Justin Wade Smith v. State

397 S.W.3d 765, 2013 WL 702319, 2013 Tex. App. LEXIS 1840
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 27, 2013
Docket04-12-00213-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 397 S.W.3d 765 (Justin Wade Smith 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
Justin Wade Smith v. State, 397 S.W.3d 765, 2013 WL 702319, 2013 Tex. App. LEXIS 1840 (Tex. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

OPINION

Opinion by:

SANDEE BRYAN MARION, Justice.

Justin Wade Smith, appellant, was convicted by a jury of continuous sexual abuse of a child, R.W., and sentenced to forty years’ confinement. He appeals and argues: (1) the evidence proving the second incident of abuse against R.W. occurred thirty days or more after the first incident was insufficient, (2) the evidence proving R.W. was younger than fourteen years of age on the date of the second incident was insufficient, (3) the jury charge erroneously failed to instruct the jury they must agree unanimously that appellant, during a period that is thirty days or more in duration, committed two or more acts of sexual abuse, and (4) the jury charge denied appellant his right to a unanimous verdict because it did not instruct the jury they must agree unanimously that appellant, *767 during a period that is thirty days or more in duration, committed two or more acts of sexual abuse. We affirm.

SUFFICIENCY OF THE EVIDENCE

A person commits the offense of continuous sexual abuse of a young child if, during a period that is thirty or more days in duration, the person commits two or more acts of sexual abuse and, at the time of the commission of each of the acts of sexual abuse, the actor is seventeen years of age or older and the victim is a child younger than fourteen years of age. Tex. Penal Code Ann. § 21.02 (West 2010).

In reviewing for sufficiency of the evidence, we view all of the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict to determine whether any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the offense beyond a reasonable doubt. Brooks v. State, 323 S.W.3d 893, 899 (Tex.Crim.App.2010). We give deference to the jury’s credibility and weight determinations, and to their duty to resolve conflicts in the testimony. Hooper v. State, 214 S.W.3d 9,13 (Tex.Crim.App.2007). We defer to the jury’s determination of the weight to be given to contradictory testimonial evidence because resolution is often determined by the jurors’ evaluation of the witnesses’ credibility and demeanor. Johnson v. State, 23 S.W.3d 1, 8-9 (Tex.Crim.App.2000) (en banc), overruled on other grounds by Brooks v. State, 323 S.W.3d 893, 912-13 (Tex.Crim.App.2010).

Appellant was the live-in boyfriend of Susan. 1 The victim, R.W., is Susan’s niece. R.W. was born on September 16, 1995. R.W. lives with her grandparents, but testified she would visit her Aunt Susan every other weekend and would stay with Susan and appellant. R.W. testified about two acts of sexual abuse by appellant that occurred when she was thirteen years old.

R.W. testified the first act occurred on New Year’s Eve of 2008. According to R.W., she was at Susan and appellant’s house for a New Year’s Eve party. After the party ended, everyone left, Susan went to bed, and R.W. and appellant stayed up and watched television in the living room. R.W. testified that she was lying down on the couch, falling asleep, when she awoke to find appellant touching her inappropriately. R.W. stated: “I felt something like in my pants, and he was putting his finger in my vagina hole.” R.W. yelled “stop” at appellant loud enough to wake Susan, who was sleeping in the bedroom. Susan testified she came out of the bedroom to find R.W. sitting on the couch with her knees up on the couch facing appellant, and that appellant “had his hand between her legs” above the knees. Susan asked if R.W. was okay, to which R.W. replied she was fine. Susan testified she went back to bed “thinking everything was okay.” R.W. stayed at the house until morning when her grandmother came to pick her up. She did not tell anyone about the incident.

R.W. testified the second incident happened about four months later in April of 2009. According to R.W.’s testimony, she went inside appellant’s truck to get some DVD’s. Appellant was a truck-driver and drove a semi-truck that had a small cabin inside. R.W. testified: “When I went to the cab, [appellant] was in there, and like he pushed me on the bed, and he pulled down my pants, and he stuck his penis in my hole, and I pushed him because it hurt.” R.W. testified that her “hole” meant her vagina. R.W. could not remem *768 ber how long this incident lasted. She stated after she pushed him off she ran inside, but did not tell anyone what had occurred.

In May of 2010, when she was fourteen years old, R.W. told a teacher about the abuse that had occurred. R.W. testified she finally told because she was having “really bad flashbacks” about the incidents. R.W.’s teacher, Barbara, testified R.W. came to her and told her how she was concerned about a “friend” because she felt like her “friend” was in a dangerous situation. R.W. asked Barbara about the process she would need to go through to help her “friend.” After Barbara explained the process of reporting abuse, R.W. asked if reporting the abuse would “save” the “friend.” Barbara told R.W. she “may very well be. saving her,” and R.W. then burst into tears and told Barbara, “I wish someone could save me.” Barbara took R.W. to the school counselor and they reported the sexual abuse.

In his first and second issues on appeal, appellant contends the evidence presented at trial (1) was insufficient to prove the second incident of abuse against R.W. occurred thirty days or more after the first incident and (2) was insufficient to prove R.W. was under fourteen years of age at the time of the second incident of abuse.

Appellant argues the State failed to provide sufficient evidence to prove a date or even a time period when the second incident occurred. Appellant contends R.W. testified to two different time periods as the date the second incident occurred-April 2009 and April 2010. He argues this demonstrated R.W. was not able to remember a date or time period and, therefore, the State failed to provide sufficient evidence of when the second incident occurred. Appellant also contends that because R.W. testified that she was either thirteen or fourteen at the time the second incident occurred, and because R.W. turned fourteen eight months before her outcry, the State failed to prove she was under the age of fourteen at the time of the second incident. On direct, the State questioned R.W. as follows:

Q: Now, I want to take you back to April 15th or thereabouts of 2009, okay?
A: Okay.
Q: About four months later. 2
A: Yes.

Later, on cross-examination, appellant’s trial counsel questioned R.W. about the timing of the second incident:

Q: Okay, I want to talk about the — the second incident for a moment. Now, the Prosecutor asked about a date, April 15th. of 2009.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
397 S.W.3d 765, 2013 WL 702319, 2013 Tex. App. LEXIS 1840, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/justin-wade-smith-v-state-texapp-2013.