Jeffery Willard Sprayberry v. State

CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedApril 26, 2012
Docket02-10-00315-CR
StatusPublished

This text of Jeffery Willard Sprayberry v. State (Jeffery Willard Sprayberry 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
Jeffery Willard Sprayberry v. State, (Tex. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

02-10-315-CR

COURT OF APPEALS

SECOND DISTRICT OF TEXAS

FORT WORTH

NO. 02-10-00315-CR

JeffREy Willard Sprayberry

APPELLANT

V.

The State of Texas

STATE

----------

FROM County Criminal Court No. 9 OF Tarrant COUNTY

MEMORANDUM OPINION[1]

I.  Introduction

A jury convicted Appellant Jeffrey Willard Sprayberry of the Class B misdemeanor offense of graffiti.  In three points, Appellant asserts that the graffiti statute is unconstitutional as applied to him, the evidence is insufficient to support his conviction, and the trial court erred by failing to serve him with a copy of either the complaint or the information.  We affirm.

II.  Factual and Procedural Background

Appellant pleaded not guilty to charges that he intentionally or knowingly “ma[d]e markings” by spray painting with aerosol paint the word “crook” on a sign owned by Larry Marrs without his effective consent, causing a loss of less than $500.  At trial, the State presented evidence that in the weeks before the offense, Marrs and James Blyn placed political signs around the city that were subsequently defaced with spray paint.[2]  Blyn testified that in an attempt to catch the culprit, he, his friend Josh Thatcher, and Marrs conducted a stakeout.  On May 6, 2009, Marrs and Blyn placed new signs out in the morning and went back out at approximately 10:30 that evening to monitor the signs.  Blyn and Thatcher parked in a residential neighborhood near some of the signs.  At approximately 1:30 a.m., a tall, heavyset individual wearing a backpack walked by, and he fit the description Blyn and Thatcher had received from someone who had witnessed earlier vandalism of some of the signs.  Both Blyn and Thatcher described the individual (later identified as Appellant) as wearing blue jean shorts, a blue T-shirt, white socks, and dark-colored tennis shoes.  After Appellant had gone a block or so, Blyn exited the car and followed him with his binoculars.  At one point, Blyn saw Appellant put down his bag, rifle through it, pull something out and set it on the ground, put the backpack back on, grab the object on the ground, and continue on his path.  Blyn then lost sight of Appellant.  A short time later, Appellant walked back in Blyn’s direction, and Blyn hid in the bushes and called the police.

In addition to corroborating much of Blyn’s testimony, Josh Thatcher testified that he also exited the car after Appellant first walked by.  Thatcher took pictures of Appellant standing across the street from some political signs and rifling through his backpack, and he saw Appellant pull from the backpack what looked like a Coke can but could have been a spray paint can.  Thatcher then saw Appellant get “really close to” and kneel down in front of a sign placed in a residential yard.  As Thatcher moved toward Appellant, Appellant suddenly turned and walked in Thatcher’s direction.  The two men exchanged greetings, and when Appellant disappeared behind him, Thatcher ran to the sign.  The word “crook” was written in dripping spray paint across one of Marrs’s signs.[3]  Thatcher got paint on his knuckle when he ran it across the sign.

Richland Hills Police Sergeant Robert Dostie and Officer Zachary Gibson responded to a dispatch regarding the instant offense.  Sergeant Dostie found Appellant (who matched the description given by the 911 caller) walking in the area.  When Sergeant Dostie stopped Appellant and asked if he had paint in his bag, Appellant invoked his Fourth Amendment right to privacy.  Sergeant Dostie testified that Appellant had a video camera strapped around his neck and that he announced he was going to turn it on.[4]  Thereafter, Blyn, Thatcher, and Marrs approached, and Blyn and Thatcher identified Appellant as the person they had seen earlier.  Sergeant Dostie subsequently ordered Officer Gibson to arrest Appellant, and Appellant refused to place his hands behind his back and became “passive resistive.”[5]  When Officer Gibson “brought [Appellant] around to try to put him down on the ground,” Sergeant Dostie saw a can of red spray paint sticking out of one of the backpack’s pockets.   Sergeant Dostie did not see any paint on Appellant’s hands, however.[6]  Sergeant Dostie testified that he spoke with his commander over the phone and then decided to arrest Appellant.

Officer Gibson testified that before he arrested Appellant, Appellant asked why the officers were there.  When Officer Gibson responded that a sign had been spray painted, Appellant stated he did not know it was against the law to spray paint a political sign.  According to Officer Gibson, when Sergeant Dostie told Appellant they were arresting him for criminal mischief, Appellant stated he could not be arrested because his actions constituted a political statement.  Appellant then asked, “Isn’t [criminal mischief] only a ticket?”[7]  After arresting Appellant and transporting him to the jail, Officer Gibson conducted an inventory search of Appellant’s backpack and found one can of white and one can of black spray paint.

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Jeffery Willard Sprayberry v. State, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jeffery-willard-sprayberry-v-state-texapp-2012.