get E. W. examined by a physician. She testified that as soon as she got the "results," she and her husband went to confront appellant. No physician testified and no medical evidence was offered. The "results" were not revealed for the purpose of the record.

In the first point of error, appellant complains that the "trial court erred when, over defendant's timely and proper objection, it allowed evidence of false, extraneous acts to be admitted into evidence under Rule 107 of the Texas Rules of Criminal Evidence, the Rule of Optional Completeness."

The issue arose in this manner: Austin Police Sergeant Ronald McMillion, a child abuse investigator, testified that he made an investigation into the alleged incident and took statements from certain individuals. On cross-examination, appellant elicited from him that he had taken a statement from Etta Massey, appellant's wife and the grandmother of the complainant, ten days after the alleged offense. McMillion related that Etta Massey was deceased at the time of the trial, a fact supported by other evidence in the record.

Appellant then sought to offer a portion of Etta Massey's statement in evidence--the portion that related appellant was never alone with the complainant on the day in question, that she (Etta Massey) was in the complainant's presence at all times when the complainant was at the Massey house, and that she later took complainant shopping before returning her to Gail Jackson's home. Appellant offered this portion of the statement under Rule 803 as a recorded recollection. Tex. R. Crim. Evid. 803(5). (4) Appellant urged that the rule was applicable when a witness once had personal knowledge but now had insufficient recollection to enable the witness to testify. Of course, Etta Massey was deceased and not a witness. The State objected to the offer on the basis of hearsay. The trial court refused to admit any part of the statement. The State withdrew its objection stating that it would rely upon the rule of optional completeness if any part of the statement was offered. See Tex. R. Crim. Evid. 107. Appellant continued to offer only a portion of the statement and objected to the introduction of the remainder of the statement on the ground of relevance. The trial court indicated that it would apply Rule 107 if appellant introduced any portion of the statement. Appellant's counsel insisted that in accord with Rule 803(5) he had to read his portion of the statement to the jury. While reading the statement, he changed his mind and announced he would read the entire statement in evidence and he did. Thereafter, the State offered the statement itself into evidence and appellant responded: "I have no objection." Rule 803(5) was inapplicable and appellant has not briefed any issue of a violation of Rule 107. See Tex. R. App. P. 74(f). Under these circumstances, the error, if any, is waived.

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