Joseph Kevin Adamick v. State

Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided February 27, 2019·No. 09-17-00108-CR·Published

Opinion

In The

Court of Appeals

Ninth District of Texas at Beaumont

NO. 09-17-00108-CR

JOSEPH KEVIN ADAMICK, Appellant V.

THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee _______________________________________________________ ______________

On Appeal from the 359th District Court Montgomery County, Texas

Trial Cause No. 16-07-08376-CR ________________________________________________________ _____________

MEMORANDUM OPINION

In four appellate issues, Joseph Kevin Adamick contends his conviction for continuously sexually abusing a child should be reversed. Adamick argues (1) the trial court abused its discretion by admitting evidence about two extraneous offenses, which he claims violated his right to due process; (2) the trial court should have excluded the evidence about the extraneous offenses because it was more prejudicial than probative; (3) the trial court should have excluded the testimony of the State’s expert, who has a doctorate in clinical psychology, because his testimony was not

relevant to the facts at issue in Adamick’s case; and (4) the State failed to produce enough evidence to support the jury’s finding that he was guilty of the offense for which he was tried. For the reasons explained below, we affirm.

Sufficiency of the Evidence Because granting Adamick the relief he would be entitled to receive should we find that his fourth issue has merit would result in a judgment of acquittal, we review that issue before reviewing Adamick’s first three issues.1 In issue four, Adamick argues the evidence admitted in his trial fails to support the jury’s verdict finding him guilty of committing the alleged continuous sexual assault of the children, who are identified in Adamick’s indictment. The standard of review that applies to Adamick’s fourth issue is the standard established by the United States Supreme Court in Jackson v. Virginia. 2 In reviewing whether sufficient evidence was admitted to support a jury’s verdict, Jackson requires that appellate courts view the evidence the jury considered “‘in the light most favorable to the verdict and determine whether, based on the evidence and reasonable inferences therefrom, a

1 See Tex. R. App. P. 43.3 (requiring that appellate courts render judgment in an appeal unless a remand is necessary); Campbell v. State, 125 S.W.3d 1, 4 n.1 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2002, no pet.) (explaining the reviewing court should first address the complaints that would afford the defendant the greatest relief).

2 See 443 U.S. 307, 319 (1979).

rational juror could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.’” 3 In conducting our review, we must keep in mind that “[t]he jury is the sole judge of credibility and weight to be attached to the testimony of witnesses.”4 In its role as the factfinder in the case, the jury may choose to believe all, some, or none of the testimony admitted into evidence during the trial. 5 And the jury may draw multiple inferences from the evidence as long as the inferences that it drew were reasonable and they were supported by the evidence admitted during the trial. 6 If the record reveals that the jury could have drawn inconsistent inferences from the evidence, we still must presume the jury resolved any such conflicts in a manner that favors the jury’s verdict, and we must defer to the ultimate conclusion the jury reached in the dispute if its resolution was reasonable based on the evidence that was before it in the trial.7 “Under this standard, evidence may be legally insufficient when the record contains either no evidence of an essential element,

3 Anderson v. State, 416 S.W.3d 884, 888 (Tex. Crim. App. 2013) (quoting Jackson, 443 U.S. at 318-19).

4 Temple v. State, 390 S.W.3d 341, 360 (Tex. Crim. App. 2013) (citing Jackson, 443 U.S. at 319).

5 Chambers v. State, 805 S.W.2d 459, 461 (Tex. Crim. App. 1991).

6 Temple, 390 S.W.3d at 360 (citing Jackson, 443 U.S. at 319).

7 Id.

merely a modicum of evidence of one element, or if it conclusively establishes a reasonable doubt.”8 Under Texas law, a person seventeen years of age or older commits the crime of continuous sexual abuse of either a young child, or children, if, during a period of thirty days or more, the person commits two or more acts of sexual abuse against one or more children who are not yet fourteen. 9 The crime of continuous sexual abuse, given the statute’s definition of “sexual abuse,” includes indecency with a child by contact, sexual assault, and aggravated sexual assault. 10, 11

8 Britain v. State, 412 S.W.3d 518, 520 (Tex. Crim. App. 2013) (citing Jackson, 443 U.S. at 320).

9 See Tex. Penal Code Ann. § 21.02(b) (West Supp. 2018).

10 Id. § 21.02(c) (West Supp. 2018).

11 Adamick’s indictment alleged that between May 20, 2014, and October 8, 2014, a period that was thirty days or more in duration, he committed two or more acts of sexual abuse against (1) “Tracy,” a child younger than 14 years of age, namely by crimes that involved both touching her in various places and by penetrating various parts of her body, and against (2) “John,” a child younger than fourteen years of age, by having him touch the sexual organ of another child, “Molly,” and against (3) Molly, a child younger than six years of age, by having her touch John’s sexual organ with her hands and mouth, and by penetrating Molly with his sexual organ. We also note that Adamick’s indictment employs “on or about” language regarding the dates the alleged offenses occurred. Therefore, any testimony in the record showing that Adamick sexually abused the children in the ways alleged in the indictment is evidence the jury could have used to find Adamick guilty, so long as the testimony concerned incidents of sexual abuse that occurred before July 21, 2016, the date the grand jury indicted him. See Thomas v. State, 444 S.W.3d 4,

In issue four, Adamick claims the jury could not reasonably rely on what he characterizes as “bare allegations by [“Tracy,” “Molly” and “John”]12 of alleged sexual abuse” at his hands. But the evidence before the jury contains more than their bare allegations, since Tracy and John testified in the trial and there were adults who testified that the children told them about Adamick’s acts of sexual abuse. While Adamick concedes in his brief that the uncorroborated testimony of a child who is the victim of sexual abuse is sufficient to support a conviction for aggravated sexual assault, he contends that the testimony before the jury was insufficient because the accounts the children gave about the abuse, whether in court or to adults who testified about what the children told them, were not reasonably credible.13

9 (Tex. Crim. App. 2014) (explaining that when the indictment employs the phrase “on or about” and the evidence admitted shows the defendant committed an offense on a date that differs from that dates in the indictment, “the offense took place ‘on or about’ the date alleged in the indictment” so long as the conduct proven in the trial occurred before limitations for that crime expired). We further note that no statute of limitations exists for the crime of continuous sexual abuse of a child. Tex. Code Crim. Proc. Ann. art. 12.01(1)(D) (West Supp. 2018) (we cite the current version of the statute because the changes the Legislature made to the limitations periods in section 12.01 are not relevant to the issues in Adamick’s case).

12 To protect the privacy of the children, their mother, and one of the other witnesses who is discussed in the opinion, we have chosen to identify them by using pseudonyms instead of using their names. See Tex. Const. art. I, § 30(a)(1) (granting crime victims “the right to be treated with fairness and with respect for the victim’s dignity and privacy throughout the criminal justice process”).

13 See Tex. Code Crim. Proc. Ann. art. 38.07 (West Supp. 2018).

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