Kesaria, Asad Wali v. State

CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedOctober 12, 2004
Docket14-03-00909-CR
StatusPublished

This text of Kesaria, Asad Wali v. State (Kesaria, Asad Wali 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
Kesaria, Asad Wali v. State, (Tex. Ct. App. 2004).

Opinion

Affirmed and Opinion filed October 12, 2004

Affirmed and Opinion filed October 12, 2004.

In The

Fourteenth Court of Appeals

____________

NO. 14-03-00908-CR

NO. 14-03-00909-CR

ASAD WALI KESARIA, Appellant

V.

THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee

On Appeal from the 262nd Judicial District Court

Harris County, Texas

Trial Court Cause Nos. 946,507 & 955,154

OP I N I O N


Appellant Asad Wali Kesaria was convicted by a jury in a single trial of two felony offenses: (1) burglary of a habitation with intent to commit theft; and (2) burglary of a habitation with intent to commit injury to a child.  The jury assessed punishment in each cause at ten years= confinement, probated for ten years, and a $10,000,00 fine.  As a condition of appellant=s probation, the court ordered appellant to serve 180 days in the Harris County Jail for each conviction and required those periods to run consecutively.  Asserting five points of error in two separate briefs, appellant contends: (1) he was denied effective assistance of counsel; (2) the evidence was factually insufficient to sustain the conviction; (3) the trial court erred by excluding an excited utterance; (4) the exclusion of the excited utterance deprived him of due process and the right to present a defense; and (5) the trial court erred in stacking the jail time for each offense.  Because all dispositive issues are clearly settled in law, we issue this memorandum opinion.  See Tex. R. App. P. 47.4.  We affirm.  

Background

On March 18, 2003, at approximately 10:30 p.m., twenty-nine year old Dr. Simeen Jhaver and her thirteen-year old brother Muhamadali, were alone in their home watching television in the living room when they heard the rustling of window blinds in the adjoining master bedroom.  Simeen walked into that bedroom and observed one man inside and another coming through the window, both wearing stocking masks and gloves.

Simeen attempted to run out of the room and was pushed down by one of the men.  Muhamadali hit one of the burglars and was subsequently punched in the face suffering an injury to his nose.  Using duct tape, the men tied Simeen and Muhamadali=s hands together and covered their eyes by wrapping their heads with the tape.

Simeen and Muhamadali testified the intruders were inside their home approximately twenty to thirty minutes.  They testified that during that time, appellant remained with them, got Muhamadali a towel to stop his bleeding nose, and talked while his accomplice went throughout the house taking money and jewelry.  Simeen testified she could see appellant through slits in the duct tape, and because her hands were tied in front of her, she was able to adjust the tape.  She recognized appellant by physique, height, structure of his face, and voice.  Muhamadali testified that he was able to see appellant before his eyes were taped, and while taped, when he was lying down.  Both Simeen and Muhamadali testified that they were familiar with appellant because they attended the same mosque and, on several occasions, appellant had been a guest in their house.


However, three witnesses testified appellant could not have committed the crimes at the time alleged because he was with them at a birthday party.  Appellant=s first alibi witness, his sister-in-law, stated appellant came to her house before nightfall with a friend to celebrate her son=s eighth birthday and did not leave until midnight.  Appellant=s second witness, his fifteen-year-old niece and daughter of his sister-in-law, similarly testified that appellant came to the house around 8:30 p.m. and was still there when she went to sleep at 11:30 that evening.  Appellant=s third witness, a seventeen-year-old friend of appellant, testified that he accompanied appellant to the birthday party at 8:30 P.M. and that they did not leave until midnight.                               

Ineffective Assistance of Counsel

In his first issue, appellant asserts he was denied effective assistance of counsel because his attorney failed to object to harmful hearsay and double hearsay.  Specifically, on direct examination of Detective Brown, Brown testified that he had been informed appellant was involved.  Brown stated that he got the information from the reporting deputy=s report and the information on the report was taken from statements made by one of the witnesses and Altaf Kesaria, appellant=s brother.  Later, during closing arguments, the prosecutor repeated the information. 


The United States Supreme Court has established a two-prong test to determine whether counsel was ineffective.  Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 687 (1984).  Appellant must prove (1) his trial counsel=s representation was deficient and (2) his trial counsel=s deficient performance was so serious that it prejudiced his defense.  Id. at 686-87; Bone v. State, 77 S.W.3d 828, 833 (Tex. Crim. App. 2002).  To establish deficient performance, appellant must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that counsel=s representation fell below the objective standard of prevailing professional norms, and there is a reasonable probability that, but for counsel=

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