Jesse Clyde Roderick v. State

494 S.W.3d 868, 2016 WL 1578939, 2016 Tex. App. LEXIS 4045
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedApril 19, 2016
DocketNO. 14-15-00073-CR, NO. 14-15-00074-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 494 S.W.3d 868 (Jesse Clyde Roderick 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
Jesse Clyde Roderick v. State, 494 S.W.3d 868, 2016 WL 1578939, 2016 Tex. App. LEXIS 4045 (Tex. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

OPINION

Martha Hill Jamison, Justice

A jury convicted appellant Jesse Clyde Roderick of two counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child. See Tex. Penal Code § 22,021. The jury assessed appellant’s punishment at life imprisonment. On ap *874 peal, appellant argues the trial court abused its discretion by refusing to allow the defense to present certain defensive theories, including that of an alternate perpetrator, and committing errors in certain evidentiary rulings. We affirm.

I. Background

In July 2011, the complainant, J.M., made an outcry statement to her foster mother that she had been sexually abused in the past by the appellant, a family friend. At the time of the statement, J.M. was five years old. J.M. told her foster mother that appellant made her perform oral sex on him, performed oral sex on her, penetrated her vagina and anus with his penis, and digitally penetrated her anus. J.M.’s foster mother informed her foster care agency, which then contacted the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (CPS).

During a forensic interview, J.M. reported that appellant put his finger in her vagina. She stated that it hurt when something was inside her private area, and that she developed a rash from being rubbed “down there.” J.M. also underwent a medical examination that revealed a white, triangular, anal scar consistent with blunt force trauma.

Following the investigation, appellant was indicted on two counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child under fourteen years of age. At trial, three years after her initial outcry, J.M. did not remember anything penetrating her vagina or anus, but testified that appellant pulled down her pants, put his penis in her mouth, and “peed.” J.M. drew a picture of appellant’s penis and further testified that appellant touched her up at the top of her legs and her “private.” The State also presented testimony from William Floyd Kent, a jailhouse informant, who testified that the appellant bragged about what he did, specifically that he taught J.M. the proper way to perform oral sex and rubbed his penis against her anus and vagina.

At the conclusion of trial, the jury found appellant guilty and assessed punishment at life imprisonment. The trial court sentenced appellant in accordance with the jury’s assessment of punishment.

II. Analysis

Appellant contends the trial court abused its discretion by refusing to allow him to present defensive theories, including the defense of an alternate perpetrator.

A. Standard of Review

We review a tidal court’s decision to admit or exclude evidence under an abuse of discretion standard. See De La Paz v. State, 279 S.W.3d 336, 343-44 (Tex.Crim.App.2009). If the trial court’s decision was within the bounds of reasonable disagreement, we will not disturb its ruling. See Shuffield v. State, 189 S.W.3d 782, 793 (Tex.Crim.App.2006), If the trial judge’s decision is correct on any theory of law applicable to the case, however, it will be sustained. Romero v. State, 800 S.W.2d 539, 543 (Tex.Crim.App.1990).

B. Excluded Evidence

1. Alternate Perpetrator Evidence

Appellant contends the trial court abused its discretion by not allowing the jury to hear evidence of possible alternate perpetrators, namely Donald Cowart and Dennis Esquivel. Specifically, appellant argues the trial court abused its discretion by 1) ruling that disclosures made to Claudia Mullin, the CPS forensic interviewer, regarding sexual abuse alleged to have been committed by Cowart against J.M. and her brothers were inadmissible; and 2) ruling that testimony regarding CPS’s *875 knowledge that Esquivel was a convicted sex offender and lived with J.M.’s mother was inadmissible. The tidal judge sustained the State’s objections to this evidence.

We first note that:
“[although a defendant obviously has a right to attempt to establish his innocence by showing that someone else committed the crime, he still must show that his proffered evidence regarding the alleged alternative perpetrator is sufficient, on its own or in combination with other evidence in the record, to show a nexus between the crime charged and the alleged ‘alternative perpetrator.’ ”

Wiley v. State, 74 S.W.3d 399, 406 (Tex.Crim.App.2002) (emphasis added).

“Although it is unclear exactly how much evidence is necessary to sufficiently prove a nexus between the offense and allegedly guilty third party, Texas jurisprudence is clear that evidence of third party guilt is inadmissible if it is mere speculation that another person may have committed the offense.” Dickson v. State, 246 S.W.3d 733, 739 (Tex.App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2007, pet. ref'd). Moreover, the admission of alternative perpetrator evidence is subject to the Rule 403 balancing test, according to which the trial court must weigh its probative value against its tendency to confuse the issues or mislead the jury, among other potential harms. See Tex. R. Evid. 403; Wiley, 74 S.W.3d at 406-07; Dukes v. State, No. 01-14-00938-CR, 486 S.W.3d 170, 177-78, 2016 WL 828106, at *4 (Tex.App.—Houston [1st Dist.] Mar. 3, 2016, no pet. h.). Finally, excluding such evidence is not constitutional error unless the evidence “goes to the heart of the defense.” Wiley, 74 S.W.3d at 405.

We begin with the exclusion of Mullin’s testimony recounting her interview with J.M. It is important to our analysis of the trial court’s ruling to place the specific excluded evidence in context. Appellant urges that the. jury was entitled to “hear about the disclosures [J.M.] made to Mul-lin regarding sexual abuse alleged to have been committed by Cowart against J.M.” Specifically, appellant refers to the following testimony developed by bill of exception:

Q. And then at one point [J.M.] said that — she was talking about when [her brother] was getting rubbed and she had said that [her brother] would wake up when he would feel someone rubbing him. Do you remember that?
A. Yes.
Q. And then at that time when you would ask her, she said that they only rubbed [her brother], they did not rub her?
A. I believe that she did say it like that in the beginning.
Q. Right.
A. Which is very standard defense mechanism for a child.
Q.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
494 S.W.3d 868, 2016 WL 1578939, 2016 Tex. App. LEXIS 4045, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jesse-clyde-roderick-v-state-texapp-2016.