Luther Ray Hudson v. State

CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJanuary 29, 2009
Docket14-07-00888-CR
StatusPublished

This text of Luther Ray Hudson v. State (Luther Ray Hudson 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
Luther Ray Hudson v. State, (Tex. Ct. App. 2009).

Opinion

Affirmed and Memorandum Opinion filed January 29, 2008

Affirmed and Memorandum Opinion filed January 29, 2009.

In The

Fourteenth Court of Appeals

____________

NO. 14-07-00888-CR

LUTHER RAY HUDSON, Appellant

V.

THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee

On Appeal from the 185th District Court

Harris County, Texas

Trial Court Cause No. 1095420

M E M O R A N D U M   O P I N I O N

Appellant Luther Ray Hudson appeals his conviction for aggravated robbery complaining (1) the evidence is legally and factually insufficient, (2) the in-court identification was tainted by an out-of-court identification from an impermissibly suggestive photo array, (3) the jury charge contained error, and (4) the trial court erred in denying appellant=s motion for new trial.  We affirm.

I.  Factual and Procedural Background

Police responded to a call for robbery involving four young men and the complainant, Jose Corea, his wife, and his stepson, Javier.  Corea was helping Javier move into an apartment at night.  They were moving items in the back of Corea=s pick-up truck when another vehicle blocked the truck in the apartment complex parking lot.  Four, young black men emerged from the vehicle.  The men were armed and wore grey, hooded sweatshirts with the hoods pulled over their heads.  One man placed the barrel of a pistol-grip, sawed-off shotgun against Corea=s head, and another man demanded the keys to the truck from Javier.  The man pressing the gun to Corea=s head initially wore a ski mask, but, at some point, the mask fell off, and Corea was able to see the man=s face for several seconds.

When one of the bandits cocked a gun against Javier=s head and threatened to kill him, Corea handed over the keys.  Two men forced Corea=s wife from inside the cab of the truck and then fled in Corea=s truck; the other men left in the vehicle in which they had arrived. Police recovered the abandoned truck the next day. 

The apartment complex=s video surveillance equipment recorded the incident.  Corea and his wife each described the parking lot as being well lit.  Corea maintained he would be able to recognize the robber if he saw him, but his wife acknowledged she could not.

One month after the robbery, police arrested appellant on charges unrelated to the robbery.  As part of that investigation, police found a ski mask and several guns, including a sawed-off, pistol-grip shotgun in appellant=s vehicle.

Based on information contained in a robbery offense report and based on the fact that appellant had a sawed-off shotgun in his possession, a police investigator for the robbery compiled a photo array to show Corea.  Appellant=s photo was among those included in the array.  In that photo, appellant wore a dark-colored, hooded sweatshirt with the hood pulled down at appellant=s shoulders.  After viewing the photos for several seconds, Corea identified appellant as the robber who had held a gun to his head.

Appellant was charged with aggravated robbery, to which he pleaded Anot guilty.@  Appellant filed a motion to suppress Corea=s in-court identification of appellant based on the pretrial photo array.  At a hearing on this motion, Corea identified appellant as the robber who had held the shotgun to his head.  The police investigator testified he selected the photos for a photo array based on information contained in a robbery offense report compiled by the responding officer.  The investigator testified that the offense report described the robbers as black males in grey hooded sweatshirts; one man, with a medium-colored complexion, was six feet tall at two hundred pounds, and two other men were five feet and eight inches tall at 160 pounds.  The police investigator explained that the Corea robbery involved a shotgun, but the offense report did not mention ski masks.  The investigator explained that because a sawed-off shotgun was found in appellant=s car and based on information in the robbery offense report, he created the photo array using photos of men who looked like appellant.  The trial court denied appellant=s motion to suppress.

At the jury trial that followed, Corea identified the shotgun and ski mask collected from appellant=s vehicle as being consistent with or the same as the those used in the robbery.  Corea identified appellant as one of the robbers.  The jury found appellant guilty as charged.  Upon the jury=s recommendation, the trial court ordered appellant placed in community supervision probation for ten years.

II.  Issues and Analysis

A.      Is the evidence legally and factually sufficient to support appellant=s conviction?

In two issues, appellant challenges the legal and factual sufficiency of the evidence identifying appellant as a participant in the robbery.  Furthermore, in another issue, appellant claims the trial court erred in denying his motion for an instructed verdict, which is treated as a challenge to the legal sufficiency of the evidence.  See Williams v. State, 937 S.W.2d 479, 482 (Tex. Crim. App. 1996).  Appellant claims the following facts are insufficient to support his conviction:

$                   The jury foreman signed the verdict form in the area marked Anot guilty,@ which was scratched out, and the Aguilty@ portion was signed;

$                   There is a lack of physical or circumstantial evidence;

$                  

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