Roland Blake Fears v. State

479 S.W.3d 315, 2015 Tex. App. LEXIS 4034
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedApril 23, 2015
DocketNUMBER 13-13-00111-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by30 cases

This text of 479 S.W.3d 315 (Roland Blake Fears 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
Roland Blake Fears v. State, 479 S.W.3d 315, 2015 Tex. App. LEXIS 4034 (Tex. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

OPINION

Opinion by

Justice Longoria

By fifteen issues, which we have reordered, appellant Ronald Blake Fears challenges his convictions for sexual abuse of a child (Count. I), sexual assault of a child. (Count III), 1 and indecency with a child by contact (Counts IV-VI). See Tex. Penal Code Ann. §§ 21.02, 22.011(a)(2), 21.11(a)(1) (West, Westlaw through .2013 3d C.S,). We affirm. "

I.Background

A. Initial Statements

During the weekend of October 2, 2011, C.T., 2 the minor complainant in this case, was sleeping over at the home of her friend Chesney St. John (Chesney) and helping to babysit Chesney’s younger siblings. At the time, Chesney was sixteen years old and C.T. was fourteen years old. 3 C.T. confided to Chesney that C.T. needed help telling something to C,T:’s mother, which C>T. evidently found difficult to discuss. Chesney testified that C.T. typed a message into the text message function, of her phone, showed Chesney what she wished to tell her mother, and then erased it. According to Chesney, the message revealed that C.T. was being sexually abused by appellant, her stepfather. Chesney further testified that she learned that the abuse began when C.T. was eight years old. Chesney called her parents, who returned to.the house. Chesney first repeated some of C.T.’s statements to Chesney’s parents because C.T. was crying too much to speak.

Chesney’s mother, Natalie,, questioned C.T. after Chesney finished speaking and testified to C.T.’s responses at trial. 4 Natalie testified that C.T. stated that appellant forced her to perform oral sex on him and appellant performed oral sex on C.T. The most recent abuse occurred one week earlier. C.T. told her that the abuse occurred in her parents’ bedroom on multiple occasions, and on one occasion, appellant attempted to vaginally penetrate her as she lay naked on the bed but stopped after she curled into a fetal position and began to cry. Natalie called the San Benito Police Department; she and Chesney accompanied C-T, ,to the police station and waited while C.T. gave a statement to Officer Carlos Andrade.

B. C.T.’s Statement to Officer An-drade

Officer Andrade testified that he learned from his interview with C;T..that appellant “was only touching [C.T.’s] private areas” and that he had not penetrated her with his fingers or forced her to perform oral sex. However, Officer Andrade further testified that he did not determine before conducting the interview whether C.T. understood the terms “penetration” and “oral sex.” Chesney testified that C.T. did not know the meaning of the term “oral sex” until she and C.T, spoke after. C.T. gave a *323 statement to Andrade. Chesney testified that after explaining the term, she believed that appellant had forced C.T. to perform oral sex. Andrade also testified that C.T. confirmed that the abuse began when she was eight years old. Andrade testified that he felt that there was enough evidence to determine that a crime had been committed and contacted Child Protective Services (CPS).

C. Interview with Francisco Lopez

CPS Investigator Francisco Lopez testified on direct examination, that he was assigned to the case after CPS received reports from Chesney and Natalie and the San Benito Police. On Sunday, October 3, 2011 (the day after C.T.. first spoke to Chesney), Lopez and another CPS investigator went to Chesney and Natalie’s home to interview C.T. Lopez testified that they would normally bring a child complainant for a forensic interview at Maggie’s House, the Children’s Advocacy Center, but it was closed that day. Lopez personally interviewed C.T. and made an audio recording of the interview, which we will refer to as the “Lopez Recording.”

During the interview, C.T. confirmed that the abuse started when she was eight years old, that she had recently learned the meaning of the term “oral sex” from Chesney, that appellant had forced her to perform oral sex, and that appellant had performed , oral sex on her. C.T. clarified to Lopez that she told Officer Andrade that he did not force her to perform oral sex because she did not know the meaning of the term until she spoke to Chesney after giving the statement. C.T. also described the specific appearance of appellant’s genitalia, including whether his pubic hair was shaved or unshaved, that he had pimples on his thighs, and that she sometimes saw “red dots” on his genital area. Lopez questioned C.T.’s mother when she arrived to pick up C.T. and testified that C.T.’s .mother gave a similar description of appellant’s genitalia.

Immediately prior to Lopez’s testimony, appellant’s counsel orally moved for a continuance to review any documents prepared by Lopez during his investigation because the documents “could be pretty voluminous.” The trial court overruled the motion as premature. At the beginning of cross-examination by appellant’s counsel, Lopez confirmed that he had prepared an eight-page report of his investigation, that he used á copy of the report to refresh his memory prior to testifying, and that he had not provided the report to the State, the trial court, or appellant because it was confidential by law. See Tex. Fam. Code Ann. § 261.201 (West, Westlaw through 2013 3d C.S.). Appellant’s counsel. moved under Texas Rule of Evidence 616 that the cpurt order Lopez to turn over the report and orally moved for a continuance to give him. time to review the report before using it to cross-examine Lopez. See Tex. R. Evid. 615. The trial judge denied both motions. At the end of Lopez’s testimony, appellant’s counsel again requested the report. Appellant’s counsel also' filed a written motion for continuance and a motion for disclosure of confidential records. The trial judge never explicitly ruled on the motions but carried them through the trial. The trial judge also ordered the State to tender the CPS files generated in the case to the eourt under'seal. After reviewing the records in -camera, the trial judge disclosed a copy of Lopez’s eight-page report to the defense and' read two additional pages into the record. - •

D. Lopez’s Interview with B.F.

Lopez briefly interviewed B.F., C.T.’s younger sister, on the same day as his original interview with C.T. Lopez also made an audio recording of that interview. At trial, the State called B.F. as a witness. *324 During the State’s direct examination, B.F. denied that she had ever told Lopez that appellant and C.T. were alone “many times” in her parents’ room, with the door closed. The State offered into evidence a portion of the audio recording of Lopez’s interview with B.F. that was inconsistent with this testimony. See Tex. R. Evid. 613. The trial court judge admitted that portion of the statement into evidence over appellant’s objections. At the end of the State’s examination, B.F. admitted that her mother had told her- what to say during her trial testimony.

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Bluebook (online)
479 S.W.3d 315, 2015 Tex. App. LEXIS 4034, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/roland-blake-fears-v-state-texapp-2015.