Kesaria v. State

148 S.W.3d 634, 2004 Tex. App. LEXIS 9396, 2004 WL 2376054
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedOctober 12, 2004
Docket14-03-00908-CR, 14-03-00909-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by38 cases

This text of 148 S.W.3d 634 (Kesaria 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 v. State, 148 S.W.3d 634, 2004 Tex. App. LEXIS 9396, 2004 WL 2376054 (Tex. Ct. App. 2004).

Opinion

*637 OPINION

JOHN S. ANDERSON, Justice.

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 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. Si-meen Jhaver and her thirteen-year old brother Muhamadali, were alone in them 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 Muha-madali’s hands together and covered then-eyes by wrapping them 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 Muha-madali 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.

*638 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 Altai 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, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (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, 104 S.Ct. 2052; 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’s deficiency, the result of the proceeding would have been different. Id. Appellant must identify specific acts or omissions of counsel that constitute the alleged ineffective assistance and affirmatively prove that they fell below the professional norm for reasonableness. McFarland v. State, 928 S.W.2d 482, 500 (Tex.Crim.App.1996) overruled on other grounds by, Mosley v. State, 983 S.W.2d 249, 263 (Tex.Crim.App.1998) (citing Strickland, 466 U.S. at 690, 104 S.Ct. 2052). The alleged ineffectiveness must be firmly founded in the record. Bone, 77 S.W.3d at 835. If appellant fails to satisfy either prong of the test, we do not need to consider the remaining prong. Strickland, 466 U.S. at 687, 104 S.Ct. 2052.

Judicial scrutiny of counsel’s performance must be highly deferential, and we indulge a strong presumption that counsel was effective. Id at 689, 104 S.Ct. 2052; Jackson v. State, 877 S.W.2d 768, 771 (Tex.Crim.App.1994). We presume counsel’s actions were reasonably professional and motivated by sound trial, strategy. Strickland, 466 U.S. at 689, 104 S.Ct. 2052 (stating that a fair assessment of attorney performance requires every effort to eliminate the distorting effects of hindsight and to evaluate the conduct from counsel’s perspective at the time of trial). Appellant must overcome this presumption by illustrating why trial counsel did what he did. Belcher v. State, 93 S.W.3d 593, 595 (Tex.App.-Houston [14th Dist.] 2002, pet. dism’d). When evaluating an allegation of ineffective assistance, the appellate court looks to the totality of the representation and the particular circumstances of each case. Thompson v. State, 9 S.W.3d 808, 813 (Tex.Crim.App.1999). The fact that another attorney may have acted in a different manner will not be sufficient to prove ineffective assistance, and an error in trial strategy will be considered inadequate only if counsel’s actions lack any plausible basis. Dickerson v. State, 87 S.W.3d 632, 637 (Tex.App.-San Antonio 2002, no pet.).

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Bluebook (online)
148 S.W.3d 634, 2004 Tex. App. LEXIS 9396, 2004 WL 2376054, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kesaria-v-state-texapp-2004.