Kyle Leslie Lackey v. State

CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedDecember 16, 2009
Docket08-08-00012-CR
StatusPublished

This text of Kyle Leslie Lackey v. State (Kyle Leslie Lackey 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
Kyle Leslie Lackey v. State, (Tex. Ct. App. 2009).

Opinion

COURT OF APPEALS EIGHTH DISTRICT OF TEXAS EL PASO, TEXAS

KYLE LESLIE LACKEY, § No. 08-08-00012-CR Appellant, § Appeal from the v. § 366th District Court THE STATE OF TEXAS, § of Collin County, Texas Appellee. § (TC# 366-83112-06) §

OPINION

Kyle Lackey, Appellant, appeals the trial court’s revocation of his community supervision.

We affirm.

BACKGROUND

After pleading guilty to twelve counts of possession of child pornography, Appellant was

sentenced to ten years of community supervision and ordered to pay a $1,500 fine on each count.

The State later filed a motion to revoke his supervisions. Appellant pled true to six out of the State’s

eleven allegations, and the trial court, finding all eleven allegations true, revoked his supervisions

and sentenced him to ten years in prison on each count, with Counts I and II to run consecutively and

all other counts to run concurrently.

Appellant’s original appellate counsel filed a brief with this Court contending that the trial

court abused its discretion by: (1) sentencing Appellant to multiple punishments for the same

offense in violation of the double-jeopardy clause when many of the counts alleged the same

elements and descriptive language; (2) ordering, on revocation, Appellant’s sentences to run

consecutively when he ordered the sentences to run concurrently at Appellant’s original plea hearing; and (3) failing to consider the entire range of punishment. Appellant’s counsel later filed a motion

to withdraw, and we granted it. We further ordered Appellant’s new counsel to file a supplemental

brief, raising any additional issues. Appellant’s supplemental brief repeated that the trial court

abused its discretion by ordering his sentences to run consecutively when the court previously

ordered them to run concurrently, but counsel also raised three additional issues, namely, that the

trial court’s stacking order was void because he already began serving his sentence, that Appellant

did not receive a fair and impartial hearing, and that the evidence did not support the trial court’s

findings on revocation.1

SUFFICIENCY OF THE EVIDENCE

We begin first with a discussion of Appellant’s final issue in his supplemental brief, which

contends that the evidence was insufficient to support a finding of true on allegations 1, 2, 3, 9, and

10 in the State’s motion to revoke. Because Appellant asks that we reverse the judgment revoking

supervision upon determining that the evidence was insufficient to support a finding of true on the

complained-of allegations, we interpret Appellant’s complaint as one of sufficiency to support

revocation.

In reviewing a probation revocation, we examine the evidence in the light most favorable to

the trial court’s findings to determine whether the trial court abused its discretion. Cardona v. State,

665 S.W.2d 492, 493-94 (Tex. Crim. App. 1984). If there was proof of at least one violation of the

1 Although the State filed a brief responding to the issues raised in Appellant’s supplemental brief, the State did not address the issues raised in Appellant’s original brief. Nevertheless, we have conducted an independent analysis of the merits of all the issues raised by Appellant. See Little v. State, 246 S.W .3d 391, 398 (Tex. App.–Amarillo 2008, no pet.); Siverand v. State, 89 S.W .3d 216, 220 (Tex. App.–Corpus Christi 2002, no pet.); In re K.M., No. 2-07-389-CV, 2008 W L 4445544, at *1 (Tex. App.–Fort W orth Oct. 2, 2008, no pet.) (mem. op., not designated for publication); In re A.D. Bowman, No. 03-07-00418-CR, 2007 W L 4269842, at *2 (Tex. App.–Austin Dec. 5, 2007, no pet.) (mem. op., not designated for publication).

2 terms of community supervision, the evidence is sufficient to support revocation. O’Neal v. State,

623 S.W.2d 660, 661 (Tex. Crim. App. 1981). Moreover, a plea of true, standing alone, is sufficient

to support revocation. Moses v. State, 590 S.W.2d 469, 470 (Tex. Crim. App. 1979); Brooks v.

State, 995 S.W.2d 762, 763 (Tex. App.–San Antonio 1999, no pet.).

Here, the State’s amended motion to revoke alleged eleven violations: (1) Appellant reported

to the sex-offender therapist on September 5, 2007, smelling of alcohol; (2) Appellant attended sex-

offender counseling on September 11, 2007, with alcohol on his breath; (3) Appellant attended sex-

offender counseling on September 18, 2007, with alcohol on his breath; (4) Appellant’s blood-

alcohol level was .283 on September 25, 2007; (5) Appellant’s blood-alcohol level was .108 on

September 27, 2007; (6) Appellant consumed alcohol on August 1, 2007; (7) Appellant’s SCRAM

registered a continuous alcohol detection from September 27, 2007, through October 3, 2007; (8)

Appellant initiated contact with minor children by sending a hand-written letter to his son on July

3, 2007; (9) Appellant initiated contact with minor children by talking to his niece; (10) Appellant

accessed the internet without the court’s permission; and (11) Appellant failed to perform any of his

160 hours of community service. Appellant pled true to allegations 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 11, and he

further admitted to allegations 7 and 11 during his testimony at the motion-to-revoke hearing. The

trial court found those allegations true. Therefore, we find Appellant’s pleas of true and admissions

were sufficient, standing alone, to support the trial court’s revocation of supervision regardless of

whether the evidence supported the court’s findings on allegations 1, 2, 3, 9, and 10. See Moses, 590

S.W.2d at 470; Cole v. State, 578 S.W.2d 127, 128 (Tex. Crim. App. [Panel Op.] 1979); Williams

v. State, 910 S.W.2d 83, 86 (Tex. App.–El Paso 1995, no pet.); Battles v. State, 626 S.W.2d 149, 150

(Tex. App.–Fort Worth 1981, no pet.). Accordingly, we overrule Appellant’s fourth issue in his

3 supplemental brief.

IMPARTIAL HEARING

Appellant also contends that he was not afforded a fair and impartial hearing. In his original

brief, Appellant’s fourth issue alleges that the trial court entered a predetermined sentence and failed

to consider the entire punishment range. Appellant’s third issue in his supplemental brief asserts that

the trial court’s prejudicial comments exhibited bias. We disagree.

Due process not only requires that a neutral and detached judicial officer presides over the

proceedings, but also that the judicial officer considers the entire range of punishment before

sentencing a defendant. See Brumit v. State, 206 S.W.3d 639, 645 (Tex. Crim. App. 2006). Absent

a clear showing to the contrary, we presume that the trial court was neutral and impartial, and that

it considered the entire range of punishment. Id.

The State asserts that Appellant’s complaints are not preserved for our review. However, the

Court of Criminal Appeals recently declined to decide whether a party must object below to judicial

bias or impartiality to preserve error. Brumit, 206 S.W.3d at 644-45. Therefore, assuming error was

preserved, we find there was no evidence that the trial court behaved without impartiality.

Judicial remarks during the course of a trial that are critical or disapproving of, or even

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