Paul v. State

419 S.W.3d 446, 2012 Tex. App. LEXIS 6308, 2012 WL 3101743
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJuly 31, 2012
DocketNo. 12-10-00280-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 419 S.W.3d 446 (Paul 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
Paul v. State, 419 S.W.3d 446, 2012 Tex. App. LEXIS 6308, 2012 WL 3101743 (Tex. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

OPINION

SAM GRIFFITH, Justice.

Brian Paul appeals his conviction for aggravated robbery, for which he was sentenced to imprisonment for fifty years. Appellant raises six issues on appeal. We affirm.

[450]*450 Background

Appellant was one of four longtime friends from Fort Worth, Texas. The other three friends were Markquette Adedeji, Clint Johnson, and Marcus Walker. Each of the four moved to Tyler, Texas, to attend Texas College. Adedeji, Johnson, and Appellant lived together at the Varsity Place Apartments in Tyler with a fourth roommate, Ayodele Akinbote.1 In March 2009, notice to vacate the premises by March 31 due to nonpayment of rent was sent to Appellant. Thereafter, Adedeji, Johnson, and Walker hatched a plan whereby they would rob the Dollar General store near Troup Highway in Tyler.

At approximately 8:20 p.m. on March 30, 2009, the Dollar General store near Troup Highway in Tyler was robbed. Surveillance video from the store shows four men with their identities hidden robbing store manager Camille Taylor and assistant manager Christina Irvin. Two of the men brandished handguns — a .45 caliber automatic pistol and an airsoft pistol — during the robbery. The four men escaped with approximately $1,800 to $2,000 along with Irvin’s wallet.

On April 1, 2009, Tracy James was driving on Paluxy Drive in Tyler when she observed someone throw a wallet from the vehicle traveling in front of hers. James wrote down the license plate number of the vehicle, recovered the wallet, and contacted police. The wallet contained Irvin’s social security card. The license plate number was determined to match a 1986 Chevrolet Caprice. On April 2, 2009, this same vehicle was stopped by police. The driver of the vehicle was identified as Ade-deji.

Appellant was implicated as being the fourth perpetrator of this crime and was charged by indictment with aggravated robbery. Appellant pleaded “not guilty,” and the matter proceeded to a jury trial. Ultimately, the jury found Appellant “guilty” as charged. The matter proceeded to a jury trial on punishment. At the conclusion of the punishment phase, the jury assessed Appellant’s punishment at imprisonment for fifty years. The trial court sentenced Appellant accordingly, and this appeal followed.

Evidentiary Sufficiency

In his first issue, Appellant argues that the evidence is insufficient to support the trial court’s judgment. Specifically, Appellant contends that the evidence is insufficient to support his identity as one of the perpetrators of the aggravated robbery in question.

Standard of Review

The Jackson v. Virginia2 legal sufficiency standard is the only standard that a reviewing court should apply in determining whether the evidence is sufficient to support each element of a criminal offense that the State is required to prove beyond a reasonable doubt.” See Brooks v. State, 323 S.W.3d 893, 894 (Tex.Crim.App.2010). Under Jackson, legal sufficiency is the constitutional minimum required by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to sustain a criminal conviction. See Jackson, 443 U.S. at 315-16, 99 S.Ct. at 2786-87; see also Escobedo v. State, 6 S.W.3d 1, 6 (Tex.App.-San Antonio 1999, pet. ref'd). The standard for reviewing a legal sufficiency challenge is whether any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the offense beyond a reasonable doubt. See Jackson, 443 U.S. at 320, 99 S.Ct. at 2789; see also Johnson v. State, 871 S.W.2d 183, 186 [451]*451(Tex.Crim.App.1993). The evidence is examined in the light most favorable to the verdict. See Jackson, 443 U.S. at 320, 99 S.Ct. at 2789; Johnson, 871 S.W.2d at 186. A successful legal sufficiency challenge will result in rendition of an acquittal by the reviewing court. See Tibbs v. Florida, 457 U.S. 31, 41-42, 102 S.Ct. 2211, 2217-18, 72 L.Ed.2d 652 (1982).

The sufficiency of the evidence is measured against the offense as defined by a hypothetically correct jury charge. See Malik v. State, 953 S.W.2d 234, 240 (Tex.Crim.App.1997). Such a charge would include one that “accurately sets out the law, is authorized by the indictment, does not unnecessarily increase the State’s burden of proof or unnecessarily restrict the State’s theories of liability, and adequately describes the particular offense for which the defendant is tried.” Id.

To support Appellant’s conviction for aggravated robbery, the State was required to prove, among other things, Appellant’s identity as the person who committed the crime. See Tex. Penal Code Ann. §§ 29.02(a), 29.03(a)(2) (West 2011). To meet its burden, the State offered accomplice testimony from Adedeji. As part of his first issue, Appellant argues that Ade-deji’s testimony is not sufficiently corroborated.

Corroboration of Accomplice Testimony

The Texas Legislature has determined that the factfinder should exercise caution when considering the testimony of an accomplice; “accomplices often have incentives to lie, such as to avoid punishment or shift blame to another person.” Smith v. State, 332 S.W.3d 425, 439 (Tex.Crim.App.2011). Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, Article 38.14 states that “[a] conviction cannot be had upon the testimony of an accomplice unless corroborated by other evidence tending to connect the defendant with the offense committed; and the corroboration is not sufficient if it merely shows the commission of the offense.” Tex.Code Crim. Proc. Ann. art. 38.14 (West 2005). Therefore, under Article 38.14, a conviction cannot stand on an accomplice witness’s testimony unless the testimony is corroborated by other, nonaccomplice evidence that tends to connect the accused to the offense. Smith, 332 S.W.3d at 439. In order to determine whether the accomplice witness testimony is corroborated, we must eliminate all accomplice evidence and determine whether the other inculpatory facts and circumstances in evidence would allow rational jurors to connect the appellant to the offense. See Simmons v. State, 282 S.W.3d 504, 508 (Tex.Crim.App.2009); McDuff v. State, 939 S.W.2d 607, 612 (Tex.Crim.App.1997). Evidence that the offense was committed is insufficient to corroborate an accomplice’s testimony. Smith, 332 S.W.3d at 439. But the nonac-complice evidence does not have to directly link the appellant to the crime, nor does it alone have to establish his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt; but rather, the nonac-complice evidence merely has to tend to connect the appellant to the offense. See McDuff, 939 S.W.2d at 613. When there are two permissible views of the evidence, one tending to connect the defendant to the offense and the other not tending to connect the defendant to the offense, appellate courts should defer to that view of the evidence chosen by the factfinder. See Simmons, 282 S.W.3d at 508. An accomplice’s testimony cannot be corroborated by prior statements made by the accomplice witness to a third person. Smith, 332 S.W.3d at 439.

Accomplice Testimony of Markquette Adedeji

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Bluebook (online)
419 S.W.3d 446, 2012 Tex. App. LEXIS 6308, 2012 WL 3101743, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/paul-v-state-texapp-2012.