Jayla Sherley v. the State of Texas

Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided March 27, 2024·No. 05-23-00196-CR·Published

Opinion

AFFIRMED as MODIFIED and Opinion Filed March 27, 2024

S In The

Court of Appeals

Fifth District of Texas at Dallas No. 05-23-00196-CR

No. 05-23-00197-CR

JAYLA SHERLEY, Appellant

V.

THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee

On Appeal from the 204th Judicial District Court Dallas County, Texas

Trial Court Cause Nos. F19-00690-Q, F19-00691-Q

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Before Justices Garcia, Breedlove, and Kennedy Opinion by Justice Garcia Appellant entered an open plea of guilty to manslaughter and aggravated

assault after she caused a fatal accident driving the wrong way down an interstate into oncoming traffic.1 After hearing the evidence, the trial court found appellant guilty of both offenses and sentenced her to concurrent twelve year terms of imprisonment. In four issues on appeal, appellant argues: (i) the indictment was

1 An “open plea” signifies that the defendant pleaded guilty without an agreement about the precise punishment he will receive. See Harper v. State, 567 S.W.3d 450, 455 (Tex. App.—Fort Worth 2019, no pet.); State v. Moore, 240 S.W.3d 248, 254 (Tex. Crim. App. 2007) (plea is open as to sentencing).

defective for failing to apprise her of the circumstances indicating she drove her vehicle in a reckless manner, (ii) the evidence is insufficient to support her conviction for manslaughter using a deadly weapon, (iii) defense counsel was ineffective, and (iv) the absence of a written waiver of jury trial constitutes reversible error. Concluding appellant’s arguments are without merit, we affirm the trial court’s judgments.

I. BACKGROUND

On the night in question, surveillance footage from The Texas Rose, a bar, shows appellant entering the parking lot at around 1:00 a.m. About an hour and a half later, she emerges from the car and attempts to open the door to the bar. The door was locked, and appellant urinated on the ground.

Appellant returned to her car, where she remained for approximately an hour and a half. Then, instead of backing out of her parking spot, appellant pulled forward onto the grass and turned left, orienting her car to drive south along the bar-side bank of a ditch. Appellant pulled directly in front of another occupied car, then pulled back into the concrete parking lot and whipped around to the entrance of the parking lot. From there, she turned left in front of an oncoming eighteen-wheeler and proceeded south on the northbound frontage road.

Appellant was driving the wrong way on Interstate 45 when she hit a car driven by M.A. head-on. A.C., a passenger in M.A.’s car, was killed. M.A. survived, but suffered serious injuries, including head trauma, fractures under his eye and in

his right elbow, both hips, pelvis and lower back. M.A.’s mother did not recognize him in the emergency room, and doctors were concerned that he would be in a vegetative state or unable to walk.

Appellant also sustained serious injuries. At the hospital, she told the nurse she had consumed three shots of tequila. Appellant’s blood sample, taken by the hospital about an hour after the crash, showed an alcohol concentration of .105g/dL. Another blood sample drawn pursuant to a search warrant after noon on the day of the 4:00 a.m. accident did not show the presence of alcohol.

Appellant was charged with manslaughter and aggravated assault. She pleaded guilty to both charges without the benefit of a punishment agreement and her judicial confessions were admitted into evidence. The State also introduced, and the court admitted, appellant’s hospital records, photographs of the mangled vehicles after the accident, surveillance footage from the bar parking lot, A.C.’s autopsy report, and x-rays and photographs of M.A.’s injuries. M.A. and his mother testified about his injuries and the impact the accident had on his physical and mental health. A.C.’s mother also testified. A.C. was nineteen years old when he died in the accident.

Appellant testified in her own defense, and her trial counsel argued that she should be given probation. The trial court accepted appellant’s guilty pleas and found her guilty in each case. The court found that appellant used her vehicle as a

deadly weapon in the manslaughter case and assessed punishment at twelve years in prison for each offense (to be served concurrently). This timely appeal followed.

II. ANALYSIS

A. The Indictment Appellant’s first issue argues the manslaughter indictment is defective because it fails to specifically allege the circumstances under which appellant acted recklessly. This issue has not been preserved for our review. TEX. R. APP. P. 33.1.

“If a defendant does not object to a defect, error, or irregularity of form or substance in the indictment before the date on which trial on the merits begins, he waives the right to object and may not raise an objection on appeal or in any other postconviction proceeding.” TEX. CODE CRIM. PROC. ANN. art. 1.14(b); Williams v. State, –S.W.3d –, No. PD-0099-23, 2024 WL 104220, at * (Tex. Crim. App. Jan. 10, 2024); Reydlom v. State, No. 05-19-01486-CR, 2020 WL 7693179, at *2 (Tex. App.—Dallas Dec. 28, 2020, not pet.) (mem. op., not designated for publication).

There was no such objection here. Appellant did not object to the indictment before she entered her guilty plea. And in the plea paperwork she signed after pleading guilty, she affirmatively waived her right to complain about defects in the indictment.

Moreover, even if the issue had been preserved, the manslaughter indictment is not defective.2 Article 21.15 requires that The State allege acts of recklessness or criminal negligence with specificity. See TEX. CODE CRIM. PROC. ANN. art. 21.25. The indictment alleged that appellant committed the offense by “driving a motor vehicle into oncoming traffic and in the wrong direction on an interstate therefore striking the motor vehicle occupied by” the victim. Appellant’s argument that the State needed to additionally allege “something about the setting or circumstances” that constitutes recklessness is not persuasive. When the alleged act is inherently reckless, the indictment satisfies article 21.15 if it merely alleges the act was committed. See Tata v. State, 446 S.W.3d 456, 463 (Tex. App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 2014, pet. ref’d); Soto v. State, No. 04-17-00491-CR, 2018 WL 2323637, at *9 (Tex. App.—San Antonio May 23, 2018, no pet.) (mem. op., not designated for publication). The indictment was sufficient to give notice of the acts relied on to constitute recklessness. See Townsley v. State, 538 S.W.2d 411, 412–413 (Tex. Crim. App. 1976); Goodrich v. State, 156 S.W.3d 141, 145 (Tex. App.—Dallas 2005, pet. ref’d); Lawson v. State, No. 09-16-00395-CR, 2017 WL 4414178, at * 4

2 Appellant’s argument that that the aggravated assault indictment is defective, had it been preserved, is similarly misplaced. That indictment alleged that appellant acted “intentionally, knowingly, and recklessly.” Therefore, article 21.15 did not apply. See State v. Casterena, 486 S.W.3d 630, 635 (Tex. App.—San Antonio 2016, no pet.). When the State alleges that a defendant acts knowingly or intentionally along with recklessness, it not necessary for the State to allege the reckless acts with specificity. See Crawford v. State, 646 S.W.2d 936, 937 (Tex. Crim. App.1983); Allen v. State, No. 05-16-00594-CR, 2017 WL 2645033, at *1 (Tex. App.—Dallas June 20, 2017, no pet.) (mem. op., not designated for publication).

(Tex. App.—Beaumont Oct. 14, 2017, no pet.) (mem. op., not designated for publication). Appellant’s first issue is resolved against her. B. Sufficiency of the Evidence Appellant’s second issue argues the evidence is “legally and factually”

insufficient in the manslaughter case to show that she was “too drunk to control her vehicle or any other evidence to show she intended or used her vehicle in a manner that caused the individual’s death.” She further argues the aggravated assault case evidence was insufficient to show the victim suffered serious bodily injury. Both arguments lack merit.

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