Rhomer v. State

522 S.W.3d 13, 2017 WL 1337653, 2017 Tex. App. LEXIS 3195
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedApril 12, 2017
DocketNo. 04-15-00817-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 522 S.W.3d 13 (Rhomer 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
Rhomer v. State, 522 S.W.3d 13, 2017 WL 1337653, 2017 Tex. App. LEXIS 3195 (Tex. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

OPINION

Opinion by:

Sandee Bryan Marion, Chief Justice

In the underlying criminal prosecution, appellant, William Rhomer, was' indicted on three counts: felony" murder,’ intoxication manslaughter, and manslaughter. All three counts stemmed from the same fatal vehicular collision between appellant’s car and the' decedent’s motorcycle. The indictment Contained an enhancement that appellant had been previously convicted as a repeat offender of the felony offense of driving while intoxicated. A jury found appellant guilty on all three counts and assessed punishment at seventy-five years’ confinement. Ih its judgment, the trial court abandoned counts two and three and sentenced appellant to seventy-five years on only count one.

On appeal, appellant asserts the trial court erred in admitting the testimony of two police officers who testified, about the accident. Detective John Doyle opined the accident happened because appellant drove into the decedent’s lane of-traffic. Officer Sean Graham testified he did not believe appellant’s contention that Chavez drove into appellant’s lane of traffic. Appellant contends Detective Doyle was not qualified to render an expert opinion on. how the accident occurred and his testimony was not, reliable.-Appellant contends the trial court erred by allowing Officer Graham to offer his lay opinion because he had no background in accident reconstruction, finally, appellant asserts the cumulative efi [17]*17feet of these errors rendered his trial fundamentally unfair. .

THE ACCIDENT

There is no dispute that on the night of the accident appellant was driving his car on Colwick Street coming from the Coco Beach Bar, a few blocks west of the accident site. Colwick curves into and intersects with Nakoma Drive, and Nakoma has both eastbound and westbound lanes. Travelling from the bar, appellant turned from Colwick into the eastbound lane of Nakoma. The decedent, Gilbert Chavez, was travelling on his motorcycle in the westbound lane of Nakoma.

Mario Negron and Kenneth Ferrer testified they were driving their vehicle in the westbound lane of Nakoma when they came upon the accident at around 3:00 a.m. on May 2, 2012. They both testified they drove over pieces of metal on Nakoma. They stopped their vehicle at the accident scene, and both testified Chavez was breathing heavily and his body was contorted, with bones sticking out. Appellant also was at the scene, stumbling around. Appellant approached Negron and Ferrer, who were with Chavez, and said, “Oh, he looks ok.” Appellant told two of the police officers at the scene that Chavez drove into appellant’s lane of traffic. Appellant told one of the officers that Chavez “pulled out in front of’ him, and that Chavez “had gone around him as if [Chavez] was traveling in the same direction as [appellant] and hit [appellant] on his right side.... ” Chavez was transported to a hospital where he died from his injuries. Dr. Randy Frost, the Bexar County Chief Medical Examiner, testified multiple traumatic blunt force injuries were the cause of death, and the injuries were consistent with an automobile accident.

APPLICABLE LAW AND STANDARD QF REVIEW

Witnesses who are not experts may testify about opinions or inferences, but only when those opinions or inferences are rationally based on the perception of the witness and helpful to a clear understanding of the witness’s testimony or the determination of a fact in issue. Tex, R. Evxd. 701. An expert witness may offer an opinion if he is qualified by his knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education to do so and if scientific, technical, or specialized knowledge will assist the trier of fact in understanding the evidence or to determining a fact in issue. Tex. R. Evid. 702.

The admissibility of evidence is within the discretion of the trial court and will not be reversed absent an abuse of discretion. Powell v. State, 63 S.W.3d 435, 438 (Tex. Crim. App. 2001). An abuse of discretion occurs when the trial court acts without reference to any guiding rules and principles or acts arbitrarily or unreasonably. Montgomery v. State, 810 S.W.2d 372, 380 (Tex. Crim. App. 1990).

DETECTIVE DOYLE’S TESTIMONY

San Antonio Police Detective John Doyle was dispatched to the scene of the accident where he observed a car that appeared to have crashed into the pillars of a building and a motorcycle in the parking lot. Doyle conducted a visual inspection of the accident scene and, based on-the debris field and tire marks, he determined an area-of impact between the two vehicles. Doyle measured the scene using a Sokkia instrument (a device also used for surveying), and created a scaled diagram showing all tire marks, evidence points, debris, and to calculate speed. However, in this case, Doyle said he did not calculate the speed of the vehicles because of the weight differential between the two vehicles and because appellant’s car struck a [18]*18building. Based on the lack of tire marks on the street, Doyle stated there was no pre-impact braking by either vehicle. Doyle was able to identify debris from the motorcycle because he had seen “numerous motorcycle crashes.” Doyle said he himself rides motorcycles. He did not believe EMS had moved any debris on the roadway, and had only moved the debris near where Chavez lay on the ground. Doyle also testified about the damage to the left side of the motorcycle and to the left side of Chavez’s body.

Based on the debris left by the motorcycle after the collision, tire marks, curb strikes, the curvature of the road, and the final resting position of the motorcycle, car, and Chavez’s body in the parking lot on the westbound side of Nakoma, Detective Doyle formed an opinion on how the collision occurred. According to Doyle

[appellant] failed to negotiate the curve [as Colwick curved into Nakoma]. He basically straightened out the curve. And the complainant [Chavez] is going the opposite direction down the roadway. ... And [appellant] came into the path of the—the motorcyclist who is going this way, ... and [appellant] hit [Chavez] head-on, more or less.
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It was more or less a direct head-on. The motorcyclist is leaning as he’s coming into a corner. The way you take a turn on a motorcycle is you lean. Okay. He—he, I think, based on the location of that debris from the bumper right up there, I think at the—probably at about the last second [Chavez] shifted up to straighten the bike a little bit and the car hit him like that.

When asked if it was possible that Chavez left his westbound lane and entered the eastbound lane occupied by appellant, Doyle said “no ... [b]ecause of the debris, because of those scrape marks, [and] because of where the vehicles ended up.” Doyle said that if Chavez had been in appellant’s lane, Chavez’s body would not have landed in the parking lot, which was on the westbound side.

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522 S.W.3d 13, 2017 WL 1337653, 2017 Tex. App. LEXIS 3195, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rhomer-v-state-texapp-2017.