Richardson v. State

753 S.W.2d 759, 1988 Tex. App. LEXIS 1914, 1988 WL 81456
Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided June 15, 1988·No. 05-87-00757-CR·Published·Cited by 17 cases

Opinion

THOMAS, Justice.

Jason Keith Richardson appeals a conviction for aggravated sexual assault after a jury returned a guilty verdict and assessed punishment at life in the Texas Department of Corrections. Richardson asserts in five points of error that: (1) his motion for change of venue was improperly denied; (2) the evidence is insufficient to prove the aggravating element; (3) evidence tainted by an illegal arrest was erroneously admitted; (4) the State’s violation of a discovery order requires reversal of the conviction; and (5) the trial court erred in denying his motion to restrict cross-examination of defendant. For the reasons below, we overrule all points of error and affirm the trial court’s judgment.

Change of Venue

In his first point of error, Richardson contends that the trial court erred in denying his motion for change of venue. Every defendant in a criminal case is guaranteed a fair trial by impartial jury by both the Texas and federal constitutions. Thus, due process entitles one to a change of venue when he demonstrates his inability to obtain a fair trial in the county where venue is laid. Lewis v. State, 654 S.W.2d 483, 484 (Tex.App. — Tyler 1983, pet. ref’d). The applicant for a change of venue has, however, a heavy burden. He must prove the existence of such prejudice in the community that the likelihood of obtaining a fair and impartial jury is doubtful. Ussery *762 v. State, 651 S.W.2d 767, 772 (Tex.Crim. App.1983). The decision to change venue is committed to the sound discretion of the trial court, and its decision denying change of venue will not be disturbed absent an abuse of discretion. Nethery v. State, 692 S.W.2d 686, 694-95 (Tex.Crim.App.1985), cert, denied, 474 U.S. 1110, 106 S.Ct. 897, 88 L.Ed.2d 931 (1986). The court’s decision regarding change of venue will not be considered an abuse of discretion when there is conflicting evidence on that issue. Cook v. State, 667 S.W.2d 520, 522 (Tex.Crim. App.1984).

Richardson filed a written pre-trial motion for change of venue, with three supporting affidavits attached. The State filed its response to the motion attaching several controverting affidavits. The trial court had a hearing on the matter and witnesses for both Richardson and the State testified.

Richardson presented four witnesses. Two of the witnesses, both attorneys, testified that they had heard of the case, had heard others discuss the case, and believed that Richardson could not receive a fair trial in Collin County. A reporter for the Plano Star Courier testified that his newspaper published approximately twenty-five articles concerning Richardson. Apparently, some of the articles did not concern Richardson directly, but involved bail bond procedures in Collin County. Richardson was involved tangentially in this issue because he “jumped bail” after the trial court reduced his bail from $100,000 to $7,000. The bail reduction apparently generated much controversy about bail procedures. Only three of the articles are included in the record before us. A reporter for the McKinney Courier Gazette testified that she had written three articles concerning Richardson. Only one article was admitted into evidence and included in the record on appeal. Both reporters testified that several of their newspapers’ articles mentioned that Richardson was suspected in two sexual assault cases.

The State called the mayor of McKinney who testified that the Richardson case was not “a hot topic of conversation” in the county. He believed that Richardson could receive a fair trial in Collin County. Two other witnesses testified that although they had heard about the case, they believed that Richardson could receive a fair trial in Collin County. The State’s last witness testified that Richardson’s case was not a topic of conversation in the county, and that he had not heard about it until the district attorney asked him to testify.

After hearing this testimony, the trial court adjourned the hearing, withholding his ruling until after voir dire of the jury panel. Fifty-five prospective jurors were summoned, and the first thirty-two were questioned extensively by both parties. Six of the prospective jurors had heard about the case, two from conversations with others and four from newspapers. One of the veniremembers was excused for cause when she stated that she could not ignore what she had heard from a friend. The other questioned veniremembers stated that they would try the case strictly on the evidence before them. The trial court overruled Richardson’s motion for change of venue.

Richardson contends that he was entitled to a change of venue because of the extensive pretrial publicity. We disagree. Simply because a case is publicized in the news media does not by itself establish prejudice or require a change of venue. Phillips v. State, 701 S.W.2d 875, 879 (Tex. Crim.App.1985), cert, denied, 477 U.S. 909, 106 S.Ct. 3285, 91 L.Ed.2d 574 (1986). The standard does not require that prospective jurors be totally ignorant of the facts and issues; rather, the publicity about the case must be pervasive, prejudicial and inflammatory. Phillips, 701 S.W.2d at 879; Ec-kert v. State, 623 S.W.2d 359, 363 (Tex. Crim.App.1981), overruled on other grounds, Reed v. State, 744 S.W.2d 112, 125 n. 10 (Tex.Crim.App.1988); McManus v. State, 591 S.W.2d 505, 518 (Tex.Crim. App.1979), overruled on other grounds, Reed, 744 S.W.2d at 125 n. 10. We have examined the newspaper articles introduced at the hearing and find them to be “fair, accurate and designed for the purpose of informing the public of current *763 events.” Bell v. State, 582 S.W.2d 800, 810 (Tex.Crim.App.1979), cert, denied, 453 U.S. 913, 101 S.Ct. 3145, 69 L.Ed.2d 995 (1981).

Those articles which were not admitted into evidence apparently involved bail bonding procedures rather than Richardson’s criminal case. In Stiehl v. State, 585 S.W.2d 716 (Tex.Crim.App.1979), cert, denied, 449 U.S. 1114,101 S.Ct. 926, 66 L.Ed. 2d 843 (1981), the court held that a change in venue was not required when extensive publicity surrounded the defendant’s federal lawsuit concerning jail conditions and only limited media attention was given to the crime itself. Id. at 718. Thus, Richardson has failed to show that the publicity affected the community’s climate of opinion. Phillips, 701 S.W.2d at 879.

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Richardson v. State, 753 S.W.2d 759, 1988 Tex. App. LEXIS 1914, 1988 WL 81456 (Tex. Ct. App. 1988).

753 S.W.2d 759 (Richardson v. State) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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