Rangel v. State

179 S.W.3d 64, 2005 WL 1812636
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 8, 2006
Docket04-04-00758-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by69 cases

This text of 179 S.W.3d 64 (Rangel 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
Rangel v. State, 179 S.W.3d 64, 2005 WL 1812636 (Tex. Ct. App. 2006).

Opinion

*67 OPINION

Opinion by

KAREN ANGELINI, Justice.

Raul Rangel was convicted by a jury on two counts: Count I for burglary of a habitation and Count II for aggravated assault. At sentencing, Rangel pled true to the enhancement paragraph. Rangel was sentenced on June 23, 2004 to thirty years imprisonment for burglary of a habitation and twenty years for aggravated assault. Rangel appeals. Because Ran-gel’s double jeopardy argument has merit, we reverse and render a judgment of acquittal with respect to Count II. However, we affirm the judgment on Count I.

Background

On November 10, 2003, Michelle Hatzen-buehler was at home with her children and her on-and-off boyfriend, Antonio Medra-no. Medrano and Hatzenbuehler awoke at two o’clock in the morning to the sound of Raul Rangel, her other on-and-off boyfriend, banging on the door and yelling Hatzenbuehler’s name. The yelling and banging continued for about thirty to forty-five minutes until Rangel left. Later that morning, Rangel returned and again banged on the door and yelled Hatzen-buehler’s name. Medrano needed to go to work, but decided to wait until Rangel left. As Medrano was walking down the stairs with a knife, Rangel entered the apartment through a side window. A fight quickly ensued between the two men.

Rangel, also holding a knife, cut Medra-no’s neck, face, chest, and back. Medra-no’s knife broke when it struck a wall. The men struggled over Rangel’s knife, and Medrano began to feel dizzy from the loss of blood. Medrano bit Rangel in an attempt to get Rangel to drop the knife. Rangel and Medrano eventually agreed to stop fighting, and Medrano went outside. He was quickly joined by Rangel and Hat-zenbuehler. Rangel began arguing with Hatzenbuehler, but he left before the police and EMS arrived. Medrano was helicoptered to a hospital and required a two-day stay.

Later that day, Rangel was contacted by Officer Adrian Tijerina. Officer Tijerina testified that he had no problems communicating with Rangel. Rangel was brought to the police station, and Officer Jerry Hernandez took a statement from him in English. In his statement, Rangel claimed to “black out” from anger, but he remembers struggling and a knife. Officer Hernandez did not see any injury to Rangel except for a bite mark on his arm and some minor scratches on his head. Officer Hernandez also testified that he had no problems communicating with Rangel.

Rangel was offered a plea bargain of no more than fifteen years. Rangel, however, declined to accept the deal and chose, instead, to proceed to trial. Rangel communicated easily in English with the trial judge.

At trial, Rangel attempted to have evidence of a prior altercation between himself and Medrano admitted, but the trial court sustained the State’s objection to relevance. Later, Hatzenbuehler testified that she had given Rangel effective consent to enter the apartment whenever he liked. However, she admitted that she had previously told the police that he did not have permission to enter the apartment. She also testified about an earlier incident where she and Medrano had been caught by Rangel, and the two men had had a fist fight. After the State rested, the defense also rested, calling no witnesses. The jury found Rangel guilty of burglary of a habitation and aggravated assault. Rangel appeals, bringing five issues.

*68 Discussion

A. Failure to Appoint an Interpreter for Trial

In his first issue, Rangel argues that the trial court violated his right to confrontation under the Sixth Amendment when it failed to appoint an interpreter. For support, Rangel relies on Garcia v. State, 149 S.W.3d 135 (Tex.Crim.App.2004). In Garcia, it was undisputed that the defendant did not speak English. Id. at 142. His lawyer’s legal assistant translated for him at times; however, the legal assistant was not instructed to translate the witnesses’ testimony at trial for the defendant, and she testified at the motion for new trial hearing that she did not do so. Id. Indeed, the legal assistant “had never once been called upon to sit during a trial and give an ongoing translation, and she was not sworn in as an interpreter in this case.” Id. On appeal, the defendant argued that the lack of translation during his trial violated the Sixth Amendment’s Confrontation Clause. Id. at 140. According to the State, however, the defendant was prevented from bringing the issue on appeal because he had failed to preserve it. Id. The court of criminal appeals disagreed, holding that failure to preserve error did not prevent the defendant from bringing the issue on appeal because the right to an interpreter must be implemented by the legal system unless expressly waived. Id. at 144. “[W]hen a trial judge is aware that the defendant has a problem understanding the English language, the defendant’s right to have an interpreter translate the trial proceedings into a language which the defendant understands” must be implemented by the trial judge unless expressly waived. Id. at 145.

In these circumstances, the judge has an independent duty to implement this right in the absence of a knowing and voluntary waiver by the defendant. The judge may become aware of the defendant’s language problem either by being informed of it by one or both parties or by noticing the problem sua sponte.

Id. (emphasis in original).

Unlike the facts in Garcia, here, the trial court did not have any reason to believe Rangel could not understand the English language. Rangel’s police statement was written in English and had a factual correction that Rangel made to the statement. Before trial began, the parties discussed a plea-bargain offer made by the State. Rangel spoke to the court in English, clearly indicating that he understood the State’s plea-bargain offer. Rangel then told the court that he wanted to proceed to trial. At trial, Officer Hernandez and Officer Tijerina testified that they had both communicated with Rangel in English with no problems.

In his brief, Rangel argues that the trial court was informed that Rangel did not speak English by his defense counsel. However, the portion of the record on which Rangel relies shows the opposite:

Defense counsel: You don’t know Mr. Rangel’s education, do you?
Officer Tijerina: No, ma’am.
Defense counsel: And would you agree with me that he speaks broken English?
Officer Tijerina: That he what, ma’am?
Defense counsel: His English is not great?
Officer Tijerina: I don’t — I never dealt with him that extensively. Whenever I talked to him — when I did talk to him at South River Street, we communicated fine.

Therefore, the record does not reflect the trial court was made aware that Rangel *69

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
179 S.W.3d 64, 2005 WL 1812636, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rangel-v-state-texapp-2006.