Lopez v. State

468 S.W.2d 365, 1971 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 1917
Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas·Decided June 16, 1971·No. 43739·Published·Cited by 24 cases

Opinion

OPINION

ROBERTS, Judge.

This is an appeal from a conviction for rape; the jury assessed the punishment at 20 years.

The evidence, viewed most favorably to the jury’s verdict, shows that on the evening of June 15, 1969, the prosecutrix, age *366 15, was raped in Donna, Texas. She was in a car with Ike-, age 17, and also in the same car was Freddie - — , age 17, and Mary-, age 15. The car was parked near Donna High School when a police officer came by and found Ike and Freddie drinking beer. He took all four of the occupants of the car to the police station and charged the two boys with the possession of alcoholic beverages by a minor, then brought them back to their car. When Ike tried to start the car he found he had left his keys at the police station and started walking to get them. As he walked down the road, a car containing the four boys involved in this case sped past him almost running him down. He walked a bit further and found two more police officers who gave him a ride to the police station and took him back to his car.

In the meantime, the prosecutrix, Freddie, and Mary were in the car when the car with the four boys drove by and the four boys asked them if there was any trouble and offered to help. The four boys in the other car had some discussion in Spanish which the prosecutrix and those with her did not understand. Then appellant told the prosecutrix and those with her that he and the other three boys wanted to have sexual intercourse with the girls in the car. Freddie replied, “There are no girls around here like that.” Appellant then said, “Well, what about those two in the car.” Freddie replied, “Sorry, but they don’t.” The four boys who had been speaking Spanish began hitting the hood of the car with a set of jumper cables. The appellant and another boy forcibly pulled the prosecutrix out of the car and threw her on the hood and one of them pulled off the shorts she was wearing and the appellant tore off her panties. One of them then raped her there on the hood. They pulled the prosecutrix into a nearby cotton field and two others raped her. Freddie tried to stop the four boys but they pushed him back and hit him with the jumper cables and told him they had a pistol and would kill him if he got out of the car. At this time the police approached bringing Ike back to the car. The appellant and two of the other boys got in their car and left. The appellant was the only one of the four who did not have sexual intercourse with the prosecutrix.

Police chased down the car and arrested the three boys inside. The prosecutrix testified that appellant ripped her panties off; that he ordered her to kiss him or he would whip her with a bull whip; that while this conversation was transpiring the other three boys were pushing each other around and fighting over who was going to be first; that she asked them to leave her alone; that after the rape on the hood that two of the boys dragged her out into the field and she was raped again; that the appellant told her and Freddie that if they told anyone about what happened they would kill all of them. She also testified that she was a virgin at the time of the rape, and that the rape caused her great pain.

The appellant testified that he did not assent to the rapes and tried to prevent the others from raping both girls.

The appellant’s first three grounds of error challenge the admissibility of the in-court identifications, claiming they were tainted by a pre-trial’identification. At the trial, the appellant was identified as one of the boys involved by the prosecutrix, Freddie and Mary. The State did not at any time during the trial make reference to any “out-of-court” identification.

Before the prosecutrix was allowed to identify the appellant, a hearing was held upon the appellant’s motion, outside the presence of the jury, to determine the admissibility of her identification. It was established that about three weeks prior to trial a hearing on a writ of habeas corpus was held in which she was present. At this hearing she identified the appellant. The other three boys involved were not present. There was no lineup; the procedure used was that prosecutrix was asked if she could *367 identify the appellant, and she did so. At the conclusion of the hearing, the court denied the appellant’s motion for mistrial and when the complaining witness identified the appellant in the presence of the jury, the court denied the appellant’s objection to her identification.

Freddie also identified the appellant as the one who pulled the prosecutrix from the car. He also testified that the appellant told Mary he would protect her and Freddie if she would kiss him; she then kissed him.

Mary identified the appellant as one of the four boys and as the one who came to the car and said that the boys wanted to have sexual intercourse with the girls and as one of the boys who pulled the pros-ecutrix from the car and that the appellant pulled off the prosecutrix’s panties.

No objections were made to either of these witness’ testimony. ' Therefore, any error is waived. Macias v. State, Tex.Cr. App., 386 S.W.2d 534; 5 Tex.Jur.2d 61, Sec. 39.

The appellant himself testified that his friends raped the prosecutrix, first on the hood of the car and then in the cotton field. Other witnesses testified, without objection, that the appellant (1) told the occupants of the car that the boys wanted to have intercourse with the girls; (2) pulled the prosecutrix out of the car; (3) and tore off the prosecutrix’s panties. Since these facts to which the prosecu-trix testified were established either by the appellant himself or by other witnesses without objection, the appellant is in no position to complain of the testimony by the prosecutrix. Hardy v. State, 170 Tex. Cr.R. 253, 339 S.W.2d 899; Flores v. State, 167 Tex.Cr.R. 91, 318 S.W.2d 663; Gonzales v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 389 S.W.2d 306; 5 Tex.Jur.2d 704, Sec. 46.

As for the matters to which the prosecutrix testified which were not established by other testimony, the court properly held a hearing to determine whether the in-court identification was tainted by an illegal pre-trial identification. During that hearing, no evidence was adduced that the previous identification was invalid because counsel was not present. See: Martinez v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 437 S.W.2d 842; United States v. Wade, 388 U.S. 218, 87 S.Ct. 1926, 18 L.Ed.2d 1149; Gilbert v. California, 388 U.S. 263, 87 S.Ct. 1951, 18 L.Ed.2d 1178. In fact, later testimony indicated that counsel was present. Thus, it would not be an abuse of discretion for the court to find that counsel was present and the identification was valid.

But even if the identification were invalid, it would not be an abuse of discretion for the trial court to conclude that the in-court identification was not tainted.

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Lopez v. State, 468 S.W.2d 365, 1971 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 1917 (Tex. 1971).

468 S.W.2d 365 (Lopez v. State) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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