Page v. State

88 S.W.3d 755, 2002 WL 1998201
Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided October 10, 2002·No. 13-00-035-CR, 13-00-042-CR·Published·Cited by 26 cases

Opinion

OPINION

Opinion by Justice BAIRD (Assigned).

Appellant was charged in separate indictments with the offenses of sexual assault and impersonating a peace officer. The cases were combined into a single trial where a jury convicted appellant of both offenses and assessed punishment at seven years and five years confinement in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Institutional Division, respectively. We reverse.

I. Factual Summary.

Appellant’s sole point of error contends the trial judge erred in admitting extraneous offense evidence. To fully address this issue we set forth the evidence with considerable detail in the order presented at trial.

*758 A. The State’s Case In Chief.

i. Testimony Related to the Charged Offenses.

In 1997, the complainant was working as a prostitute in Galveston. One winter night, as she walked to a Jack in the Box restaurant, a maroon four-door car pulled up. The complainant testified the driver was “a white man, had blond hair parted on the side, and he had a baby face and wasn’t muscular. He was kind of chunky.” The complainant made an in-court identification of appellant as the driver.

Appellant beckoned the complainant, and when she approached, appellant flashed a badge, said he was a police officer and instructed the complainant to get into the vehicle. The complainant complied, appellant placed the badge above the sun visor, and the two drove away. She believed appellant was a plain clothes detective because he was not in uniform. Appellant stopped the vehicle, got a police radio from the trunk, and placed it in the back seat. Appellant returned to the vehicle, and began driving again; the complainant heard voices from a police radio. Appellant said it was almost time for shift change, and he did not want to take the complainant to jail because of the paperwork. The clock on the dashboard showed 7:50 p.m.

Appellant stopped a second time and told the complainant she would have to perform oral sex on appellant or go to jail. Appellant pulled the complainant’s head to his exposed penis. The complainant performed oral sex on appellant for approximately thirty seconds, stopped, said she would not continue, and appellant could take her to jail if he wished. Appellant started his vehicle, returned to the area where he met the complainant, let her out of the vehicle with the instructions that she stay off the streets or be arrested by appellant’s partners whom he had notified of the complainant. The complainant exited the vehicle, walked behind the car and memorized the license plate number. The complainant also testified that she related this event to a man named Henry. She knew nothing more of this individual other than he lived on the streets and had gone to jail. She also told John Savoy of this incident.

The complainant saw appellant the next day in the same car bearing the same license plates. The following day, she reported the incident to Officer Brian Gately, a patrolman with the Galveston Police Department. The complainant gave a written statement describing the incident. She was later shown a photographic lineup of six white males by Sergeant Richard Kershaw, and warned to not select anyone unless she was certain. The complainant positively identified appellant as the person who identified himself as a peace officer, and who forced her to have oral sex.

On cross-examination, the complainant admitted that at the time of the alleged offenses she was addicted to crack cocaine, and used the proceeds from prostitution to afford her addiction. She admitted being in trouble with the law in the past, but had since rid herself of the addiction to crack cocaine, had re-married and was living a stable life in another city. The complainant testified she did not make these allegations against appellant to avoid any criminal liability or punishment.

Regarding the alleged offenses, the complainant testified she had not ingested cocaine within the last twenty-four hours because she had an appetite, and was walking to the Jack in the Box for a meal. 2 The complainant testified appellant flashed a badge and told her to get in the car. *759 She testified the badge was in “like a wallet flip thing.” That she heard policemen talking on appellant’s radio in the back seat. The complainant testified that she walked behind appellant’s car and “got the license plate number” from the vehicle which was stopped at a stop sign. She walked to Henry’s apartment and wrote down the license plate number on a piece of paper, and memorized the number. She was unsure if Henry saw appellant’s car and described Henry as “just another crack head.” She also testified that she did not mention Henry to either Gately or Kershaw. The complainant testified she did not immediately report the incident “because I thought he was a real police officer and I deserved what he had done.” She explained: “I just felt like at that point in time where my life was that I had deserved what happened to me.” The complainant decided to confide in Gately after seeing appellant the second time because she felt appellant was stalking her. She repeatedly stated that she knew the time of this incident because she saw the clock on the dashboard which displayed 7:50 p.m. She was later impeached with her statement wherein she said the time was 6:50 p.m.

Near the conclusion of this cross-examination, the following exchange occurred:

DEFENSE COUNSEL: You described the man as a 200 pound man. You realize this gentleman sitting here next to you is, like, 265 pounds?
A. No, sir.
Q. Did the gentleman that was in that car, was he substantially lighter than this gentleman sitting here? If this is the man that you’re alleging did this to you, if this is him, has he put on 65 pounds?
A. I don’t know, sir.
Q. You would agree with me that’s a substantial difference?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Is 200 pounds a fair weight for what the man weighed?
A. If I looked at him now, I would say I thought he weighed 200 pounds.
Q. You realize [the prosecutor] is closer to 200 pounds than I am and he’s probably substantially more than I am?
A. No, sir. I don’t know that.

Finally, the complainant testified regarding the photo spread that she was not told by Kershaw who to select, or that the person suspected of committing these offenses was in the spread.

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Page v. State, 88 S.W.3d 755, 2002 WL 1998201 (Tex. Ct. App. 2002).

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