Paez v. State

995 S.W.2d 163, 1999 WL 15749
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedSeptember 15, 1999
Docket04-95-00935-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 995 S.W.2d 163 (Paez 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
Paez v. State, 995 S.W.2d 163, 1999 WL 15749 (Tex. Ct. App. 1999).

Opinion

OPINION

FRANK MALONEY, Justice

(Assigned).

The appellant was charged by indictment with the offense of burglary of a building. The indictment also charged that appellant had previously been convicted of a felony. The jury found appellant guilty and at the punishment hearing assessed a term of 50 years incarceration in the Institutional Division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

Appellant presents 12 points in his appeal before this Court.

FACTS

Evidence showed that La Fiesta grocery store on Blanco Road in San Antonio, Bex-ar County, Texas was burglarized at approximately 2:00 a.m. on December 6, 1992. Two San Antonio police officers, Officer Marcus and Officer Mound, arrived simultaneously at the scene of the burglary and noticed that the back door of the store was open. At that time, two subjects ran out through the open door; according to Officer Marcus, he got a “thorough look” at one of the individual’s face for “three or four seconds.” The appellant was apprehended that same evening some two hours later and was returned to the store where Officer Marcus identified him as one of the individuals who had exited the store. At trial both Officers Marcus and Mound identified the appellant as one of the individuals who they saw exiting the store on that evening. In addition to the testimony of the two officers, Officer Sanders testified that he apprehended the appellant at approximately 3:30 a.m. that morning; appellant was hiding in the bushes two or three blocks from the store.

The appellant did not testify during the guilt/innocence part of the trial, but did testify at the punishment hearing. During his testimony he said that he was found guilty and must accept the verdict, but he also indicated that he believed the officers were lying.

POINT I.

Appellant maintains that the evidence is factually insufficient to establish that he committed the offense. He states that the record shows that as to the second individual who came out of the store, who the officers identified after his arrest as appellant, the officers did not give a detailed description of that second individual prior to appellant’s arrest, except to say that he was wearing dark clothing and was 5’7” and 165 pounds with black hair. A photo made of appellant after his arrest *166 showed that appellant was wearing dark clothes and a sweat-top with a design on the front, as well as a plaid shirt. There was no mention by Officer Marcus of the design on the shirt at the time he gave his description. He maintains that Officer Marcus at trial finally admitted that, he saw only a side view of the clothes and face of the second subject, although Officer Marcus’s description of the first subject was very detailed. In addition, the evidence showed that there were two wrecking bars and a crowbar found at the scene; but no fingerprint^ were found on the crowbar or wrecking bars or found anywhere in the store, despite the fact that the office was ransacked. The testimony showed that neither subject was wearing gloves and that gloves, socks, or bandanas were not found at the scene.

The State maintains that the evidence established that the back of the store was pretty well lit up and that the officer’s car lights also lit up the area. Officer Marcus testified that there was “no doubt” that the appellant, Roger Paez, Jr. was one of the individuals he saw running out of the back door. Marcus testified that he temporarily caught appellant at the store, at which time he got a “good look at appellant again.” Officer Mound testified that he also saw the appellant come out the back door of the store and he “looked straight at” Officer Mound. He further testified that he and Marcus arrived seconds apart. “We almost arrived simultaneously.” Officer Dale Sanders testified that he apprehended the appellant an hour and one-half after he received the call at 2:00 a.m. Around 3:30 a.m. he found appellant hiding in the bushes two or three blocks from the store. The appellant was “almost exhausted,” “real tired,” and “breathing hard.”

In the case of Clewis v. State, the Court of Criminal Appeals stated: “In conducting a factual sufficiency review, an appellate court reviews the factfinder’s weighing of the evidence and is authorized to disagree with the factfinder’s determination.” 922 S.W.2d 126, 133 (Tex.Crim.App.1996). “However, when conducting a factual sufficiency review, an appellate court cannot substitute its judgment of the factfinder since this would violate the defendant’s rights to trial to jury.” Id. at 129. The appellate court “views all the evidence without the prism of ‘in the light most favorable to the prosecution’ ... and sets aside the verdict only if it is so contrary to the overwhelming weight of the evidence as to be clearly wrong and unjust.” Id.

As to conflicting versions of fact, these conflicts are for the jury to decide. See De Los Santos v. State, 918 S.W.2d 565, 569 (Tex.App.—San Antonio 1996, no pet.). Where conflicting evidence is presented, the jury’s verdict is generally regarded as conclusive unless the verdict is manifestly unjust, “shocks the conscience,” or “clearly demonstrates bias.” Santellan v. State, 939 S.W.2d 155, 165 (Tex.Crim.App.1997).

The appellant maintains that “the jury’s verdict is so against the great weight and preponderance of the evidence as to be manifestly unjust.” He argues that the evidence does not show that he was the same person who had been chased in the police quadrant for approximately an hour and a half and since the pursuit was not continuous and no officer was able to keep the fleeing person in view, there is no evidence , of continuity in the chase. He maintains that the presentation of appellant to Officer Marcus by Officer Sanders suggests the possibility that the identification of appellant is impermissibly suggestive and tainted the in-court identification at trial. See Neil v. Biggers, 409 U.S. 188, 201, 93 S.Ct. 375, 34 L.Ed.2d 401 (1972). He argues that the opportunity to view the person at the scene at the time that person was fleeing was too short and his view was that of only the side view of the face of the person exiting; that the conviction cannot stand on mere presence near the location of a break-in, citing Alvarado v. State, 632 S.W.2d 608, 610 (Tex.Crim.App.1982) and Drager v. State, 555 S.W.2d 743, 745 (Tex.Crim.App.1977); and that the only evi *167 dence the State had to link appellant to the offense was the impermissibly suggestive eyewitness testimony.

The State maintains that the evidence was sufficient to establish that appellant was one of the individuals who committed the burglary. The two eyewitnesses identified the appellant as one of the people who exited the store. Appellant was hiding two or three blocks from the store an hour and a half after the burglary, “almost exhausted” and “breathing'hard.” The evidence does not show that the verdict was so contrary to the overwhelming weight of the evidence as to be clearly wrong and unjust. Clewis, 922 S.W.2d at 129.

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Bluebook (online)
995 S.W.2d 163, 1999 WL 15749, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/paez-v-state-texapp-1999.