Russell Little v. State

Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided November 18, 2020·No. 06-19-00270-CR·Published

Opinion

In The

Court of Appeals

Sixth Appellate District of Texas at Texarkana

No. 06-19-00270-CR

RUSSELL LITTLE, Appellant V.

THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee

On Appeal from the 102nd District Court Bowie County, Texas

Trial Court No. 19F0597-102

Before Morriss, C.J., Burgess and Stevens, JJ.

Memorandum Opinion by Chief Justice Morriss

MEMORANDUM OPINION

A Bowie County jury convicted Russell Little of two counts of sexual assault of a child and three counts of indecency with a child by sexual contact. For each of the five convictions, the jury assessed a sentence of twenty years’ imprisonment1 and a $10,000.00 fine. On appeal, Little argues that the evidence is legally insufficient to support any of his convictions and that double jeopardy was violated by his convictions for both sexual assault of a child and indecency with a child arising from contact occurring on the same day. Little also argues that the trial court abused its discretion in admitting extraneous-offense evidence without any limiting instructions, that the State engaged in misconduct during jury argument, and that his sentence violated the Eighth Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.

We conclude that (1) legally sufficient evidence supports each conviction, (2) there was no double jeopardy violation in this case, and (3) Little has failed to preserve his last three points of error. As a result, we affirm the trial court’s judgments. (1) Legally Sufficient Evidence Supports Each Conviction Little first argues that the evidence is legally insufficient to support his convictions. We disagree.

“In evaluating legal sufficiency, we review all the evidence in the light most favorable to the trial court’s judgment to determine whether any rational jury could have found the essential elements of the offense beyond a reasonable doubt.” Williamson v. State, 589 S.W.3d 292, 297 (Tex. App.—Texarkana 2019, pet. ref’d) (citing Brooks v. State, 323 S.W.3d 893, 912 (Tex.

1 The trial court ordered that Little serve the five sentences consecutively.

Crim. App. 2010) (plurality op.); Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319 (1979); Hartsfield v. State, 305 S.W.3d 859, 863 (Tex. App.—Texarkana 2010, pet. ref’d)). “We examine legal sufficiency under the direction of the Brooks opinion, while giving deference to the responsibility of the jury ‘to fairly resolve conflicts in testimony, to weigh the evidence, and to draw reasonable inferences from basic facts to ultimate facts.’” Id. (quoting Hooper v. State, 214 S.W.3d 9, 13 (Tex. Crim. App. 2007) (citing Jackson, 443 U.S. at 318–19; Clayton v. State, 235 S.W.3d 772, 778 (Tex. Crim. App. 2007)). In drawing reasonable inferences, the trier of fact “may use common sense and apply common knowledge, observation, and experience gained in the ordinary affairs of life.” Duren v. State, 87 S.W.3d 719, 724 (Tex. App.—Texarkana 2002, pet. struck) (citing Manrique v. State, 994 S.W.2d 640, 649 (Tex. Crim. App. 1999) (Meyers, J., concurring)). As the trier of fact, the jury is the sole judge of the credibility of the witnesses and the weight to be given their testimony and may believe all, some, or none of any witness’s testimony. Thomas v. State, 444 S.W.3d 4, 10 (Tex. Crim. App. 2014). We give “almost complete deference to a jury’s decision when that decision is based on an evaluation of credibility.” Lancon v. State, 253 S.W.3d 699, 705 (Tex. Crim. App. 2008).

Legal sufficiency of the evidence is measured by the elements of the offense as defined by a hypothetically correct jury charge. Malik v. State, 953 S.W.2d 234, 240 (Tex. Crim. App. 1997). The “hypothetically correct” jury charge is “one that accurately sets out the law, is authorized by the indictment, does not unnecessarily increase the State’s burden of proof or unnecessarily restrict the State’s theories of liability, and adequately describes the particular offense for which the defendant was tried.” Id.

In its five-count indictment, the State alleged that Little (1) on or about February 19, 2017, intentionally or knowingly caused the penetration of the sexual organ of Jane Simmons,2 a child younger than seventeen, with his finger; (2) on or about January 1, 2017, intentionally or knowingly caused the penetration of Jane’s sexual organ with his finger; (3) on or about January 1, 2017, engaged in sexual contact with Jane by touching her genitals with the intent to arouse or gratify his sexual desire; (4) on about November 1, 2016, through December 31, 2016, engage[d] in sexual contact with Jane by touching her genitals with the intent to arouse or gratify his sexual desire; and (5) on about November 1, 2016, through December 31, 2016, engage[d] in sexual contact with Jane by touching her genitals with the intent to arouse or gratify his sexual desire.3 Each count was supported by Jane’s testimony at trial. Jane was best friends with Little’s oldest daughter and met Little when she was fourteen. Little was also a youth group leader at Rise Church, f/k/a Center West Baptist Church. According to Jane, Little was very hands-on with the girls in the youth group, would “constantly tickle [them] and stuff,” and touched her buttocks and chest during the tickling a couple of times. Little would also take her and her friends on camping trips and would often bring Jane to his home after church. Because of her friendship with Little’s oldest daughter, Jane spent almost every weekend sleeping over at Little’s house.

2 We use pseudonyms to protect the identity of persons who were children at the time of the offenses alleged in this case. See TEX. R. APP. P. 9.10. 3 Each count also alleged that Jane was a child younger than seventeen.

Jane described her relationship with Little as a close one. During her visits, Little would massage her back, but eventually progressed to massaging her buttocks and chest. Jane testified that, in November 2016, when she was fifteen, she was receiving a massage from Little after church when Little “touched [her] on the outside of [her] clothes on [her] vagina” for “[a] couple seconds” and “just stopped.” On a different day in November 2016, Jane said she was again receiving a massage from Little when he touched her vagina on the outside of her clothing for “[a] little bit longer.” In January 2017, Jane testified that, during another massage, Little touched her vagina outside of her clothing for “a little bit longer than the last” time and then went underneath her clothing to penetrate her vagina with his finger and “just moved around” for “[a] couple seconds.”

Jane also testified about the last instance of sexual abuse, which occurred after Little picked her up from church on February 19, 2017, and took her mudding with his oldest daughter. After a bath, she and Little’s oldest daughter lay on the couch under a blanket. Jane testified that Little sat next to her under the blanket, that she felt “his left hand sliding up . . . [her] leg,” and that Little penetrated her vagina with his finger for a “minute or two.” Afterward, Little went into his room and called for Jane. When Jane went into the room, Little closed and locked the door and asked Jane to lie down on the bed. Jane refused, unlocked the door, left the room, and, two weeks later, made an outcry of sexual abuse.

Ashleigh Bridges testified that she and her husband, Seth Bridges, were junior youth group leaders at the church with Little and his former wife, April Jones. Bridges said that she began noticing concerning behavior involving Little, including an incident when “one of the

youth girls had run up to him and hugged him but jumped up and wrapped [her] legs around [Little],” who placed his hands on her bottom. Because Bridges felt that “for a youth girl to do that with any male figure [was] inappropriate,” she raised the issue with the pastor. Bridges later learned from a third party that Jane had made allegations against Little.

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