Johnson v. State

959 S.W.2d 284, 1997 WL 570857
Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided February 25, 1998·No. 05-95-00806-CR·Published·Cited by 44 cases

Opinions

[287] OPINION

MOSELEY, Justice.

A jury convicted Johnny Ray Johnson of murder and assessed a forty-five-year sentence. Appellant raised five points of error on appeal contending, among other things, that the trial court erred in overruling his Batson1 objections to the State’s peremptory strikes of two prospective jurors. For the reasons set forth below, we overrule all of appellant’s points and affirm the trial court’s judgment.

BACKGROUND

While on patrol in the early morning hours of October 8, 1994, a Dallas police officer came upon a van stopped on the street with the headlights on. He stopped to investigate and discovered several bullet holes in the passenger side of the van, as well as seven spent casings outside the van. Thomas Johnson was in the driver’s seat with his foot on the brake pedal. Johnson was dead.

LEGAL SUFFICIENCY

In his first point of error, appellant challenges the legal sufficiency of the evidence to support his conviction. Specifically, appellant argues that the evidence is legally insufficient to prove he knowingly or intentionally caused the victim’s death. We address this point first because if the evidence is legally insufficient, appellant is entitled to an acquittal.2

A. Standard of Review

When reviewing the legal sufficiency of the evidence to support a criminal conviction, the critical inquiry is whether the record evidence could reasonably support a finding of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.3 This Court does not ask whether it believes the evidence at trial establishes guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.4 Instead, the relevant question is whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.5

The fact finder is the sole judge of the witnesses’ credibility and the weight to be given their testimony.6 The fact finder may reject all or part of any witness’s testimony.7 The fact finder need not believe even uncon-troverted evidence.8 The fact finder may draw reasonable inferences from the evidence.9 We do not disturb the fact finder’s decision unless it is irrational or supported by only a “mere modicum” of evidence.10 We do not substitute our judgment for that of the fact finder.11

A person commits the offense of murder if he intentionally or knowingly causes the death of an individual.12 The State must prove the defendant intended to cause the result of his actions to convict him [288] of murder.13 We may infer the intent to Mil from the use of a deadly weapon in a deadly manner.14

B. Analysis

Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict, the record shows that Ferdinand Dominguez, a Dallas police officer assigned to the physical evidence section, collected evidence from the crime scene. He testified that most of the bullets entered the van aimed at the deceased. At least one or two of the bullets that hit the deceased also smashed the driver’s side window. He opined that the shots could have come from a moving car. He found no weapons at the crime scene.

James Williams testified that on the evening of October 7, he saw the van in an apartment house parMng lot. He thought that two people were in the van. Later that evening, he, Derrick Harris, and Roosevelt Hodge were passengers in an El Camino driven by appellant. Williams said that when appellant saw the van, he made a U-turn and drove about eighty miles an hour to catch up to the van. Appellant pulled the El Camino along side of the van’s passenger side and shot at it five, six, or seven times. After appellant shot at the van, it stopped in the middle of the road. Williams thought two people were in the van, but he never saw the deceased point a gun at the El Camino.

Harris testified that earlier that evening they were in an apartment house parking lot. Although he heard appellant and the van’s driver exchanging words, Harris did not know what was said. Later, when he, Williams, Hodge, and appellant were all in the El Camino, appellant chased the van. Appellant took a gun from Ms waistband. Harris did not see anyone in the van with a gun. When appellant caught up with the van, he started shooting and he continued shooting as he drove past the van. Appellant shot through the passenger side of the van about five times. Harris thought two people were in the van and both were killed.

Viewing the above evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found beyond a reasonable doubt that appellant used a gun in a deadly manner. And any rational trier of fact could have inferred from appellant’s using a gun in a deadly manner that appellant intentionally or knowingly caused the deceased’s death.15 We overrule appellant’s first point of error.

FACTUAL SUFFICIENCY

Having found the evidence legally sufficient to support appellant’s conviction, we now consider appellant’s second point of error in which he argues the evidence is factually insufficient to support his conviction.

A. Standard of Review

When reviewing challenges to the factual sufficiency of the evidence, as opposed to the legal sufficiency, we view all of the evidence without the prism of “in the light most favorable to the prosecution.”16 In conducting a factual sufficiency review, we must be appropriately deferential to the fact finder’s determination and avoid substituting our judgment for the fact finder’s.17 We review the fact finder’s weighing of the evidence and are authorized to disagree with the fact finder’s determination.18 However, it is not enough that we believe a different result is more reasonable.19 We will set aside the verdict only if it is so contrary to the overwhelming weight of the evidence that it is clearly wrong and unjust.20

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Johnson v. State, 959 S.W.2d 284, 1997 WL 570857 (Tex. Ct. App. 1998).

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