Pierson, Leonard Jr.

426 S.W.3d 763, 2014 WL 1375459, 2014 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 539
Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas·Decided April 9, 2014·No. PD-0613-13·Published·Cited by 64 cases

Opinions

OPINION

HERVEY, J.,

delivered the opinion of the Court

in which KELLER, P.J., MEYERS, PRICE, KEASLER, COCHRAN, and ALCALA, JJ„ joined.

Appellant, Leonard Pierson, Jr., was charged with indecency with a child and aggravated sexual assault of a child. After the victim completed her direct-examination testimony, the defense’s first question on cross-examination was, “Did you also make an allegation that [Appellant] did these same things to his own daughter?” After a hearing, the trial court granted the State’s request for a mistrial. Appellant then filed a pretrial habeas-corpus application seeking to prevent a second trial on the basis of double jeopardy. The court denied that application because it again found (as it did at trial) that the mistrial was the fault of the defense and that there was no other appropriate remedy under the circumstances; thus there was a manifest necessity to retry Appellant, and his second trial was not precluded by double-jeopardy principles.

Appellant was convicted at his second trial of one count of indecency "with a child and seven counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. On appeal, Appellant argued that his second trial violated double-jeopardy principles, but the Texarkana Court of Appeals held that the trial court properly granted the State’s request for a mistrial. See Pierson v. State, 398 S.W.3d 406, 420 (Tex.App.-Texarkana 2013). We granted Appellant’s sole ground for review:

The single question posed by Petitioner’s trial counsel did not create the type of very extraordinary and striking cir[766]*766cumstances necessary to sustain a finding of manifest necessity to declare a mistrial. The court of appeals either misapplied or misinterpreted precedent to reach its contrary conclusion.

We will affirm the judgment of the court of appeals.

Factual background

The State called the victim as its fifth witness in its case in chief. The first question the defense asked on cross-examination was, “Did you also make an allegation that [Appellant] did these same things to his own daughter?” The State objected to the question before it was answered, and the trial court excused the jury. During the hearing outside the presence of the jury, the following exchange took place:

[PROSECUTOR]: That’s way not allowed in cross. I mean, I think that’s grounds for a mistrial.
[COURT]: Hold on, hold on a second.
[DEFENSE COUNSEL # 2]: The other daughter was questioned by the CAC[1] based on the allegation.
[PROSECUTOR]: That’s not admissible here.
[COURT]: Okay, what’s the nature of the — ?
[DEFENSE COUNSEL #2]: (Inaudible, whispering)
[PROSECUTOR]: Under 412, no way.
[COURT]: Hold on. We’ve got to have a hearing on the — is the nature of the question that she has made a false outcry against somebody else or that she’s made a true outcry against some other person?
[PROSECUTOR]: He can’t prove that it’s false, but [the victim] — in the end of her CAC interview she said that [Appellant molested] his daughter too. That’s it. She didn’t say what he did, how he did — I mean, there was nothing. That was the extent of it.
[[Image here]]
[COURT]: It’s not proof by a preponderance of the evidence or proof beyond a reasonable doubt; it’s that it’s actually false. That’s the standard.
[DEFENSE ATTORNEY # 2]: I don’t know how — how would you ever prove that though?
[COURT]: An admission. That’s the only way any court’s ever found it, was an admission by the victim that it was actually false.
[PROSECUTOR]: And — there’s no way I can recover from that.
[COURT]: I don’t see how you can either.
[DEFENSE ATTORNEY #2]: Well, yeah, that doesn’t get into the actual — . There’s not any way an instruction would cure that?
[PROSECUTOR]: No. I mean, I’m asking for a mistrial. It’s out there. There’s no way I can get it — .
[COURT]: I don’t see how there’s any possible way that a jury could disregard this kind of testimony. And in the event of an appeal, the. [S]tate’s got no right— I mean in the event of an acquittal, the [S]tate’s got no right of an appeal, so they’re absolutely prejudiced if the jury hears it.

After a twenty-four-minute recess, the trial court resumed the hearing and asked the defense to “flesh out [their] argument a little bit more about the basis for the admissibility of [the] cross examination.” The defense explained that the victim stated at the end of her CAC interview that Appellant did “the same sorts of things, same — made the same allegations, that he [767]*767had committed those allegations against his own daughter, who’s now sixteen years old. So she made an allegation that the alleged perpetrator in her case had done the same types of things to his own biological child.” Defense counsel went on to argue that Appellant’s biological daughter denied ever being molested, and that Appellant’s biological daughter’s denial would be relevant to the victim’s credibility. The following exchange then took place between the court, the prosecutor, and the defense:

[COURT]: But it’s a collateral issue. I mean, you’re attacking her credibility with a statement not — not her own allegation that he’s done this to others but her statement that he said he’s done it to other people.
[DEFENSE COUNSEL #2]: No, sir, Judge, that wasn’t the — my understanding of it was she claimed that this happened in DeKalb[, Texas] in her presence when he abused his daughter, I believe is my understanding.
[PROSECUTOR]: No, that was her cousin.
[DEFENSE COUNSEL # 2]: Oh, that’s the cousin?
[DEFENSE COUNSEL # 1]: Yes.
[DEFENSE COUNSEL # 2]: Okay.
[[Image here]]
[COURT]: So we don’t even really know what the basis for her statement was.[2]
[DEFENSE COUNSEL # 1]: We don’t know the basis of the statement, just that she made the allegation and that it was subsequently investigated and went nowhere.

At this point, the court stated that

I find that [issue] to be so far removed from this case to begin with, it’s a collateral issue that could only interject confusion to the jury[.][T]here’s not even enough to substantiate that it’s even her own statement, that she’s alleging it happened, but that it’s her understanding that it happened....

The judge then cited and discussed a number of cases that he felt led to the conclusion that the defense’s question was improper because the answer would not lead to admissible evidence. See Lopez v. State, 86 S.W.3d 228 (Tex.Crim.App.2002); Garcia v. State, 228 S.W.3d 703 (TexApp.-Houston [14th Dist.] 2005); Hughes v. State,

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Pierson, Leonard Jr., 426 S.W.3d 763, 2014 WL 1375459, 2014 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 539 (Tex. 2014).

426 S.W.3d 763 (Pierson, Leonard Jr.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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