Pena v. State

554 S.W.3d 242
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJuly 17, 2018
DocketNO. 14-16-00659-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by27 cases

This text of 554 S.W.3d 242 (Pena 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
Pena v. State, 554 S.W.3d 242 (Tex. Ct. App. 2018).

Opinion

Martha Hill Jamison, Justice

Appellant Manuel Asuncion Pena appeals his conviction for aggravated sexual assault of a child, contending in six issues that the trial court (1) abused its discretion in admitting evidence that appellant sexually assaulted the complainant more than once and committed other acts of violence against the complainant because the State failed to give proper notice of its intention to introduce the evidence; (2) abused its discretion in failing to grant a mistrial because the State commented on appellant's Fifth Amendment right to remain silent and because the State "struck at appellant over counsel's shoulders" during closing argument; (3) abused its discretion in admitting extraneous offense evidence during the punishment phase of trial in violation of appellant's Sixth Amendment right to confront his accuser; and (4) erred in submitting a reasonable doubt instruction in the jury charge. We affirm.

Background

Thirteen-year-old R.A. lived with three of her siblings, her mother Maria, and appellant. Maria left home for over a month to visit family in El Salvador. R.A. testified that one evening while her mother was gone, appellant entered R.A.'s bedroom, forcibly carried her to his room, and sexually assaulted her. Throughout that month, appellant sexually assaulted R.A. approximately ten times.

After Maria returned from El Salvador, R.A. found out she was pregnant. She told Maria that someone else was the father. R.A. continued living at home with Maria and appellant until after she had the baby. Maria and appellant eventually ended their relationship.

Approximately 10 years later, R.A. heard appellant "harassing" Maria on the phone. R.A. decided to tell Maria that appellant was the father of the child. R.A. eventually reported the sexual assaults to the police.

Officer Resnick investigated and collected DNA samples from R.A., her child, and appellant. The DNA analyst confirmed that R.A. was the child's mother and appellant could not be excluded as the child's father. According to the analyst, the probability of appellant's paternity was "greater than 99.99 percent."

The jury found appellant guilty of aggravated sexual assault of a child. During the punishment phase of trial, Officer Huff testified about an extraneous offense purportedly committed by appellant. Huff was leaving an apartment complex when someone approached him to report an assault. Huff went to a two story apartment where the assault was in progress. He heard screaming in Spanish and what sounded like an assault. After pounding on the door, Huff kicked it open. Appellant came to the top of the stairs, looked down, said "I have no problem with the police," and walked out of sight. When backup arrived, Huff and another officer entered the apartment, went upstairs, and observed appellant sitting on a bed. After arresting appellant, Huff went into a bathroom and found a woman and a man. The woman *248was crying and had blood on her face. She told Huff she was afraid of appellant and he threatened to kill her if she talked to the police. She said they had gotten into an argument about breaking up and appellant assaulted her. The jury sentenced appellant to thirty years' confinement.

Discussion

I. No Harm from State's Purported Failure to Provide Adequate Notice of Intention to Introduce Evidence of Extraneous Offenses

In two issues, appellant asserts the trial court abused its discretion by admitting evidence of appellant's extraneous offenses against R.A. Appellant argues that the trial court abused its discretion by admitting evidence that appellant sexually assaulted R.A. more than once because the State purportedly did not give appellant adequate notice of its intention to introduce the evidence under Code of Criminal Procedure article 38.37. Appellant further complains that the trial court admitted evidence that appellant committed acts of violence toward R.A. when the State purportedly did not give appellant adequate notice of its intention to introduce such evidence under Rule of Evidence 404(b). We analyze these two related issues together.

We review a trial court's decision to admit or exclude evidence under an abuse of discretion standard. De La Paz v. State , 279 S.W.3d 336, 343-44 (Tex. Crim. App. 2009) ; Ripstra v. State , 514 S.W.3d 305, 317 (Tex. App.-Houston [14th Dist.] 2016, pet. ref'd). As long as the trial court's ruling falls within the zone of reasonable disagreement, we will affirm that decision. Moses v. State , 105 S.W.3d 622, 627 (Tex. Crim. App. 2003) ; Ripstra , 514 S.W.3d at 317.

Article 38.37 requires the State to give a defendant notice of the State's intention to introduce evidence of certain other offenses committed by the defendant, including sexual assault of a child, not later than the 30th day before trial. Tex. Code Crim. Proc. art. 38.37 §§ 2(1)(D), 3. Under rule 404(b), evidence of a "crime, wrong, or other act" is not admissible to prove a person's character. Tex. R. Evid. 404(b)(1). But such evidence may be admissible for another purpose "such as proving motive, opportunity, intent, preparation, plan, knowledge, identity, absence of mistake, or lack of accident." Tex. R. Evid. 404(b)(2). The State is required to provide reasonable notice of its intent to introduce such evidence "[o]n timely request by a defendant in a criminal case."1 Id.

We need not decide whether the trial court erred in admitting the extraneous offense evidence because we conclude any error was harmless. Error in admitting evidence in violation of the notice provisions of article 38.37 and rule 404(b) is non-constitutional error. Lara v. State , 513 S.W.3d 135, 142-43 (Tex. App.-Houston [14th Dist.] 2016, no pet.) (citing Hernandez v. State , 176 S.W.3d 821, 824-25 (Tex. Crim. App. 2005) (noting error in the admission of evidence in violation of the notice requirement of rule 404(b) constitutes non-constitutional error), and Villarreal v. State , 470 S.W.3d 168, 176-77 (Tex. App.-Austin 2015, no pet.) (concluding that any error in the admission of evidence in violation of article 38.37 's notice provision constitutes non-constitutional error) ). Thus, we will not conclude an error is harmful unless it had a substantial and injurious effect or influence in determining the jury's verdict. Id. at 143.

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Bluebook (online)
554 S.W.3d 242, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pena-v-state-texapp-2018.