James Musgrove v. State

425 S.W.3d 601, 2014 WL 849414, 2014 Tex. App. LEXIS 2423
Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided March 4, 2014·No. 14-13-00039-CR·Published·Cited by 17 cases

Opinions

[605]*605OPINION

MARTHA HILL JAMISON, Justice.

In three issues, appellant James Mus-grove challenges his felony convictions for two counts of assault on a public servant and one count of attempted escape.1 We affirm the judgment of the trial court, as modified, with regard to appellant’s assault convictions, and reverse the judgment as to appellant’s attempted escape conviction for a new punishment trial.

Background

While in custody of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ), appearing in a court on a matter not relevant to this appeal, appellant allegedly assaulted two correctional officers and attempted to escape. Appellant and the two officers were the only people in the courtroom at the time. Appellant and one officer, who was unarmed,2 were at the counsel table when appellant allegedly showed the officer a piece of paper to distract him and punched him, momentarily stunning him. Appellant then ran to the other officer, who was near the door of the courtroom, and struggled with her in an attempt to take her pistol, which was secured in her holster. The first officer then joined in the struggle, and at some point, all three fell to the ground.3 Within minutes, the first officer was able to secure appellant with assistance from a third officer who entered the courtroom to assist.

Appellant was indicted and tried for two counts of assault on a public servant and one count of attempted escape in the same courtroom where he allegedly committed these offenses. He represented himself. At the time, he was in TDCJ’s custody serving sentences for other felony offenses. Appellant filed two pretrial motions complaining that the conditions of his confinement would prevent him from receiving a fair trial because TDCJ, among other things, allegedly (1) confiscated his legal work and files, writing instruments, envelopes, postage, items used for personal hygiene, and medications; (2) deprived him of sleep, food, water, showering, and shaving; and (3) housed him in a facility at a distance from the courthouse that doubled his transport time and contributed to his sleep deprivation.4

During pretrial matters, appellant again complained that TDCJ confiscated most of his legal files, including transcripts of testimony from state witnesses.5 The trial court instructed the State’s investigator to call the head warden at the unit where appellant was housed and “ask ... if it’s possible to ... give [appellant his legal files] when he gets back today and he be allowed to bring [them] every day to court through this trial.” Appellant responded, [606]*606“[Wjhen I return to the unit, ... if they give me the property, that works great ... but then ... they order me to pack it and inventory it again at about 7:00 o’clock.” He also renewed his objection to TDCJ’s failure to allow him to shower or shave before trial. The trial court responded, “I’m not trying [TDCJ] on how they should or should not handle an inmate. What they do, I’m not going to interfere. I’m not going to set up a new set of rules for you or anything else. The rules are what the rules are.” Appellant renewed these objections twice during trial, reiterating that he was denied access to legal materials after a certain time at night and was not allowed to shower or shave during the course of the three-day trial.

The trial court determined it would not be necessary to restrain appellant during trial but took several security precautions, which included requiring appellant’s investigator or standby counsel (in lieu of appellant) to approach witnesses with exhibits or documents, requiring correctional officers to stand between appellant and the jury, and requiring appellant to stand behind a podium during closing arguments. With regard to approaching witnesses, appellant objected on the basis that the State should be required to follow the same procedure: “It’s important that [the jury] not see me following a procedure that [the State’s counsel] is not. So, if a document is being passed to the witness, I would simply ask [the State] to follow the same procedure.” Appellant argued applying a different standard to him than the State would undermine the presumption of his innocence in front of the jury. Counsel for the State responded, “[0]ur position is there is nothing on record to indicate that ... I’m violent.... And so, that doesn’t mean we need to be treated the same, that I have to be hamstrung because of his past conduct.”

The trial court overruled the objection, but stated,

And it may be better since I’m going to explain that you have assistance of counsel and that you’re representing yourself, that if counsel approached with the exhibit, the document, to show them to the witness, there is virtually no difference in what is going on. In essence, you have two attorneys and they got one.

Appellant objected to the trial court requiring correctional officers to step between him and the jury when the jury entered or exited the courtroom, as demonstrated in the following colloquy:

[Appellant:] Is it possible for me to move someplace where, you know, the [TDCJ] escorts aren’t standing between me and everybody ... when they come by?
THE COURT: Absolutely. They’re going to stands [sic] between you and the jury every time they come in and out.
[Appellant:] Can I move someplace like behind the table or something?
THE COURT: I don’t care if you want to put [standby counsel] over there. You’re on the corner. That doesn’t bother me.
[Appellant:] Because right now as it’s being done it’s like a mad rush where the [TDCJ] people are running over to ... quick[ly] surround me. It looks a little bit obvious.
[The State:] I want the record to be clear.
THE COURT: One, I don’t think it looks obvious at all because they are getting their stuff together and the guards are merely taking one, maybe two, steps forward. [B]ut if you and [standby counsel] want to change seats, that’s up to y’all.
[607]*607[Appellant:] I think it would work better.

On the third day of trial, appellant requested to be treated similarly to the State’s counsel during closing argument: “I ... want the jury not to have a vast difference in perception between [the State’s counsel] and me because this ... goes to the heart of the presumption of innocence, particularly at this stage [during] the closing argument for guilt or innocence.” The trial court stated, “I’m not going to limit the State’s ability to argue a case because your history got you incarcerated,” but agreed to let appellant stand behind a podium “6 to 8 feét, maybe 10, tops, from the jury,” which was “3 or 4 feet” further away from the jury than the State’s counsel was allowed to be. Appellant responded, “Well, that will help me look like a professional.”

The jury found appellant guilty as to all three offenses, sentenced him to 20 years’ imprisonment for each count of assault and 10 years’ imprisonment for the attempted escape, and assessed a $10,000 fine for each offense. The trial court entered judgment ordering the three sentences to run concurrently.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

James Musgrove v. State, 425 S.W.3d 601, 2014 WL 849414, 2014 Tex. App. LEXIS 2423 (Tex. Ct. App. 2014).

425 S.W.3d 601 (James Musgrove v. State) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Kevin Avery v. the State of Texas
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2024
Blas Tierrablanca v. the State of Texas
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2022
Justin Ross Holzworth v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2019
Terry Danell Ward v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2019
Brock Anthony Chambers v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2017
Tyson James Nolen v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2016
Penton v. State
489 S.W.3d 578 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2016)
Boswell, Mickey
Texas Supreme Court, 2015
Johnson, William
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2015
Mickey Boswell v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2015
Carr, Donnie Dale
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2015
William Johnson v. State
475 S.W.3d 430 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2015)
Donnie Dale Carr v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2015
Derek Bernard Howard v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2014
Everett Wilson v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2014