Rios v. State

857 S.W.2d 98, 1993 Tex. App. LEXIS 1643, 1993 WL 195810
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJune 10, 1993
DocketNo. 13-92-179-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 857 S.W.2d 98 (Rios 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
Rios v. State, 857 S.W.2d 98, 1993 Tex. App. LEXIS 1643, 1993 WL 195810 (Tex. Ct. App. 1993).

Opinion

OPINION

GILBERTO HINOJOSA, Justice.

Appellant was convicted by a jury of aggravated possession of marihuana. The jury assessed punishment at ten years’ imprisonment, which the court probated, and a $10,000 fine. We affirm the judgment.

Appellant, Juan Ybarra, and Manuel Rios were indicted for possession of between 50 and 200 pounds of marihuana. David Martinez and Javier Guerra, officers for the Willacy County Sheriff’s Department, obtained a marihuana sample from a confidential informant. The informant told them that Juan Ybarra had given him the marihuana sample and that he could arrange a meeting with Ybarra. Working undercover, Officer Guerra and the informant met with Ybarra, who told them that he knew some people who had seventy (70) pounds of marihuana to sell. Ybarra told [100]*100the officer he did not have the marihuana with him and that he was just the sellers’ middleman. They negotiated a price of $620 a pound. The appellant, Manuel Rios, and Ybarra were eventually arrested at the home of appellant’s father on Tandy Road in Brownsville, Texas. Police searched the house and surrounding premises. With the assistance of trained dogs, they found 64.25 pounds of marihuana in plastic-wrapped “bricks.” Police also found several scales with marihuana residue on them.

By his first point of error, appellant complains that the trial court erroneously instructed the jury that appellant could be convicted if he acted alone. The charge reads, in pertinent part, as follows:

Now if you find from the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that Jose Guadalupe Rios, either acting alone or as a party, did then and there intentionally or knowingly possess a usable quantity of marihuana of more than fifty pounds but less than 200 pounds, then you will find the defendant guilty of aggravated possession of marihuana, (emphasis added).

Appellant objected to the words “acting alone,” arguing that there was no evidence that he acted alone, only as a party. The jury found appellant guilty “as alleged in the indictment.”

Generally, it is error for the trial court to charge the jury on a theory not alleged in the indictment nor supported by the evidence. See Watson v. State, 693 S.W.2d 938, 940 (Tex.Crim.App.1985). However, we do not find appellant’s cited cases controlling in this instance. In Savant v. State, 544 S.W.2d 408 (Tex.Crim.App.1977), the Court of Criminal Appeals reversed a conviction for assault with a prohibited weapon. There the trial court charged that the jury would find appellant guilty under the law of parties if it found that appellant alone unlawfully carried a pistol and shot the victim in question. However, the evidence clearly showed that the appellant was not the one who carried the pistol and shot the victim. The appellant’s partner did the cited acts, and the evidence showed that the appellant instead hit the victim with the butt of a shotgun.

Similarly, each of appellant’s other cases involve fact patterns in which the conduct alleged and proven was different from the conduct charged and found by the jury. Here, we do not find that the State alleged and proved conduct that was wholly different from what was charged. We agree with the State that the charge language was necessary because the jury might have found that the two other defendants lacked the requisite intent for the crime.

While the State argued that the three men conspired to sell the substance, it actually charged appellant with aggravated possession of marihuana. The State had to show that appellant exercised care, control, and management over the substance and that appellant knew the substance was contraband; Edwards v. State, 807 S.W.2d 338, 339 (Tex.App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 1991, pet. ref’d). Officer Guerra negotiated the marihuana purchase with Ybarra, who stated that he was just a middleman “for the owners.” At one point, Ybarra drove Officer Guerra and the confidential informant to El Globo Supermarket where, Ybarra said, “the owner of the marihuana” worked as a high ranking employee. All Ybarra’s references to “the owner” at this point were in the singular. Ybarra spent about forty-five minutes inside El Globo. He, Guerra, and the informant then separated, agreeing to consummate the transaction later that afternoon.

Officers Guerra and Martinez then assembled backup assistance, and Guerra and the informant met Ybarra again. Although the parties had planned otherwise, a series of maneuvers enabled Ybarra to join Guerra in Guerra’s own vehicle and to direct him, not to El Tejón Road, but to Tandy Road, where, contrary to Ybarra’s previous information, “the owners” lived. Officer Guerra stated that when he arrived at the house on Tandy Road, appellant was the only one present. Appellant told Officer Guerra that he did not have the entire seventy pounds and that they had to wait for his brother, Manuel, to bring the rest. Guerra stated that appellant “was leading [101]*101me to believe that it [the marihuana] was not there.” When Manuel Rios arrived, he walked through the house before producing a sample of marihuana. The jury could have believed that the marihuana was in the house at all times and that Manuel did not bring any with him.

Appellant testified that the house on Tandy Road belonged to his father. He explained that he and his wife had planned to go to an auction that day and then to Sam’s to buy a new refrigerator. Appellant was going to sell his old refrigerator to his father, and he went to the house that afternoon to measure the area in the kitchen to see if the unit would fit. He stated that he just finished talking to the maid and was about to leave when Ybarra and Officer Guerra arrived. Appellant’s brother was in the house watching football, and appellant claimed that the visitors asked for Manuel. Appellant went back into the house to call Manuel, and when they both went outside, the police arrived and arrested them.

The jury was free to disbelieve appellant’s version of the events. While the evidence shows that appellant could not have acted alone in the drug sale, it supports a finding that appellant alone was guilty of possessing an aggravated amount of marihuana. Appellant admitted that he worked at El Globo on the day of the incident. He was at the house alone when the undercover officer arrived, and the entire sixty-four pounds was found throughout the house and in vehicles on the premises. The jury could have believed that only appellant intended to and did exercise care, control, and custody over the entire amount of the substance. Point one is overruled.

By point two, appellant claims that fundamental error was presented when the prosecutor questioned appellant’s failure to call his co-defendants as defense witnesses. Appellant claimed that he was merely present at the house when the arrest occurred, and he was not involved with any drug transaction or with any drugs found on the premises. On cross-examination, the State’s attorney questioned appellant at length on why appellant did not call his brother or Ybarra to confirm his story.

Generally, the State may properly comment on the defendant’s failure to call competent and material witnesses. It may also argue that the reason for such failure is that any such testimony would be unfavorable to the accused. Carrillo v. State,

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1 S.W.3d 846 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1999)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
857 S.W.2d 98, 1993 Tex. App. LEXIS 1643, 1993 WL 195810, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rios-v-state-texapp-1993.