Jerome T. Green v. State

CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedAugust 9, 2007
Docket14-06-00535-CR
StatusPublished

This text of Jerome T. Green v. State (Jerome T. Green 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
Jerome T. Green v. State, (Tex. Ct. App. 2007).

Opinion

Affirmed and Memorandum Opinion filed August 9, 2007

Affirmed and Memorandum Opinion filed August 9, 2007.

In The

Fourteenth Court of Appeals

____________

NO. 14-06-00535-CR

JEROME T. GREEN, Appellant

V.

THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee

On Appeal from the 351st District Court

Harris  County, Texas

Trial Court Cause No. 1054355

M E M O R A N D U M   O P I N I O N


Appellant, Jerome T. Green, pleaded not guilty to the State=s indictment for sexual assault, and not true to an enhancement for a prior conviction for felony Acarnal abuse@ in Arkansas.  A jury trial was held, and at the conclusion the jury found appellant guilty.  The trial court assessed punishment at life in prison.  Appellant complains of the legal and factual sufficiency of the evidence to support the finding that appellant knew the complainant was incapable of appraising the nature of the act or of resisting the act as a result of a mental disease or defect.  He also complains that the State failed to admit fingerprint evidence, and thus failed to prove that appellant was the person in the enhancement conviction.  Finally, he complains that the State failed to obtain a judicial finding that the elements of the enhancement crime are substantially similar to the elements of the present offense.  We affirm.

Factual and Procedural Background

Complainant, Jamal Moore, was nineteen years old at the time of the offense, and he suffers from moderate mental retardation.[1]  His IQ of 42 gives him a mental capacity similar to a six to eight year old child and puts him in the lowest ten percent of all retarded people, who are already in the lowest three percent of the population as a whole.  Complainant graduated from high school in the special education program, and, despite needing close supervision, has worked most of his life doing physical labor and performing janitorial and maintenance services.  At the time of the alleged assault, complainant worked at Reliant Stadium for Aramark Concession Services.

On March 7, 2005, complainant went to Reliant Stadium to work his shift during the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.  At the end of his shift, complainant went into an employee bathroom to defecate.  The bathroom contained a single toilet and sink and had a lock on the bathroom door rather than a stall.  Complainant forgot to lock the door, and while he was in the bathroom, appellant entered the bathroom and subjected complainant to oral sex and anal penetration. 


Complainant reported the incident to a police officer working outside the stadium, and was later taken by his father to a hospital to have a rape exam performed on him.  Appellant was arrested and charged with sexual assault, enhanced by an alleged prior penitentiary sentence from Arkansas for carnal abuse, a first-degree felony offense.  Appellant pleaded not guilty to the sexual assault charge, and the case was tried to a jury, which found appellant guilty.  Punishment was tried to the court, which found the enhancement paragraph true, and sentenced appellant to life in prison.  Appellant filed a written notice of appeal on the same day the court assessed punishment.

Analysis

I.        Proof of the Sexual Assault Was Legally and Factually Sufficient

A.      Standards of Review

Evidence is legally insufficient if, when viewed in a light most favorable to the verdict, a rational jury could not have found each element of the offense beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319 (1979); Jones v. State, 944 S.W.2d 642, 647 (Tex. Crim. App. 1996). The jury is the exclusive judge of the credibility of witnesses and of the weight to be given testimony, and it is also the exclusive province of the jury to reconcile conflicts in the evidence. Jones, 944 S.W.2d at 647. Thus, when performing a legal‑sufficiency review, we may not re‑evaluate the weight and credibility of the evidence and substitute our judgment for that of the fact finder. Dewberry v. State, 4 S.W.3d 735, 740 (Tex. Crim. App.1999). We must resolve any inconsistencies in the testimony in favor of the verdict. Curry v. State, 30 S.W.3d 394, 406 (Tex. Crim. App.2000).

In reviewing factual sufficiency of the elements of the offense, the court of appeals views all the evidence without the prism of Ain the light most favorable to the prosecution@ and sets aside the verdict only if it is so contrary to the overwhelming weight of the evidence as to be clearly wrong and manifestly unjust, or if the verdict is against the great weight and preponderance of the evidence. Marshall v. State, 210 S.W.3d 618, 625 (Tex. Crim. App. 2006).  In reviewing factual sufficiency we are permitted to substitute our judgments for those of the jury on questions of weight and credibility, but only to a Avery limited degree.@  Id


B.      Evidence Was Legally and Factually Sufficient to Show Appellant Knew that As a Result of Mental Disease or Defect Complainant Could Not Appraise the Nature of the Act or Resist It

Appellant argues that the evidence at trial was legally and factually insufficient to show that he knew the complainant was incapable of appraising the nature of the act or resisting it as a result of mental disease or defect, as required by the Penal Code.  See Tex. Pen. Code ' 22.011(b)(4) (stating that in order to show lack of consent under section 22.011(b)(4) of the Texas Penal Code, the State must prove that Athe actor knows that as a result of mental disease or defect the other person is at the time of the sexual assault incapable of appraising the nature of the act or of resisting it@

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Related

Jackson v. Virginia
443 U.S. 307 (Supreme Court, 1979)
Curry v. State
30 S.W.3d 394 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2000)
Watson v. State
204 S.W.3d 404 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2006)
Margraves v. State
34 S.W.3d 912 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2000)
Burns v. Rochon
190 S.W.3d 263 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2006)
Martinez v. State
634 S.W.2d 929 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1982)
Sanchez v. State
479 S.W.2d 933 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1972)
Marshall v. State
210 S.W.3d 618 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2006)
Johnson v. State
23 S.W.3d 1 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2000)
Hardy v. State
187 S.W.3d 232 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2006)
Cross v. State
144 S.W.3d 521 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2004)
Cross v. State
114 S.W.3d 92 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2003)
Dewberry v. State
4 S.W.3d 735 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1999)
Davis v. State
321 S.W.2d 873 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1959)
Wootton v. State
799 S.W.2d 499 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1990)
Beck v. State
719 S.W.2d 205 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1986)
Smith v. State
555 S.W.2d 747 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1977)
Jones v. State
944 S.W.2d 642 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1996)
Cleveland v. State
814 S.W.2d 140 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1991)

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Jerome T. Green v. State, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jerome-t-green-v-state-texapp-2007.