Nathan Dewayne McDaniel v. State

CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJuly 11, 2019
Docket01-18-00598-CR
StatusPublished

This text of Nathan Dewayne McDaniel v. State (Nathan Dewayne McDaniel 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
Nathan Dewayne McDaniel v. State, (Tex. Ct. App. 2019).

Opinion

Opinion issued July 11, 2019

In The

Court of Appeals For The

First District of Texas ———————————— NO. 01-18-00598-CR ——————————— NATHAN DEWAYNE MCDANIEL, Appellant V. THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee

On Appeal from the 355th District Court Hood County, Texas Trial Court Case No. CR13832

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Nathan Dewayne McDaniel was indicted on four counts: Counts One and

Two for sexual assault of a child1 and Counts Three and Four for indecency with a

1 See TEX. PENAL CODE § 22.011(a)(2). child.2 The State dismissed Count Three. A Hood County3 jury acquitted on Count

Four. But the jury returned guilty verdicts on Counts One and Two. It assessed

punishment at 99 years’ imprisonment, and a $10,000 fine, on each count. The trial

court entered conforming judgments.

On appeal, McDaniel raises a single issue with four subparts: he contends

that he received ineffective assistance of counsel for his trial counsel’s (1) failing

to object to the State’s alleged violations of rulings in limine, (2) failing to object

to the State’s alleged violation of Code of Criminal Procedure article 38.37’s

notice requirement, (3) failing to object to the trial court’s alleged violation of

Article 38.37’s hearing requirement, and (4) failing to preserve error for appeal on

these topics. Finding no error, we affirm.

Background

Because McDaniel does not challenge the sufficiency of the evidence to

support his conviction, we will only briefly recount the instances of sexual assault

of a child upon which he was indicted and convicted.

2 See id. § 21.11(a). 3 Pursuant to the Supreme Court of Texas’s docket-equalization powers, this appeal was transferred from the Second Court of Appeals to this court on July 9, 2018. See TEX. GOV’T CODE §§ 73.001–.002; Order Regarding Transfer of Cases from Courts of Appeals, Misc. Docket No. 18-9083 (Tex. June 19, 2018). We are unaware of any conflict between precedent of the Second Court of Appeals and that of this court on any relevant issue. See TEX. R. APP. P. 41.3.

2 McDaniel is the father of the two girls “Mary” and “Cathy.”4 While in high

school, Mary told her boyfriend via text message that McDaniel had sexually

abused her over a period of time. The boyfriend’s mother discovered the text

messages. She reported what Mary said to school personnel, who then contacted

law enforcement. Investigators sent Mary to a nearby hospital to be seen by a

Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (“SANE”).

The SANE that examined Mary, S. Henley, testified at trial. She described

her process for conducting a medical exam of a child who has allegedly been

sexually assaulted. Henley does “a full head-to-toe assessment” of the child,

including by taking a “past medical history” and a “history of present illness.” To

do so, Henley uses “a protocol of specific questions.” In response to Henley’s

questions, Mary told her both that McDaniel had put his finger or hand in her

vagina and that he had penetrated her vagina with his penis. Both acts caused Mary

pain. Mary also told Henley that McDaniel had put his finger or hand “in her butt”

but that he had not also put his penis or any other foreign object “in her butt.”

Mary testified at trial too. She said that, once, while she was lying down in

her room after a long day at school, McDaniel entered her room. Both she and he

4 To protect their privacy, we refer to the girls using pseudonyms. See, e.g., Alvarez v. State, 491 S.W.3d 362, 365 n.2 (Tex. App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 2016, pet. ref’d).

3 were wearing pajamas. McDaniel got on her bed, she froze and didn’t say or do

anything because she was scared, and “his penis went into [her] vagina.”

Based in part on Henley’s and Mary’s testimony, the jury convicted

McDaniel both of sexual assault of a child by causing the penetration of Mary’s

sexual organ with his penis and of sexual assault of a child by causing the

penetration of Mary’s sexual organ with his finger. The court entered judgments of

conviction on the jury’s verdict.

Before trial, McDaniel’s counsel filed a motion in limine, which the court

granted. The court granted McDaniel’s request that, before there could be any

reference in the presence of the jury to any extraneous-act offenses committed by

McDaniel, there would be a hearing outside the presence of the jury. The court

during the hearing would determine whether counsel for the State or its witnesses

could discuss those offenses.

Ineffective Assistance of Counsel

In his sole issue, McDaniel contends that his trial counsel was ineffective in

four ways: (1) failing to object to the counsel for the State’s alleged violations of

the order in limine during opening statement and during Mary’s direct

examination; (2) failing to object to the State’s alleged failure to have given

30 days’ notice of its intent to use extraneous-act evidence; (3) failing to object to

4 the trial court’s failure to have held a hearing under Article 38.37, § 2-a(2); and

(4) failing to preserve error for appeal on these topics.

I. Standard of Review and Applicable Law

To establish ineffective assistance of trial counsel, an appellant must show

by a preponderance of the evidence both (1) that trial counsel’s representation was

deficient, meaning that it fell below an objective standard of reasonableness, and

(2) that the deficiency prejudiced the defense. Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S.

668, 687–88 (1984); Thompson v. State, 9 S.W.3d 808, 812 (Tex. Crim. App.

1999). The evidence of ineffective assistance “must be firmly founded in the

record,” and “the record must affirmatively demonstrate” the meritorious nature of

the claim. Thompson, 9 S.W.3d at 813. “Failure to make the required showing of

either deficient performance or sufficient prejudice defeats the ineffectiveness

claim” because “[a]bsent both showings an appellate court cannot conclude the

conviction resulted from a breakdown in the adversarial process that renders the

result unreliable.” Id.

In evaluating a claim under the first, deficient-performance prong, we look

to the totality of the representation and the particular circumstances of each case to

see whether counsel’s assistance was reasonable under all the circumstances and

under prevailing professional norms at the time of the alleged error. See Strickland,

466 U.S. at 688–89; Thompson, 9 S.W.3d at 813. This precludes assessing

5 counsel’s performance by using “the benefit of hindsight or by relying on only

isolated circumstances at trial.” Ex parte Bryant, 448 S.W.3d 29, 39 (Tex. Crim.

App. 2014). Our review of counsel’s performance “must be highly deferential,”

and we must “indulge a strong presumption that counsel’s conduct falls within the

wide range of reasonable professional assistance.” Strickland, 466 U.S. at 689;

accord Thompson, 9 S.W.3d at 813.

A direct appeal is usually an inadequate vehicle for raising ineffective

assistance because the record is generally undeveloped. Menefield v. State, 363

S.W.3d 591, 592–93 (Tex. Crim. App. 2012). Importantly, “counsel’s reasons for

failing to do something do not appear in the record” in the typical direct appeal. Id.

at 593. As a result,

Trial counsel should ordinarily be afforded an opportunity to explain his actions before being denounced as ineffective.

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