Reynolds v. State

744 S.W.2d 156, 1987 Tex. App. LEXIS 8696, 1987 WL 4101
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedOctober 28, 1987
Docket07-87-0033-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by50 cases

This text of 744 S.W.2d 156 (Reynolds 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
Reynolds v. State, 744 S.W.2d 156, 1987 Tex. App. LEXIS 8696, 1987 WL 4101 (Tex. Ct. App. 1987).

Opinions

BOYD, Justice.

Appellant Oris Reynolds brings this appeal from his conviction by a jury of driving while intoxicated and the consequent court-assessed punishment of six months confinement in the county jail, a $1,000 fine, and a one year suspension of appellant’s driver’s license. We affirm the judgment of conviction.

In attacking his conviction, appellant contends that the trial court erred in (1) not directing the jury to enter a verdict of acquittal and/or not entering a verdict of acquittal notwithstanding the jury verdict because the State failed to sustain its burden of proof due to insufficient evidence; (2) not granting a mistrial when State’s attorney commented in the presence of the jury on defendant’s failure to testify; (3) admitting evidence of prior convictions when the State failed to establish that the prior convictions were of the appellant; (4) admitting declarations of appellant against his penal interest in violation of Rule 803(24) of the Texas Rules of Criminal Evidence; (5) admitting the printed result of an Intoxilyzer Test when there had been no predicate laid for its admission; (6) questioning the voir dire panel as to whether any prospective juror had ever sat on a trial against appellant for the offense of driving while intoxicated; (7) not granting a mistrial when a State’s witness testified that defendant refused to take a breath test; and (8) not requiring the court reporter to transcribe the entire trial proceeding after previously ordering same.

To sustain a conviction for driving a motor vehicle while intoxicated the evidence must show that appellant (1) drove and operated a motor vehicle (2) while intoxicated (3) in a public place. Tex.Rev.Civ.Stat.Ann. art. 6701Z-l(b) (Vernon Supp.1987). In his first point appellant argues there was insufficient evidence (1) of appellant driving and operating a motor vehicle, and (2) that the driving and operating of the motor vehicle by appellant occurred at the location alleged in the indictment, which was alleged to be a public place.

In determining whether evidence at trial is sufficient to uphold a conviction we must review the evidence bearing in mind the standard of review articulated by the United States Supreme Court in Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 2789, 61 L.Ed.2d 560, reh’g denied, 444 U.S. 890, 100 S.Ct. 195, 62 L.Ed.2d 126 (1979), which is: “whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt” (emphasis in original). The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals applied the Jackson standard in Houston v. State, 663 S.W.2d 455, 456 (Tex.Crim.App.1984) and Griffin v. State, 614 S.W.2d 155, 159 (Tex.Crim.App.1981). Moreover, in making this evalua tion, we must look at all the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict. Houston v. State, 663 S.W.2d at 456; Mahavier v. State, 644 S.W.2d 129, 131 (Tex.App.—San Antonio 1982, no pet.).

Our review of the State’s evidence reveals that the arresting officer testified that he found appellant alone behind the wheel of a car that was half in a ditch and half on a farm-to-market road. He testified that appellant’s feet were on the floorboard of the driver’s seat under the steering wheel and that no one else was in the car. The officer also testified that he found no one else in the vicinity and found no liquor bottles either in or around the vehicle. The driver’s door was closed.

The officer also said that appellant admitted to the officer that he was driving the vehicle in which he was found. Although appellant objected to the officer’s testimony as hearsay without an exception under Texas Rule of Criminal Evidence 803(24), for reasons which we discuss infra under appellant’s point of error number four, we find sufficient corroborating evidence to indicate the trustworthiness of [159]*159appellant’s statement against interest. Therefore, appellant’s statement against interest is additional admissible evidence to support the jury’s finding beyond a reasonable doubt that appellant was driving and operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated.

In support of his position, appellant primarily relies on Johnson v. State, 517 S.W.2d 536, 538 (Tex.Crim.App.1975), in which the Court found insufficient evidence to sustain a misdemeanor conviction of driving a motor vehicle on a public highway while intoxicated even though that appellant admitted driving the vehicle. However, that case is distinguishable. In Johnson the appellant was found in a group of people standing on the other side of the street from the pickup truck and there was no evidence as to when he had driven the truck or that he was intoxicated when he drove the truck, no evidence as to how recently the truck had been driven (such as a hot engine), and no evidence that the ditch where the truck was standing was in the street right-of-way. Id.

In the present case the arresting officer testified in detail as to the condition in which he found appellant inside the vehicle as well as to his observation of the surroundings. Where there is evidence that appellant was found alone in the motor vehicle, this Court has recently held that there is sufficient evidence to show appellant was the driver of the vehicle. See Keenan v. State, 700 S.W.2d 12, 14 (Tex.App. — Amarillo 1985, no pet.). Moreover, the record before us contains additional evidence that he was located in the driver’s seat with the door closed and with his feet on the floorboard under the steering wheel. We find there was sufficient evidence under the Jackson standard to support the evident jury finding that appellant drove and operated a motor vehicle on August 28, 1986, prior to his arrest.

As to the issue of the sufficiency of the State’s evidence as to the location of the offense, we must again look at all the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict. Houston v. State, 663 S.W.2d at 456; Mahavier v. State, 644 S.W.2d at 131. The arresting officer twice testified that he found appellant in a motor vehicle “on FM 1949 about a half mile south of Business 287 in Wilbarger County.” Appellant’s counsel’s secretary testified that she had measured the distance of the location of the motor vehicle from Business 287, based upon the officer’s description and reference to defense counsel’s drawing (which counsel admitted was “not exactly to scale”), and that it measured two-tenths of a mile.

The credibility of witnesses and the weight to be given their testimony, as well as the resolution of conflicts in testimony, are matters which cannot be reviewed by the appellate court in criminal appeals. They are within the exclusive province of the jury as trier of fact. Tex.Code Crim.Proc.Ann. art. 36.13 (Vernon 1981) and art. 38.04 (Vernon 1979); Penagraph v. State, 623 S.W.2d 341, 343 (Tex.Crim.App.1981). We find there is sufficient evidence to support the jury’s evident finding that the offense occurred as alleged. Appellant’s first point of error is overruled.

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Bluebook (online)
744 S.W.2d 156, 1987 Tex. App. LEXIS 8696, 1987 WL 4101, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/reynolds-v-state-texapp-1987.