Rafael Gomez v. State

CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedAugust 31, 2009
Docket13-08-00157-CR
StatusPublished

This text of Rafael Gomez v. State (Rafael Gomez 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
Rafael Gomez v. State, (Tex. Ct. App. 2009).

Opinion



NUMBER 13-08-00157-CR



COURT OF APPEALS



THIRTEENTH DISTRICT OF TEXAS



CORPUS CHRISTI - EDINBURG



RAFAEL GOMEZ, Appellant,



v.



THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee.

On appeal from the 156th District Court of Bee County, Texas.



MEMORANDUM OPINION



Before Chief Justice Valdez and Justices Yañez and Benavides

Memorandum Opinion by Justice Yañez

A jury convicted appellant, Rafael Gomez, of one count of aggravated sexual assault (1) and three counts of indecency with a child. (2) The jury assessed punishment at (1) life imprisonment and a $10,000.00 fine for the aggravated sexual assault offense, (3) and (2) twenty years' imprisonment and a $10,000.00 fine for each of the three indecency offenses. (4) In eight issues, appellant challenges the legal and factual sufficiency of the evidence supporting his convictions. (5) We affirm.

I. Background (6)

The two female victims in this case are S.F., who was ten years old at the time of trial, and her sister, J.F., who was fifteen years old at the time of trial. (7) In November and December of 2006, when the alleged offenses occurred, S.F. and J.F. lived with their grandmother, Loretta, and their aunt, Brandi. (8)

A. S.F.'s Testimony

S.F. testified that on December 26, 2006, she and J.F. were at Loretta's house. Appellant and his two young daughters, R.G. and P.G., were visiting. Loretta was in her bedroom, and Brandi was at work. S.F. testified that J.F., R.G., and P.G. were outside playing. S.F. and appellant were in the living room watching television. S.F. testified she was wearing capri pants, but changed into shorts at appellant's suggestion. While she was sitting in a chair, appellant approached S.F., knelt down, pulled aside her shorts and underwear, and "played with [her] private" with his finger. (9) During this incident, Loretta came into the room, saw what was occurring, and told S.F. to go to her room. After appellant left, Loretta asked S.F. if it was "the first time it had happened." S.F. responded that there had been several prior incidents that occurred when she was visiting her cousins at appellant's apartment. According to S.F., one of the prior occasions was in December, but prior to that incident, similar incidents had occurred "more than a couple of times." These incidents occurred during overnight visits with her cousins at appellant's apartment. S.F. testified that when the other girls were asleep, appellant would call her to his room and play with her vagina. On these occasions, appellant touched her skin. According to S.F., she told appellant to stop, but he did not. The incidents would last "[j]ust for a minute;" appellant would then tell S.F. to return to the other bedroom and not tell anyone what had occurred. On these occasions, S.F. did not see any private parts of appellant's body. S.F. testified that before the December 26, 2006 incident, she had not told Loretta or anyone else about the incidents.

B. Loretta's Testimony

Loretta testified that she is the managing conservator of S.F. and J.F. (10) On December 26, 2006, Loretta spent most of the day in her bedroom because she had a "touch of the flu." Appellant and his daughters, P.G. and R.G., were visiting. Loretta testified that she was watching the children play outside from her bedroom window. At some point, she noticed that S.F. was not outside. Loretta testified that she walked into the living room and "saw Rafael leaned over the recliner arm with his hand in [S.F.'s] vagina, going like this (indicating), and his other hand was holding her shorts back." Appellant's hand was going "back and forth" and was "[i]n between the lips of [S.F.'s] vagina." According to Loretta, S.F. was watching television and playing with a game on appellant's phone, and "did not act like she was consciously there." Appellant did not notice Loretta immediately because "[a]pparently he was distracted." Loretta "got right in front of him, and asked him what he was doing." She also mentioned that S.F. was "only nine." Loretta stated that appellant "started sweating like crazy" and responded, "I know, [Loretta]. I messed up, I messed up. It's the first time, it's the first time, [Loretta], I swear to God." Loretta told appellant to leave and asked the other three girls to come inside. As he was leaving, appellant told P.G., "[y]eah, daddy messed up, daddy's got to go right now." In response to questioning by Loretta, J.F. denied that appellant had done anything to her.

C. J.F.'s Testimony

J.F. testified that on December 26, 2006, she was outside playing with her cousins. Appellant came outside and told her that "[Loretta] had caught him messing with my sister." J.F. stated that when Loretta asked her if appellant had ever touched her inappropriately, she said '"no." J.F. had also spoken to a counselor and denied that appellant had ever touched her inappropriately. In March, J.F. told Loretta that appellant had touched her inappropriately on several occasions. She stated that the first incident occurred in November or December of 2006. According to J.F., she and appellant were watching wrestling on television at her home. Appellant began wrestling with her and tickling her, and moved his hand so it was touching her vagina over her clothing. The second incident occurred on a different day, but under similar circumstances. Appellant was again visiting, watching wrestling on television, and began wrestling with J.F. and tickling her. He again moved his hand "back and forth" over her vagina. On a third occasion, appellant picked J.F. up and put her on his shoulders. He then started "rocking [his head] back and forth" against her vagina. J.F. said she told appellant to stop and put her down, and that he did so. J.F. testified that she thought this last incident occurred on December 26, 2006, the same day she told Loretta that appellant had not touched her inappropriately. On re-direct examination, J.F. stated that she did not tell Loretta or anyone what had happened because she thought if she didn't say anything, "it [would] all just go away." When asked why she later changed her mind and told Loretta what had happened, J.F. stated that she did so because "it will just get worse if they keep on asking and I'll end up telling later, so better get it over with, even though I didn't want to."

D. Sublett's Testimony

Debra Sublett, a licensed professional counselor, testified that she had been counseling S.F. since 2005, when S.F. came to live with Loretta. On December 28, 2006, Loretta and S.F.

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