Santiago Lomas v. State of Texas

• Court: Court of Appeals of Texas
• Decided: January 9, 2002
• Docket: 04-00-00508-CR
• Status: Published

Opinion

No. 04-00-00508-CR

Santiago LOMAS,

Appellant

v.

STATE of Texas,

Appellee

From the 63rd Judicial District Court, Val Verde County, Texas

Trial Court No. 8581

Honorable George M. Thurmond, Judge Presiding

Memorandum Opinion

Opinion by: Paul W. Green, Justice

Sitting: Phil Hardberger, Chief Justice

Paul W. Green, Justice

Karen Angelini, Justice

Delivered and Filed: January 9, 2002

AFFIRMED

Because the issues in this appeal involve the application of well-settled principles of law, we affirm the conviction in this memorandum opinion under Tex. R. App. P. 47.1 for the following reasons:

1. At trial, the State presented the testimony of Lomas's sister and the medical examiner. This, along with the other circumstantial evidence presented by the State, is legally and factually sufficient to support Lomas's murder conviction. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319 (1979); Johnson v. State, 23 S.W.3d 1, 7 (Tex. Crim. App. 2000); Young v. State, 14 S.W.3d 748, 753 (Tex. Crim. App. 2000). We overrule his first two issues on appeal.

2. The trial court permitted the testimony of a witness who had heard the testimony of other witnesses despite Lomas's invocation of Tex. R. Evid. 614. Because the witness's "presence in the courtroom during testimony from [other] witnesses did not color [her] own testimony," the trial court did not abuse its discretion in permitting the individual to testify. Bell v. State, 938 S.W.2d 35, 50 (Tex. Crim. App. 1996). We overrule Lomas's third issue.

3. Because the challenged photographs were probative of the victim's injuries, as discussed by the medical examiner, the trial court did not abuse its discretion in admitting the photographs. Williams v. State, 958 S.W.2d 186, 194 (Tex. Crim. App. 1991) (stating "if verbal testimony is relevant, photographs of the same are also relevant"). We overrule Lomas's fourth issue.

The judgment is affirmed.

PAUL W. GREEN,

JUSTICE

DO NOT PUBLISH