Mott v. State of Texas

835 S.W.2d 256, 1992 WL 178655
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedNovember 25, 1992
DocketA14-91-01030-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 835 S.W.2d 256 (Mott v. State of Texas) 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
Mott v. State of Texas, 835 S.W.2d 256, 1992 WL 178655 (Tex. Ct. App. 1992).

Opinion

OPINION

J. CURTISS BROWN, Chief Justice.

Carl Mott, appellant, was indicted for the offense of aggravated assault on a correctional officer, enhanced by two prior felony convictions for unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and aggravated robbery. He pled not guilty and was convicted by a jury. Appellant pled true to both enhancement paragraphs and the jury found them to be true. The jury assessed punishment at 25 years confinement in the Texas Department of Corrections. 1 Appellant raises three points of error complaining the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction, the trial court erred in its definition of the terms “knowingly” and “intentionally,” and the trial court erred in allowing his sentence to be enhanced. We affirm.

Appellant is an inmate at the Darrington Unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice-Institutional Division. On May 21, 1988, he was scheduled for a shower. Appellant argued with Robert L. Gates (Gates), a guard, about whether appellant could take an extra pair of shoes with him to shower. Gates cancelled the shower and appellant asked to see a Sergeant. After Gates left, appellant threw water on the run in front of his cell. Another guard, Anthony Houston (Houston), came by and asked appellant about the water. Appellant told Houston his shower had been can-celled and he wanted to see a Sergeant. When Sergeant Danny James (James) arrived at appellant’s cell, James asked him about the water on the run in front of the *258 cell. Appellant repeated his request for a shower and James refused. Appellant then showed James a light bulb, with the metal end removed, full of water, and told him if he did not get to shower he would throw it at the officer. James told appellant he “could not allow him shower,” and he “took a step to the right just in case [appellant] did throw the light bulb.” James told appellant to “set it down.” Appellant did not put it down but instead threw the light bulb at the officer. The bulb hit a wire mesh security screen on the front of the cell and shattered. The “glass came out and hit [James] and water went over the upper portion of [his] body and face.” Houston, who witnessed the incident, saw the liquid come out of appellant’s cell and told James that his left ear was bleeding. Although the cut bled and did hurt James, it did not require stitches.

In point of error one, appellant contends the evidence is insufficient to support his conviction for aggravated assault of a correctional officer.

In reviewing the sufficiency of the evidence, the Court must view “all the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict” and determine whether a rational trier of fact could have found the evidence sufficient to establish beyond a reasonable doubt that appellant intended to assault James. Villalon v. State, 791 S.W.2d 130, 132 (Tex.Crim.App.1990) (quoting Blankenship v. State, 780 S.W.2d 198, 206-07 (Tex.Crim.App.1988)). See Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979). The standard is the same whether we are reviewing the sufficiency of circumstantial or direct evidence. See Geesa v. State, 820 S.W.2d 154 (Tex.Crim.App.1991). The trier of fact may judge the credibility of the witnesses, may reconcile conflicts in the testimony, and accept or reject any or all of the evidence on either side. Chambers v. State, 805 S.W.2d 459, 461 (Tex.Crim.App.1991); Hernandez v. State, 538 S.W.2d 127, 131 (Tex.Crim.App.1976). Thus, the evidence is sufficient to sustain a conviction if the collective weight of all the incriminating circumstances is sufficient. Livingston v. State, 739 S.W.2d 311, 330 (Tex.Crim.App.1987), cert. denied, 487 U.S. 1210, 108 S.Ct. 2858, 101 L.Ed.2d 895 (1988).

In the instant case, it is uncontroverted that James was employed as a Sergeant of Correctional Officers with the Texas Department of Corrections. On direct examination, James testified that appellant told him he was going to “hit [him] with this,” and showed him “a light bulb,” with “the metal tip taken off,” full of water. He stated that after he told appellant he could not let him shower, appellant threw the light bulb at him. James testified that when the glass hit the left side of his face it hurt and he knew he had been cut on the ear. Houston corroborated that the liquid came from appellant’s cell, and James was cut and bleeding.

Appellant contends the State’s evidence does not eliminate the reasonable hypothesis that he only intended to hit James with the water. A reasonable hypothesis must be supported by the evidence. Dickey v. State, 693 S.W.2d 386, 388 (Tex.Crim.App.1984). Based on the evidence in this ease, a reasonable person throwing a glass light bulb full of water at a metal screen, would know that both the shattered glass and water are going to strike the officer on the other side of the screen. Intent can be inferred from the evidence, and the jury made the reasonable inference that appellant intended to cause James bodily injury by his actions. See Thomas v. State, 750 S.W.2d 320, 322 (Tex.App.—Dallas 1988, no pet.) (citing Guerra v. State, 657 S.W.2d 511, 513 (Tex.App.—Corpus Christi 1983, pet. ref’d)). Appellant offered no evidence to establish that he reasonably believed only the water would go through the screen, or how that could really have happened on these facts. The evidence is sufficient for a rational trier of fact to find every element of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. We overrule appellant’s point of error one.

In point of error two, appellant alleges the trial court erred during the guilt/innocence phase of trial by giving the jury a charge which failed to limit the definitions of the terms “knowingly” and *259 “intentionally” to the result of the conduct. Appellant argues that the theory of assault he was charged under makes it a result oriented crime and the necessary culpable mental state must apply to the result of the conduct and not to the conduct itself. See Sneed v. State, 803 S.W.2d 833, 835 (Tex.App.—Dallas 1991, pet. ref’d).

The jury charge in the instant case defined “intentionally” and “knowingly” as follows:

A person acts intentionally, or with intent, with respect to the nature of his conduct or to a result of his conduct when it is his conscious objective or desire to engage in the conduct or cause the result,

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Bluebook (online)
835 S.W.2d 256, 1992 WL 178655, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mott-v-state-of-texas-texapp-1992.