McGlothlin v. State

260 S.W.3d 124, 2008 Tex. App. LEXIS 3978, 2008 WL 2229756
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMay 29, 2008
Docket2-05-317-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 260 S.W.3d 124 (McGlothlin 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
McGlothlin v. State, 260 S.W.3d 124, 2008 Tex. App. LEXIS 3978, 2008 WL 2229756 (Tex. Ct. App. 2008).

Opinion

OPINION

LEE ANN DAUPHINOT, Justice.

A jury convicted Appellant Rodney Allen McGlothlin of two counts of sexual assault of a child (Counts One and Two) and one count of indecency with a child (Count Three), all charged in a single indictment. The trial court sentenced Appellant to fifteen years’ and ten years’ confinement respectively on the sexual assault convictions and five years’ confinement for the indecency with a child conviction, with the three sentences to be served consecutively.

In twelve points, Appellant challenges the legal and factual sufficiency of the evidence, argues violations of his Sixth Amendment right to confrontation and of Texas Rules of Evidence 107 and 612, raises double jeopardy questions, and challenges the propriety of a portion of the juror questionnaire. Because the evidence is legally insufficient to support the conviction for indecency with a child, we reverse the judgment and enter an acquittal as to that count. We affirm the judgment as to the two convictions of sexual assault of a child.

BACKGROUND FACTS

Appellant was an associate pastor at Grace Worship Center in Cleburne, Texas, a church that he had started with his brother. He also had a business painting apartments.

Appellant and his wife Samantha met the complainant, H.S., at another church in August 2001, when she was fourteen. H.S. lived with her aunt at the time. Her aunt accused H.S. of molesting one of her younger cousins; H.S. was ultimately adjudicated delinquent for committing injury to a child and placed on probation. In November 2001, H.S. began living with Appellant and his wife. The McGlothlins homes- *126 chooled H.S. and became her legal guardians.

In January 2002, when H.S. was fifteen, she began painting apartments with Appellant. Another man, Roosevelt Thomas, worked with them. H.S. testified that from August or September until November 2002, Appellant had sex with her on a number of occasions. The last incident occurred on November 8, 2002. Appellant and Thomas took H.S. to a motel, where both men had sex with her.

As part of her probation, H.S. had been ordered to attend weekly counseling sessions. At her session on November 12, 2002, H.S. told counselor Therese Fleming about the sexual activity with Appellant and showed her a “hickey” on her left breast. Fleming and H.S. then told Samantha, and Fleming reported the abuse to the police.

H.S. was placed at Buckner Children’s Assessment Center in Dallas and was given a rape examination. The doctor found a condom with Thomas’s DNA lodged inside H.S.’s vagina.

Appellant was tried on two counts of sexual assault of a child under seventeen by contact and one count of indecency with a child by sexual contact. At trial, Samantha testified that Appellant had admitted to her that H.S.’s allegations were true, although initially Samantha told no one about his admissions. In July 2003, after becoming afraid that Appellant would harm her or others, she told the police.

Sufficiency of the Evidence RegaRding Count ThRee of the Indictment

In his first two points, Appellant argues that the evidence is legally and factually insufficient to support his conviction for indecency with a child as alleged in Count Three of the indictment. The State candidly agrees. As both the State and Appellant point out, the State elected to seek a conviction based on Appellant’s conduct on November 8, 2002, at the Great Western Inn. The State concedes that the evidence does not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Appellant touched H.S.’s breasts during the episode that occurred at the Great Western Inn on that date. Accordingly, we sustain Appellant’s first two points, reverse the judgment of conviction for indecency with a child as alleged in Count Three of the indictment, and enter an acquittal on that count.

We shall address the next point with regard to the only live counts, Counts One and Two. 1

Double JeopaRdy

In his tenth point, Appellant argues that the trial court’s judgments of conviction for Counts One and Two, occurring within a single episode or event, constitute double jeopardy. As both the State and Appellant agree, the State elected to prosecute Appellant for the offense that occurred on November 8, 2002, at the Great Western Inn Motel. On that date in that place, there is evidence that Appellant had H.S. perform oral sex on him and that he had vaginal intercourse with her.

Section 22.011 of the penal code provides that a person commits an offense if he intentionally or knowingly:

(A) causes the penetration of the anus or sexual organ of a child by any means;
(B) causes the penetration of the mouth of a child by the sexual organ of the actor;
(C) causes the sexual organ of a child to contact or penetrate the mouth, anus, or sexual organ of another person, including the actor; [or]
[[Image here]]
*127 (E) causes the mouth of a child to contact the anus or sexual organ of another person, including the actor. 2

Count One of the indictment provides that Appellant “did intentionally or knowingly cause the sexual organ of [H.S.], a child younger than 17 years of age who was not the spouse of [Appellant] to contact the sexual organ of [Appellant].” Count Two provides that Appellant “did intentionally or knowingly cause the mouth of [H.S.], a child younger than 17 years of age who was not the spouse of [Appellant] to contact the sexual organ of [Appellant].” Appellant argues that the convictions of sexual assault by causing H.S.’s sexual organ to contact his sexual organ and sexual assault by causing H.S.’s mouth to contact his sexual organ, both occurring within the same criminal episode, constitute two convictions and two punishments for a single offense, sexual assault occurring at the motel on November 8, 2002.

In Vick v. State, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals held that double jeopardy protections do not preclude prosecution for aggravated sexual assault of a child by causing the child’s sexual organ to contact the defendant’s mouth and, separately, prosecution for aggravated sexual assault of a child by penetrating the child’s sexual organ with the defendant’s sexual organ during the same criminal transaction. 3 The Vick court explained that when a statute prohibits disjunctively separate acts of sexually assaultive conduct, “this specificity reflects the legislature’s intent to separately and distinctly criminalize any act which constitutes the proscribed conduct. An offense is complete when a person commits any one of the proscribed acts.” 4 Consequently, the Vick court concluded that the legislature intended that each separately described act “constituted a separate and distinct statutory offense.” 5 The Vick court held that the Blockburger

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Leroy McDonald v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2015
Lee A. Rushton v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2013
David Vernon Dees v. State
508 S.W.3d 312 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2013)
Cardenas v. State
305 S.W.3d 773 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2009)
Antonio Zavala Cardenas v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2009
Richard Morgan v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2009

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
260 S.W.3d 124, 2008 Tex. App. LEXIS 3978, 2008 WL 2229756, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcglothlin-v-state-texapp-2008.