Paul Antwann Harlan v. State

Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided September 3, 2015·No. 06-14-00236-CR·Published

Opinion

In The

Court of Appeals

Sixth Appellate District of Texas at Texarkana

No. 06-14-00236-CR

PAUL ANTWANN HARLAN, Appellant V.

THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee

On Appeal from the Criminal District Court No. 4 of Dallas County Dallas County, Texas

Trial Court No. F13-56882-K

Before Morriss, C.J., Moseley and Burgess, JJ.

Memorandum Opinion by Chief Justice Morriss

MEMORANDUM OPINION

This appeal can best be understood as a series of scenes.

Act I, Scene 1: The Convenience Store. Multiple surveillance video recordings showed a masked gunman entering a Dallas1 convenience store, brandishing a chrome handgun, and holding two employees at gunpoint, as his taller accomplice entered the store with a red duffel bag, beat one employee, took that employee’s wallet, and forced the employee to open the cash registers. The gunman is seen carrying a black backpack and wearing a dark blue hoodie, a camouflage hat, dark pants, black shoes, and latex gloves. As the robbers stuffed cash from the registers into their bags, two uniformed security guards noticed the ongoing robbery and apprehended the taller accomplice—identified as Latiki Bosman. The shorter gunman ran away and left the scene in a white Lexus vehicle.

Act I, Scene 2: The Nearby Residence. Shortly thereafter, a short distance from the store, near the end of a dead-end road, Juan Pina arrived at his mother’s residence, parked his car in the driveway, and exited the vehicle. Pina then noticed a dark-complected male wearing a hoodie, sweatpants, and an army hat and carrying a dark backpack, who approached Pina and offered to pay him for a ride from the area. The stranger was jumpy and short of breath. When Pina refused, the man pointed a chrome handgun at Pina and demanded the keys to the car. Yielding the keys, Pina ran inside, while the stranger tried to start the car, but was prevented by a built-in safety feature. Pina’s cousins then came out of the house and chased the gunman away. In the process

1 Originally appealed to the Fifth Court of Appeals in Dallas, this case was transferred to this Court by the Texas Supreme Court pursuant to its docket equalization efforts. See TEX. GOV’T CODE ANN. § 73.001 (West 2013). We follow the precedent of the Fifth Court of Appeals in deciding this case. See TEX. R. APP. P. 41.3.

of fleeing, the gunman dropped various items just taken from the store. Behind the residence sat the white Lexus, which had been crashed into a fence.

Act I, Scene 3: The Bridge. As some police officers collected items dropped at the residence, other officers used a K-9 named Pico to track the gunman’s scent to a bridge, where they found and collected a nine millimeter Smith & Wesson handgun, a camouflage hat, and a dark shirt. Officers were unable to find the gunman that evening.

Act II, Scene 1: The Follow-Up. Two key bits of information led authorities, ultimately, to conclude that Paul Antwann Harlan, five feet, six inches tall, was the gunman. Pina, who was six feet, two inches tall, said that, though he did not get a good look at the gunman, the gunman was as tall as Pina’s chin. Officers also learned that the crashed Lexus at the residence belonged to Latiki, obtained a search warrant, searched the vehicle, and found in the vehicle’s trunk Harlan’s and Latiki’s wallets and cell phones.

Act II, Scene 2: The Brother. Two days after the robbery, a report came from someone at Pina’s mother’s residence that a man was searching the yard of the residence for something dropped by the searcher’s brother the night his brother’s Lexus was crashed behind the residence. The searcher was later identified as Keonte Bosman, suggested by the record to be the brother of Latiki Bosman, the owner of the Lexus.

Act III: The Trial. Harlan was tried before a Dallas jury on the charge of aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon. At trial, over objection, the court allowed into evidence a detective’s testimony that, when he found Harlan’s and Latiki’s wallets in the trunk of the Lexus, he “surmised that most likely [they] had placed their wallets in the trunk [before] committing the

robbery.” The jury found Harlan guilty, and, pursuant to the jury’s finding of “true” on the State’s enhancement allegation, Harlan was sentenced to fifty years’ incarceration and was ordered to pay a $10,000.00 fine and court costs. The judgment recited that Harlan’s conviction was for “aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon 2nd.”

Act IV: The Appeal. On appeal, Harlan argues that the evidence was insufficient to support the jury’s finding that he committed the crime, that the trial court erred in admitting the detective’s allegedly speculative testimony, and that the trial court’s judgment incorrectly reflects both the name of the offense and the finding of “true” on the State’s enhancement allegation.

We modify the judgment and affirm it as modified, because (1) sufficient evidence establishes Harlan as the perpetrator of the offense, (2) admitting Loeb’s testimony was not reversible error, (3) we must modify the trial court’s judgment to properly reflect the offense, and (4) the judgment’s recitation of a finding of “true” to the enhancement allegation remains. (1) Sufficient Evidence Establishes Harlan as a Perpetrator of the Offense Harlan argues that the evidence is legally insufficient to support the jury’s finding of guilt.

We disagree.

“In analyzing a claim of insufficient evidence, we view all the evidence and reasonable inferences from the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict and determine whether a rational fact-finder could have found the essential elements of the offense beyond a reasonable doubt.” IslasMartinez v. State, 452 S.W.3d 874, 877 (Tex. App.—Dallas 2014, pet. ref’d) (citing Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 318–19 (1979); Wise v. State, 364 S.W.3d 900, 902 (Tex. Crim. App. 2012)). “The factfinder resolves all conflicts in the evidence and is the exclusive judge of

the credibility of the witnesses and the weight to give their testimony.” Id. (citing Wesbrook v. State, 29 S.W.3d 103, 111 (Tex. Crim. App. 2000)); see Winfrey v. State, 393 S.W.3d 763, 768 (Tex. Crim. App. 2013).

“A party commits robbery if, in the course of committing theft and with the intent to obtain or maintain control of property, he knowingly or intentionally threatens or places another in fear of imminent bodily injury or death.”2 Lockett v. State, 874 S.W.2d 810, 814 (Tex. App.—Dallas 1994, pet. ref’d); TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. § 29.02(a)(2) (West 2011). “The use or exhibition of a deadly weapon during the commission of a robbery aggravates the offense.” Lockett, 874 S.W.2d at 814 (citing TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. § 29.03(a)(2) (West 2011)). In this case, Harlan challenges only the element of identity.

“Identity may be shown by circumstantial evidence and the reasonable inferences therefrom.” Adams v. State, 418 S.W.3d 803, 810 (Tex. App.—Texarkana 2013, pet. ref’d); Gardner v. State, 306 S.W.3d 274, 285 (Tex. Crim. App. 2009); see Roberson v. State, 16 S.W.3d 156, 167 (Tex. App.—Austin 2000, pet. ref’d). Juries are permitted to make reasonable inferences from the evidence at trial, and circumstantial evidence is as probative as direct evidence in establishing the defendant’s guilt. Hooper v. State, 214 S.W.3d 9, 14–15 (Tex. Crim. App. 2007). We examine the evidence offered at Harlan’s trial to determine whether the State proved the element of identity.

2 The State alleged that Harlan “intentionally and knowingly, while in the course of committing theft of property and with intent to obtain or maintain control of said property, threaten[ed] and place[d] ANWARUL HOQUE in fear of imminent bodily injury and death, [by . . . us[ing] and exhibit[ing] a deadly weapon, to-wit: A FIREARM.”

Two masked perpetrators robbed a convenience store on the evening of May 7, 2013.

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