Roger Dale May v. the State of Texas

CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedAugust 14, 2025
Docket10-24-00231-CR
StatusPublished

This text of Roger Dale May v. the State of Texas (Roger Dale May v. the State of Texas) 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
Roger Dale May v. the State of Texas, (Tex. Ct. App. 2025).

Opinion

Court of Appeals Tenth Appellate District of Texas

10-24-00231-CR

Roger Dale May, Appellant

v.

The State of Texas, Appellee

On appeal from the 13th District Court of Navarro County, Texas Judge H. D. Black Jr., presiding Trial Court Cause No. D42,611-CR

JUSTICE SMITH delivered the opinion of the Court.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Roger Dale May appeals his convictions for trafficking of persons and

sexual performance by a child. After the jury found him guilty, the trial court

assessed punishment at fifteen years of confinement in the Texas Department

of Corrections—Institutional Division on each count, to run concurrently. In

three issues, May contends the evidence is insufficient to support his convictions and the trial court erred in admitting extraneous offense evidence.

We affirm.

BACKGROUND

During a Johnson County Sheriff’s office investigation in an unrelated

case, investigators seized a phone owned by William Junkert. Examination of

the data on the phone revealed a photo of Junkert engaging in sexual contact

with a young boy. Investigators determined that the photo had been sent to

Junkert’s phone from a phone owned by May. They arrested May and seized

his phone. After the child was identified as C.R., a resident of Navarro County,

the case was transferred.

C.R. is a non-verbal autistic boy, who was nine years old at the time the

photo was taken. He lived with his mother, Michelle Cannon and

grandmother, Mary Rainey in a house owned by Rainey. The photo was taken

in one of the bedrooms of their house. Rainey is May’s aunt. Junkert is May’s

boyfriend.

Sergeant Rex Kiser, a forensics computer examiner with the Fort Worth

Police Department, downloaded the data on May’s phone. He found several

photos but could not say if the photos were taken with May’s phone. The photo

of Junkert and C.R., introduced as State’s Exhibit 5, was a screenshot, a

picture of a picture, that was taken on April 30, 2019 at 1:33 a.m. and 38

May v. State Page 2 seconds. It was sent to Junkert’s phone by text message on the same date at

1:34 a.m. Kiser explained that taking a screen shot of a picture and texting it

is a way to avoid detection because the metadata is stripped in the process.

The photo was manually backed up to a microSD card on September 23, 2019

by way of the Smart Switch Back Up app. The Smart Switch app allows one

to back up data from one Samsung phone to another Samsung phone.

Cannon, Rainey, and Junkert each testified, providing their perspective

about who took the photo and how that person obtained access to C.R. The

jury determined May was guilty of both offenses. After sentencing, May

appealed the judgments.

SUFFICIENCY OF THE EVIDENCE

In his first and second issues, May contends the evidence is insufficient

to support a finding of guilty of trafficking of persons or sexual performance by

a child. Asserting there is no physical evidence tying him to the charges, he

contends the witnesses’ testimony was conflicting and their credibility was

questionable. He also contends that Junkert, and possibly a second individual,

Johnny Frost, a friend of Cannon’s, had access to his phone. Further, he argues

the weak and compromised nature of the State’s evidence should be considered.

May v. State Page 3 Standard of Review

In reviewing the sufficiency of the evidence, we view the evidence in the

light most favorable to the prosecution, to determine whether any rational trier

of fact could have found the essential elements of the offense beyond a

reasonable doubt. Isassi v. State, 330 S.W.3d 633, 638 (Tex. Crim. App. 2010);

Brooks v. State, 323 S.W.3d 893, 912 (Tex. Crim. App. 2010). Because the jury

is the sole judge of the witnesses' credibility and the weight to be given their

testimony, we defer to those determinations. Brooks, 323 S.W.3d at 899. We

give deference to the trier of fact's responsibility to fairly resolve conflicts in

testimony and to draw reasonable inferences from basic facts to ultimate facts.

Hooper v. State, 214 S.W.3d 9, 13 (Tex. Crim. App. 2007). If the record supports

conflicting inferences, we presume that the fact finder resolved the conflict in

favor of the prosecution and defer to that determination. Garcia v. State, 367

S.W.3d 683, 687 (Tex. Crim. App. 2012).

It is not necessary that the evidence directly prove the defendant's guilt;

circumstantial evidence is as probative as direct evidence in establishing a

defendant's guilt, and circumstantial evidence can alone be sufficient to

establish guilt. Carrizales v. State, 414 S.W.3d 737, 742 (Tex. Crim. App.

2013). Each fact need not point directly and independently to guilt if the

cumulative force of all incriminating circumstances is sufficient to support the

May v. State Page 4 conviction. Hooper, 214 S.W.3d at 13. Evidence may be legally insufficient

when the record contains either no evidence of an essential element, merely a

modicum of evidence of one element, or if it conclusively establishes a

reasonable doubt. Britain v. State, 412 S.W.3d 518, 520 (Tex. Crim. App. 2013).

Applicable Law

A person commits the offense of trafficking of persons if he knowingly

traffics a child and by any means causes the trafficked child to engage in, or

become the victim of, conduct prohibited by Texas Penal Code Section 21.11,

indecency with a child. TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. § 20A.02(a)(7)(B). A person

commits indecency with a child if, with a child younger than seventeen, he

engages in sexual contact with the child or causes the child to engage in sexual

contact. Id. § 21.11(a)(1). “Sexual contact” means any touching of the anus,

breast, or any part of the genitals of a child, if committed with the intent to

arouse or gratify the sexual desire of any person. Id. § 21.11(c)(1). In Chapter

20A, to “traffic” means to transport, entice, recruit, harbor, provide, or

otherwise obtain another person by any means. Id. § 20A.01(4).

A person commits the offense of sexual performance by a child if,

knowing the character and content thereof, he employs, authorizes or induces

a child younger than eighteen years of age to engage in sexual conduct or a

sexual performance. Id. § 43.25(b). Performance means any play, motion

May v. State Page 5 picture, photograph, dance, or other visual representation that can be

exhibited before an audience of one or more persons. Id. § 43.25(a)(3).

Analysis

May contends the evidence is insufficient to prove either offense.

Recognizing that the only physical evidence was a photo of the child with

Junkert that was on his phone, May contends someone else used his phone to

take the screen shot and text it to Junkert. May argues that the jury’s verdict

turns on the credibility of Cannon, Rainey, and Junkert. He argues that the

witnesses’ testimony conflicted regarding May’s, Junkert’s, and Frost’s access

to Rainey’s home and to the child. He contends Cannon’s and Rainey’s

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Related

State v. Mechler
153 S.W.3d 435 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2005)
Hooper v. State
214 S.W.3d 9 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2007)
Stafford v. State
813 S.W.2d 503 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1991)
Jenkins v. State
993 S.W.2d 133 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1999)
Walters v. State
247 S.W.3d 204 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2007)
Gigliobianco v. State
210 S.W.3d 637 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2006)
Isassi v. State
330 S.W.3d 633 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2010)
Brooks v. State
323 S.W.3d 893 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2010)
Garcia, Aima Lorena
367 S.W.3d 683 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2012)
Carrizales v. State
414 S.W.3d 737 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2013)
Britain, Samantha Amity
412 S.W.3d 518 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2013)
Gary James Cox v. State
495 S.W.3d 898 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2016)
Louis H. West v. State
554 S.W.3d 234 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2018)
Johnson v. State
490 S.W.3d 895 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2016)

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