Salvador Vazquez Cisneros v. the State of Texas

Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided August 4, 2023·No. 05-22-00406-CR·Published

Opinion

Affirmed as Modified and Opinion Filed August 4, 2023

In The

Court of Appeals

Fifth District of Texas at Dallas Nos. 05-22-00406-CR, 05-22-

00407-CR, 05-22-00408-CR, 05-22-00409-CR, 05-22-

00410-CR, 05-22-00411-CR

SALVADOR VAZQUEZ CISNEROS, Appellant V.

THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee

On Appeal from the Criminal District Court No. 6 Dallas County, Texas

Trial Court Cause Nos. F-1312685-X, F-1312681-X, F-1312684-X, F-1312686-

X, F-1312682-X, F-1312687-X

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Before Justices Partida-Kipness, Reichek, and Miskel Opinion by Justice Partida-Kipness In five issues, appellant Salvador Vasquez Cisneros challenges his

convictions for five counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child and one count of indecency with a child by contact. Cisneros argues: (1) the verdict contains a fatal variance; (2) the trial court erred by refusing his request for a lesser included offense; (3) the evidence was insufficient to support three of the aggravated sexual assault convictions; (4) the trial court erred in denying his motion for new trial; and (5) the

judgments require reformation. The State filed a cross-appeal and asks for additional reformations to the judgments. We affirm as modified.

BACKGROUND

Cisneros was indicted for three counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child where JJ11 was the complaining witness, two counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child where JJ2 was the complaining witness, and one count of indecency with a child by contact where JJ2 was the complaining witness. See TEX. PENAL CODE §§ 22.021(a)(2)(B), 21.11(a)(1).

JJ1, JJ2, and their older sister, JJ3, primarily lived with their mother, D.L.

From July 2012 to June 2013, D.L. and the children shared a home with B.R. and her five children.2 Cisneros was the father to four of B.R.’s children. In April 2013, after giving birth to her fifth child, B.R. was diagnosed with lupus and suffered health complications. Cisneros moved into the house with B.R., D.L., and the children to help care for B.R.’s children. In June 2013, Cisneros rented an apartment for B.R. and her children and they moved out of the shared home.

At trial, D.L. stated she had known Cisneros for a long time and trusted him to watch her children. Cisneros mainly watched the children during the summer

1 The complaining witnesses were given pseudonyms at trial to protect their identity. The indictments contained the same initials for both complainants, JJ. To clarify their identities, the trial court identified the complaining witnesses as JJ1 and JJ2, based on their ages. JJ1 and JJ2 are twins. JJ1 was one minute older. To protect the identity of the minor complainants and their family, we will use the same pseudonyms used during trial. See TEX. R. APP. P. 9.8(b)(2).

2 D.L.’s children spent certain weekends and the month of July with their father, C.J.

break, while D.L. was at work. In July 2013, both JJ1 and JJ2 made an outcry to their older sister, JJ3, and then disclosed the abuse to their father, C.J.

JJ3 testified after the twins told her about their abuse, she went and told their father, C.J. The twins were upset and crying when they spoke about what had occurred to them. JJ3 explained they knew Cisneros as Chavia, his nickname, and when he moved in, he slept in the living room which was converted into a bedroom with B.R.

C.J. stated his girls came to stay with him during July 2013. His daughters came to tell him what had occurred late one evening. JJ2 had told her father “Chavia had put his hand in her pants and touched her and that it hurt.” He said JJ2 was “crying, afraid, hurt, confused” when she was telling him about the abuse. C.J. called D.L. early the next morning to tell her what the twins had said and told her “they needed to be checked out.” C.J. told D.L. to go and make a report of the incident with the police.

After the twins’ father called her, D.L. stated the twins appeared afraid and were crying as they told her about the abuse. JJ1 told her mother the abuse had happened at the house in the garage, the garage closet, and in a van owned by B.R. D.L. understood the abuse occurred at a time when B.R. was already living at the apartment. She explained B.R. and Cisneros began living in the apartment at the beginning of June but continued to move their belongings out throughout the month.

Dr. Kristin Reeder, a child abuse pediatrician with the REACH Clinic, performed exams on JJ1 and JJ2 on July 29, 2013. She explained the girls had been referred to their clinic by one of their partner emergency rooms on July 26, 2013. Dr. Reeder found exams of both JJ1 and JJ2 to be what she considers “normal,” but stated a normal finding does not discredit their account of abuse.

Dallas Child Advocacy Center forensic interviewer Nakisha Biglow conducted forensic interviews of the twins on July 31, 2013. She explained to the jury what occurs during a forensic interview and the process she used. Biglow also spoke about what constituted a delayed outcry and stated it was common to have delayed outcries in abuse cases. She stated the girls were both comfortable discussing the abuse which occurred and she did not see anything she considered to be a “red flag” during their interviews.

JJ1 testified her family lived with B.R.’s family during fourth grade. Cisneros lived with them in 2013, and JJ1 stated the abuse happened multiple times in June of that year. JJ1 said the abuse occurred most often in the garage closet. Cisneros would ask her to help him move “stuff” in the garage to get her to come in the garage with him. She explained he would touch her under and over her clothes. JJ1 also stated sometimes he would have to remain standing and other times he would pick her up and place her on top of storage containers in the garage. She said Cisneros penetrated her vagina with his fingers and would move his fingers around. JJ1 explained Cisneros would “touch her lines and her hole” and he “went into her hole.”

Cisneros would tell JJ1 in Spanish not to tell anyone and if she told him no, he would get more rough with her. JJ1 remembered at least three incidents in the garage closet and another time in B.R.’s bedroom. She said each time she remembers him penetrating her with his fingers, and believed it was more than one finger. JJ1 recalled a third incident which happened in B.R.’s van. Cisneros was taking her with him to Home Depot in the van. She stated he climbed into the back seat of the van with her, pulled down her shorts, and penetrated her with his fingers. When Cisneros finished, he took JJ1 to Home Depot with him, bought her a candy bar, and told her not to tell anyone. JJ1 testified she would cry after these encounters with Cisneros, but not where anyone would see her. She saw Cisneros as an “uncle” and trusted being with him before this abuse occurred. Afterwards, she felt “scared and nervous” with him.

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