McKithan v. State

324 S.W.3d 582, 2010 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 1392, 2010 WL 4483511
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Texas
DecidedNovember 10, 2010
DocketPD-0969-09, PD-0811-09
StatusPublished
Cited by112 cases

This text of 324 S.W.3d 582 (McKithan v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McKithan v. State, 324 S.W.3d 582, 2010 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 1392, 2010 WL 4483511 (Tex. 2010).

Opinions

OPINION

HERVEY, J.,

delivered the opinion of the Court

in which KELLER, P.J., MEYERS, WOMACK, KEASLER, HOLCOMB and COCHRAN, JJ„ joined.

In these consolidated cases, we address whether, under the cognate-pleadings approach of the step-one lesser-included-offense analysis set out in our decision in Hall v. State, 225 S.W.3d 524 (Tex.Cr.App.2007), offensive-contact assault1 is a lesser-included offense of the charged offense of bodily-injury assault2 in an indictment alleging bodily injury by “kicking” the complainant (Welsh) and of the charged offense of aggravated sexual assault in an indictment alleging that the complainant was compelled to submit and participate by the use of “physical force and violence” (McKithan). We also address McKithan’s claim that bodily-injury assault is a lesser-included offense of the charged aggravated-sexual-assault offense. We decide that offensive-contact assault is a not lesser-included offense of the charged offenses in Welsh and in McKithan and that bodily-injury assault also is not a lesser-included offense of the charged offense in McKi-than.

An indictment charged Welsh with committing bodily-injury assault by “kicking” the complainant (Welsh’s wife) with his foot.3 The trial court denied Welsh’s re[584]*584quest for a jury instruction on the nonen-hanceable Class C misdemeanor offense of offensive-contact assault.4 A jury convicted Welsh of the charged third-degree felony of bodily-injury assault and sentenced him, as an habitual offender, to eighteen years in prison.5

Welsh claimed on direct appeal that he was entitled to a jury instruction on offensive-contact assault as a lesser-included offense of the charged offense of bodily-injury assault. The court of appeals decided that offensive-contact assault is not a lesser-included offense of the charged bodily-injury-assault offense because, to establish that Welsh caused bodily injury to the complainant “by kicking her with his foot, the State was not required to prove that Welsh knew or reasonably should have believed that [the complainant] would regard the contact as offensive or provocative.” See Welsh v. State, No. 2-08-169-CR, slip op. at 4-5, 2009 WL 1425194 (Tex.App.-Fort Worth, delivered May 21, 2009) (not designated for publication).

McKithan was charged with aggravated sexual assault in an indictment that in six paragraphs alleged alternative manners and means of committing this offense. The first paragraph of the indictment alleged that McKithan sexually assaulted the complainant by placing his finger inside the complainant’s sexual organ and that McKithan compelled the complainant to submit and participate by the use of “physical force and violence, and by acts and words the Defendant placed the Complainant in fear that SERIOUS BODILY INJURY would be imminently inflicted on [the complainant].”6 (Capitalization in original). The first paragraph of McKi-than’s indictment specifically alleged:

The duly organized Grand Jury of Harris County, Texas, presents in the District Court of Harris County, Texas, that in Harris County, Texas, JULIAN MARS MCKITHAN, hereafter styled the Defendant, heretofore on or about DECEMBER 17, 2006, did then and there unlawfully, intentionally and knowingly cause the penetration of the FEMALE SEXUAL ORGAN of [the complainant], hereinafter called the Complainant, by placing A FINGER in the FEMALE SEXUAL ORGAN of the Complainant, without the consent of the Complainant, namely, the Defendant compelled the Complainant to submit and participate by the use of physical force and violence, and by acts and words the Defendant placed the Complainant in fear that SERIOUS BODILY INJURY would be imminently inflicted on [the complainant].

(Emphasis in bold and capitalization in original).7

[585]*585McKithan testified at trial and denied having sexual contact with the complainant, but admitted assaulting her by, among other things, “slapping and punching” her. The trial court denied his request for jury instructions on bodily-injury assault and on offensive-contact assault.8 A jury convicted McKithan of the charged aggravated-sexual-assault offense and sentenced him, as an habitual offender, to life in prison.9

We understand McKithan to have claimed on direct appeal that he was entitled to jury instructions on bodily-injury assault and on offensive-contact assault as lesser-ineluded offenses of the charged aggravated-sexual-assault offense under the “physical force and violence” allegation in the first paragraph of the indictment.10 The court of appeals rejected this claim because neither “bodily injury” nor “offensive touching” are “within the elements of aggravated sexual assault as charged in the indictment, which relied on assault by threat or kidnapping as aggravating factors.” See McKithan v. State, No. 01-08-00222-CR, slip op. at 9, 2009 WL 1562888 (Tex.App.-Houston [1st Dist.], delivered June 4, 2009) (not designated for publication) (“However, we must address appellant’s contention that assault bodily injury and assault offensive touching were lesser-ineluded offenses of aggravated sexual assault as charged in the indictment. Assault bodily injury requires proof that the defendant caused bodily injury to the complainant; assault offensive touching requires proof that the defendant knew or should have reasonably believed that the complainant would regard the contact as offensive or provocative. Neither of these elements are within the elements of aggravated sexual assault as charged in the indictment, which relied on assault by threat or kidnapping as aggravating factors.”).11

[586]*586We granted discretionary review in these cases and consolidated them. In Welsh, we granted review of the following ground:

The Fort Worth Court of Appeals erred in holding that appellant was not entitled to an instruction on the lesser included offense of assault by contact.12

In McKithan, we granted review of the following ground:

Was the Court of Appeals correct in saying assault — offensive touching — is not allowed when the indictment says the defendant used force and violence against the complainant?13

[587]*587Article 37.09(1), Tex.Code Crim. Proo., provides that an offense is a lesser-included offense “if it is established by proof of the same or less than all the facts required to establish the commission of the offense charged.”14 In Hall, we adopted the cognate-pleadings approach for the first step of the lesser-included offense analysis and recognized that this approach is compatible with, and is “the better analysis” of, Article 37.09. See Hall,

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
324 S.W.3d 582, 2010 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 1392, 2010 WL 4483511, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mckithan-v-state-texcrimapp-2010.