Murray v. State

24 S.W.3d 881, 2000 WL 964691
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedAugust 2, 2000
Docket10-99-071-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by104 cases

This text of 24 S.W.3d 881 (Murray 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
Murray v. State, 24 S.W.3d 881, 2000 WL 964691 (Tex. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

OPINION

BILL VANCE, Justice.

Edward Murray attacks his convictions for aggravated sexual assault and indecency with a child, and the enhanced sentences of life imprisonment for each offense, raising eight issues for our review. We will find that (1) the evidence is legally and factually sufficient to sustain the jury’s verdict on both counts, (2) although Murray can complain for the first time on appeal that his double jeopardy rights were violated by his punishment for both offenses, his complaint is without merit, (3) Murray cannot complain for the first time on appeal that his equal protection rights, due process/due course of law rights, or his right to effective assistance of counsel were violated by the trial court’s failure to inform the jury that Murray faced a mandatory life sentence if he were convicted of the aggravated sexual assault charge as a habitual sexual offender, and (4) the trial court did not err by refusing to grant a mistrial after a State’s witness mentioned that he had contacted Murray’s parole officer when searching for Murray or by refusing to exclude the testimony of another State’s witness that Murray argues should have been disclosed to him under the court’s discovery order. Having rejected all of Murray’s complaints, we will affirm his convictions.

Legal Sufficiency of the Evidence

We first consider Murray’s attacks on the legal sufficiency of the evidence to support the jury’s verdicts on both counts. In determining whether the evidence is legally sufficient to support the verdict, we view the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict, asking whether any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. Weightman v. State, 975 S.W.2d 621, 624 (Tex.Crim.App.1998); Lane v. State, 933 S.W.2d 504, 507 (Tex.Crim.App.1996) (citing Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 318-19, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 2788-89, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979)); Westfall v. State, 970 S.W.2d 590, 595 (Tex.App.—Waco 1998, pet. ref'd). The evidence is measured by the elements^ of the offense as defined by a hypothetically correct jury charge for the case. Malik v. State, 953 S.W.2d 234, 239-40 (Tex.Crim.App.1997). We consider all evidence adduced at trial whether or not properly admitted. Fuller v. State, 827 S.W.2d 919, 931 (Tex.Crim.App.1992); Coleman v. State, 979 S.W.2d 438, 440 (Tex.App.—Waco 1998, no pet.)

To show that Murray was guilty of aggravated sexual assault as alleged in the indictment, the State was required to prove he intentionally or knowingly caused the penetration of the victim’s female sexual organ by his finger, and that the victim was a child younger than fourteen years of age who was not his spouse. Tex. Pen. Code Ann. § 22.021(a)(1)(B)®, (a)(2)(B) (Vernon Supp.2000). Before us, Murray *886 contests only the State’s proof to show that he caused the penetration of the victim’s sexual organ. The victim, an eleven year old girl, testified that she felt “[m]ore than one finger going in [her] vagina” during the assault by Murray. During cross-examination, she confirmed that she “felt more than one finger in [her] vagina and that it hurt[.]” The victim’s testimony is sufficient to support the jury’s finding that Murray caused the penetration of her sexual organ. Vernon v. State, 841 S.W.2d 407, 409-10 (Tex.Crim.App.1992).

To establish the offense of indecency with a child, as alleged in the indictment, the State was required to show that Murray knowingly or intentionally engaged in sexual contact with the victim by touching her genitals with the intent to arouse or gratify his own sexual desire, and that the victim was a child younger than seventeen years of age who was not his spouse. Tex. Pen.Code Ann. § 21.11(a)(1) (Vernon Supp.2000). Again, Murray limits his attack on the evidence, contending that it is insufficient to show that he knowingly or intentionally engaged in sexual contact 1 with the victim. The Penal Code defines “sexual contact” to be “any touching of'the anus, breast or any part of the genitals of another person with intent to arouse or gratify the sexual desire of any person.” Id. § 21.01(2) (Vernon 1994). Thus, we must find support in the evidence for both a touching of the victim’s genitals and the intent to arouse or gratify Murray’s sexual desire by that touching.

The victim testified that after Murray assaulted her with his fingers, he began to touch her on the “outside” of her vagina with his tongue. She distinguished between the penetration of her vagina by Murray’s fingers and the contact by his tongue, testifying that she did not feel his tongue in the same place as she had felt his fingers because his tongue “was not in my vagina, but it was on the outside and in between the two slits.” After Murray had stopped touching her he said, “Damn, that’s a big pussy.” He also told the victim that “he didn’t do anything bad, that he just wanted to look at [her]” after she told him that she was going to tell his girlfriend about what he had done. The State also presented the testimony of Vince York, Murray’s cell mate in the McLennan County Jail, who testified that Murray told him that he “touched the [victim’s] pussy.”

This testimony is sufficient to establish both the touching and the intent-to-gratify-or-arouse requirements of “sexual contact.” In the vulgar use to which the word was put here, “pussy” refers to the vulva. See MeRRiam-WebsteR’s Collegiate Dictionary 950 (10th ed.1993). “ ‘[G]entials’ includes the vulva which immediately surrounds the vagina.” Clark v. State, 558 S.W.2d 887, 889 (Tex.Crim.App.1977); Carmell v. State, 963 S.W.2d 833, 837 (Tex.App.—Fort Worth 1998, pet. ref'd), rev’d on other grounds, — U.S. -, 120 S.Ct. 1620, 146 L.Ed.2d 577 (2000). Thus, the evidence showing that he touched the victim on the “outside” of her vagina and that he confessed to touching her “pussy” establishes that he touched a part of her genitals.

The intent to arouse or gratify the sexual desire of a person can be inferred from conduct, remarks, and all of the surrounding circumstances. McKenzie v. State, 617 S.W.2d 211, 216 (Tex.Crim.App.1981); Couchman v. State, 3 S.W.3d 155, 163 (Tex.App.—Fort Worth 1999, pet. ref'd). The evidence shows that Murray twice used the crude term “pussy” in reference to this event, once immediately after the commission of the offense- and later to a confidant, statements which reasonably imply that he viewed the incident as a sexual encounter. In denying the commis *887 sion of the offense, Murray claimed to the victim that he had “just wanted to look” at her, again suggesting that his perception of the event was sexual. A jury could rationally infer from these comments and from the act itself that Murray touched the victim with the intent to arouse or gratify his own sexual desire.

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24 S.W.3d 881, 2000 WL 964691, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/murray-v-state-texapp-2000.