Jose Norberto Gonzalez v. the State of Texas

CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedAugust 22, 2024
Docket02-24-00120-CR
StatusPublished

This text of Jose Norberto Gonzalez v. the State of Texas (Jose Norberto Gonzalez v. the State of Texas) 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
Jose Norberto Gonzalez v. the State of Texas, (Tex. Ct. App. 2024).

Opinion

In the Court of Appeals Second Appellate District of Texas at Fort Worth ___________________________

No. 02-24-00120-CR ___________________________

JOSE NORBERTO GONZALEZ, Appellant

V.

THE STATE OF TEXAS

On Appeal from the 30th District Court Wichita County, Texas Trial Court No. DC30-CR2023-1055

Before Kerr, Birdwell, and Bassel, JJ. Memorandum Opinion by Justice Kerr MEMORANDUM OPINION

Appellant Jose Norberto Gonzalez was convicted of repeatedly violating a

protective order and was sentenced to six years’ incarceration. After his conviction,

Gonzalez moved the trial court to set an appeal bond. The trial court denied the

motion because there was good cause to believe that Gonzalez was likely to commit

another offense while on bail. Gonzalez appeals from the trial court’s order denying

his appeal-bond motion, arguing in two points that the trial court erred by

(1) admitting into evidence at the appeal-bond hearing a use-of-force report and three

inmate-incident reports regarding Gonzalez’s behavior in the county jail and

(2) improperly considering information from the Public Safety Report System. We will

affirm.

I. Background

On the morning of May 19, 2023, Gonzalez and his wife of 21 years, F.G.

(Flora),1 had a disagreement, and she told him that she wanted to separate. He

responded by slapping her across the face. She then tried to leave their home, but as

she explained at trial, the situation worsened:

I was going to get out and I got my keys for the van. [I] said I’m going to call the police . . . . [Gonzalez] grabbed the telephone. He grabbed it and he said, No, you’re not gonna call anybody. And he said, And you’re not going anywhere, and he grabbed my keys out of my hand.

1 We use an alias to protect Gonzalez’s victim’s identity. See Tex. R. App. P. 9.8 cmt.; 2d Tex. App. (Fort Worth) Loc. R. 7; McClendon v. State, 643 S.W.2d 936, 936 n.1 (Tex. Crim. App. [Panel Op.] 1982).

2 ....

. . . [H]e grabbed me and threw me on the floor. . . . [H]e grabbed [a] bat and he hit me right here, and he told me that he could kill me.

And I told him please think about the kids. [I] said you’re gonna kill me and you’re gonna go to jail and the children are going to be left alone.

And I kept pushing him . . . so I could leave. He still grabbed me . . . on the floor. And then he put his arms around my neck. And he said he wouldn’t let me go. And I told him, Just let me leave. . . . I got up and he helped me get up. And then I opened the door and I took off and he went after me.

One of the couple’s children 2 called the police, and Gonzalez fled. But police

soon found him and arrested him.

Flora filed a protective-order application. On May 22, 2023—four days after

the assault—a district court signed a temporary ex parte protective order. Among

other things, the temporary order prohibited Gonzalez from committing family

violence against Flora and her household and family members, from directly

communicating with her and her household and family members, and from going

within 100 yards of Flora’s residence. The order warned that any violation of its terms

could result in criminal penalties. The order further warned that no person, including

Flora, could give permission to anyone to ignore or violate any of the order’s

provisions.

2 After they married, Flora and Gonzalez had three children. In May 2023, the children ranged in age from 13 years old to 19 years old. Gonzalez also has two older children from prior relationships; Flora considers these children to be her own.

3 When a sheriff’s deputy served the temporary protective order on Gonzalez

(who was still in jail at the time) and started to explain the order’s terms, Gonzalez

said, “Fuck that,” and then ripped the order out of the deputy’s hands and threw it

into a trash can.

After Gonzalez’s release from jail, he violated the temporary protective order

twice. On May 26, 2023, Gonzalez went inside the couple’s home because he wanted

to take a shower. Flora was not at home at the time, but some of their children were.

As one of them called the police to report a violation of the temporary order,

Gonzalez said, “[P]lease don’t call them,” indicating his awareness that he was not

supposed to be in the home. Gonzalez then hid in one of the children’s bedrooms.

When law enforcement arrived, an officer found Gonzalez inside the child’s bedroom,

lying in bed, and covered up with some blankets. The officer arrested him for

violating the temporary protective order. Gonzalez acknowledged to the arresting

officer that he was aware of the protective order.

Just over a week later, on June 3, 2023, while Gonzalez’s mother and some of

the children were at the couple’s home, Flora—through one of the children—gave

Gonzalez permission to come there under the condition that he stay outside. When

Gonzalez arrived, he kicked the home’s locked front door and demanded that she

open it. One of the children opened the door, told Gonzalez that Flora did not want

him to come inside, and pushed him away from the door. One of the other children

called the police. When a police officer arrived, Gonzalez told the officer that he

4 “knew he wasn’t supposed to be over there, but . . . he was invited.” Gonzalez

claimed that Flora had texted him permission to come to the home. But he was

unable to provide those text messages to the officer, and the officer could not find

any such text messages on Gonzalez’s cellphone. The officer arrested Gonzalez for

violating the temporary protective order.

On June 14, 2023, a district court signed an agreed final protective order. The

final order contained similar prohibitions to those in the temporary order. It granted

Flora exclusive use of the couple’s residence and, like the temporary order, prohibited

Gonzalez from going within 100 yards of it. Also like the temporary order, the final

order warned that any violation of its terms could result in criminal penalities and that

no person—including Flora—could give Gonzalez permission to violate any of its

provisions. The final order was served on Gonzalez in open court.

As with the temporary order, Gonzalez violated the final protective order. On

June 24, 2023, while Flora and two of the children were running errands, one of the

children received a notification on his cellphone that movement had triggered a

security camera he had recently installed outside Flora’s home. The child saw live

video of Gonzalez lurking around the home’s exterior before climbing through a

window; the child called the police. Police officers eventually found Gonzalez hiding

underneath a bed. Gonzalez was uncooperative and refused to come out. The officers

had to drag him out, and he was yelling and belligerent as they arrested him. Flora

later saw broken glass beneath the window through which Gonzalez had entered.

5 Not even a month later, on July 19, 2023, Flora awoke at about 2:00 a.m. to

someone crying and knocking on her back door, which leads into her bedroom. When

she cracked open the door to see what was going on, Gonzalez forced himself inside.

He asked Flora for forgiveness. One of the children called the police. The police

arrived and arrested Gonzalez for repeatedly violating the protective order.

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Jose Norberto Gonzalez v. the State of Texas, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jose-norberto-gonzalez-v-the-state-of-texas-texapp-2024.