Jason Hendershot A/K/A Jason Hendershott v. State

Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided August 9, 2012·No. 13-10-00452-CR·Published

Opinion

NUMBER 13-10-00452-CR

COURT OF APPEALS

THIRTEENTH DISTRICT OF TEXAS CORPUS CHRISTI – EDINBURG

JASON HENDERSHOT Appellant, AKA JASON HENDERSHOTT,

v.

THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee.

On appeal from the 148th District Court of Nueces County, Texas.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Before Chief Justice Valdez and Justices Garza and Vela Memorandum Opinion by Justice Garza Appellant, Jason Hendershot aka Jason Hendershott, challenges his conviction

on eight first-degree felony counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child, two first- degree felony counts of aggravated kidnapping, and two second-degree felony counts of indecency with a child. See TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. §§ 20.04 (aggravated

kidnapping), 21.11 (indecency with a child) (West 2011), § 22.021 (aggravated sexual assault of a child) (West Supp. 2011). A jury assessed punishment at life imprisonment for each of the first-degree felonies and twenty years’ imprisonment for the indecency charges, with the sentences to run concurrently. Hendershot raises seven issues on appeal. We affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

T.K. testified that, on May 19, 2007, when she was 14 years old, she was vacationing at a beach house in Aransas Pass, Texas, with her friend, K.V., and K.V.’s mother and sister. K.V. was 15 years old at the time. While at the beach, T.K. and K.V. met two high-school-age boys, identified as Stephen and Chris, and spent several hours playing and swimming with them at the beach. At some point, Stephen introduced the girls to his father, Noe Hernandez, and Hernandez’s friend, Hendershot. The group spent some time riding around the beach in Hernandez’s black Ford truck.

Stephen and Chris dropped T.K. and K.V. off in the afternoon and agreed to meet up later to go to a bonfire at the beach. T.K. left her phone number on Hernandez’s cell phone, since he shared the phone with his son. That evening, T.K. received a call that she believed was from Chris. The caller invited T.K. and K.V. to the bonfire and asked to meet up at the beach. The girls snuck out of the house they were staying in, walked to the beach, and saw the black Ford truck waiting for them. They were surprised to find only Hernandez and Hendershot waiting inside the truck. The men said they were there to pick up the girls and take them to meet Stephen and Chris at the bonfire. T.K. and K.V. got in the truck and sat in between Hernandez and Hendershot in the front seat. According to the testimony of both T.K. and K.V., Hernandez drove the truck for approximately thirty minutes to an hour, and they ended

up in a remote, deserted area of the beach.

T.K. testified that Hernandez then pulled K.V. from the truck by her hair, and Hendershot grabbed her cell phone and broke it “in half.” Hendershot then put his hand around T.K.’s neck, pinned her down on the front seat and told her to undress, and threatened to kill her and “hunt down” and kill her family if she did not comply. Hendershot then forced T.K. to engage in various sex acts. T.K. stated that Hernandez then pulled her out of the cab and took her into the bed of the truck, where he forced T.K. to engage in various sex acts.

K.V. testified that Hernandez pulled her by the hair to the bed of the truck and tried to remove her clothes. K.V. resisted, so Hernandez slapped her in the face and forcibly removed her clothes. Hernandez then forced K.V. to engage in various sex acts. She testified that Hendershot then came to the back of the truck “a few minutes later” and forced her to engage in various sex acts. According to K.V., Hernandez told the girls that if they told anyone about what happened, “he would find us and kill our family and us.”

Both T.K. and K.V. testified that, after the ordeal, Hernandez poured water on the girls’ genital areas in order to clean them off, and he told them to rinse out their mouths with mouthwash. T.K. and K.V. got back in the truck and Hernandez and Hendershot drove them back to the area where they had initially met. Fearing that the men would “hunt [them] down,” T.K. and K.V. returned to the beach house and went to sleep without reporting the assaults. The next morning, the group returned to their home in Cedar Park, Texas. The following day, a Monday, T.K. came over to K.V.’s house so the two could walk to school together. When T.K. arrived, according to K.V., “we started to just cry and we knew we had to tell our parents what had happened.” Police were

called and the girls submitted to physical examinations at a hospital.

Julie Gibbs, the sexual assault nurse examiner that performed the physical examinations, testified that the results indicated that both girls had minor injuries to their genital areas that were consistent with having suffered sexual assault.

Robin Castro, a forensic scientist with the Texas Department of Public Safety (“DPS”), testified that she performed testing on evidence obtained from the girls’ bodies and clothing. Castro stated that K.V.’s underwear contained DNA from her as well as an unknown male, and that neither Hendershot nor Hernandez could be excluded as contributors of that DNA. Castro also stated that there were sperm cells recovered from T.K.’s body and that Hernandez could not be excluded as a contributor of those cells, but Hendershot could be excluded.

After the sexual assault examinations, T.K. and K.V. gave statements to police in which they described the assailants and the truck in which the assaults occurred. After subsequent police investigation, T.K. and K.V. each were presented with two photo lineups. Both girls identified Hendershot and Hernandez as the individuals that assaulted them. The men were arrested and tried together. Both were convicted on all counts and sentenced to multiple terms of life imprisonment. Hendershot’s appeal followed.1 II. DISCUSSION

A. Media Presence in Courtroom

1 Hernandez also appealed his conviction, and we affirmed. Hernandez v. State, No. 13-10-

00473-CR, 2012 Tex. App. LEXIS 2546 (Tex. App.—Corpus Christi Mar. 29, 2012, pet. filed) (mem. op., not designated for publication).

By his first issue, Hendershot argues that the trial court erred by allowing cameras in the courtroom.2 The reporter’s record shows that the following colloquy occurred immediately before the jury was asked to enter the courtroom for the first day of trial:

[Hendershot’s counsel]: I’d like to object to the cameras being allowed in the courtroom, Your Honor. This case has been covered extensively by the media and I don’t want the fact that the media is present to affect anybody’s decision or anybody’s presentation of this case. And I believe we’ve leveled the playing field, if the media was not allow[ed] in the courtroom. I believe their being in courtroom is prejudice to my client.

THE COURT: How so, sir?

[Hendershot’s counsel]: Again, Your Honor, I believe, it’s going to—I think it will have an [e]ffect on how this case is presented, how decisions are made in this case.

THE COURT: How so, sir?

[Hendershot’s counsel]: With them being in the courtroom.

THE COURT: How so, sir?

[Hendershot’s counsel]: That—that’s how, Your Honor.

THE COURT: Well, but how would decision making—and you haven’t identified the person, but how would decision making be affected?

[Hendershot’s counsel]: Your Honor, I don’t want some—I don’t want a thought process to be affected by the fact that the media may be second-guessing a situation.

THE COURT: Not having—

2 Hendershot’s issue complains that the trial court allowed cameras in the courtroom “during jury selection.” However, his citations to the reporter’s record reflect that he is complaining about the presence of cameras in the courtroom during the guilt/innocence phase of the trial.

[Hendershot’s counsel]: Anybody’s thought process, Judge. And that goes for the prosecution, the Court, defense counsel.

THE COURT: I’ve not heard much specificity to the objection.

The objection’s overruled.

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