Sledge v. State

262 S.W.3d 492, 2008 Tex. App. LEXIS 6463, 2008 WL 3877695
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedAugust 19, 2008
Docket03-07-00080-CR to 03-07-00082-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 262 S.W.3d 492 (Sledge 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
Sledge v. State, 262 S.W.3d 492, 2008 Tex. App. LEXIS 6463, 2008 WL 3877695 (Tex. Ct. App. 2008).

Opinion

OPINION

W. KENNETH LAW, Chief Justice.

Sidney Paul Sledge appeals two judgments of conviction for indecency with a child by contact, in each of which the trial court assessed concurrent twenty-year prison terms, and four judgments of conviction for aggravated sexual assault of a child, in each of which the court assessed concurrent forty-year prison terms. See Tex. Penal Code Ann. § 21.11 (West 2003), § 22.021 (West Supp.2007). In one of his three points of error, appellant contends that the trial court erred by rendering more than one judgment on a single count. We will sustain this contention and set aside one of the aggravated sexual assault convictions. We will overrule appellant’s other points of error, by which he challenges the factual sufficiency of the evidence and complains of the admission of outcry testimony, and affirm the remaining convictions.

INDICTMENTS AND JUDGMENTS

Appellant was jointly tried on three indictments, each of which contained multiple counts and paragraphs accusing him of aggravated sexual assault of a child, indecency with a child by contact, and indecency with a child by exposure. At trial, the State abandoned all of the indecency by exposure allegations and one of the indecency by contact allegations. The remaining counts and paragraphs were submitted to the jury as they were alleged in the indictments.

The complainant in cause number D-l-DC-04-500557 was appellant’s nine-year-old daughter, J.S. 1 The counts and paragraphs submitted to the jury, and the jury’s verdicts, were as follows:

Count one, paragraph one: penetration of the complainant’s anus by appellant’s sexual organ. See Tex. Penal Code Ann. § 22.021(a)(l)(B)(i) (West Supp.2007). Verdict: not guilty.
Count one, paragraph two: penetration of the complainant’s sexual organ by appellant’s sexual organ. See id. Verdict: guilty.
Count one, paragraph three: causing the complainant’s anus to contact appellant’s sexual organ. See id. § 22.021(a)(l)(B)(iv). Verdict: guilty. Count two: touching the complainant’s breast with the intent to arouse and gratify appellant’s sexual desire. See id. § 21.11(a)(1), (c)(1) (West 2003). Verdict: guilty.

The complainant in cause number D-l-DC-05-500011 was appellant’s five-year-old daughter, X.S. The counts and paragraphs submitted to the jury, and the jury’s verdicts, were as follows:

Count one, paragraph one: penetration of the complainant’s sexual organ by appellant’s sexual organ. Verdict: not guilty.
Count one, paragraph two: causing the complainant’s sexual organ to contact appellant’s sexual organ. See id. *495 § 22.021(a)(l)(B)(iii) (West Supp.2007). Verdict: guilty.
Count two: touching the complainant’s genitals with the intent to arouse and gratify appellant’s sexual desire. Verdict: guilty.

The complainant in cause number D-l-DC-05-500040 was appellant’s seven-year-old son, E.S. The counts and paragraphs submitted to the jury, and the jury’s verdicts, were as follows:

Count one: penetration of the complainant’s anus by appellant’s sexual organ. Verdict: guilty.
Count two, paragraph one: touching the complainant’s anus with the intent to arouse and gratify appellant’s sexual desire. Verdict: not guilty.
Count two, paragraph two: touching the complainant’s genitals with the intent to arouse and gratify appellant’s sexual desire. Verdict: not guilty.

The district court rendered a judgment of conviction on each count and paragraph for which there was a verdict of guilt. In point of error two, appellant contends that the court erred in cause number D-l-DC-04-500557 by rendering judgments of conviction on both paragraph two and paragraph three of count one. We agree.

If the State wishes to allege several different offenses in a single indictment, it must allege each offense in a separate count. Tex.Code Crim. Proc. Ann. art. 21.24(a) (West 1989). Within each count, the State may allege in separate paragraphs different methods of committing the same offense. Id. art. 21.24(b). Because a count alleges a single offense, an indictment cannot authorize more convictions than there are counts, and there can be only one conviction per count. Martinez v. State, 225 S.W.3d 550, 554 (Tex.Crim.App.2007). In Martinez, the court of criminal appeals held that the trial court erred by rendering judgments of conviction on two paragraphs within a single count of the indictment. 2 Id. at 555. This Court recently followed Martinez and held that a trial court erred by rendering judgments of conviction on two paragraphs in one count and on three paragraphs in a second count. 3 Fowler v. State, 240 S.W.3d 277, 281 (Tex.App.-Austin 2007, pet. ref d).

The State seeks to distinguish Martinez, noting that the defendant in that case objected to the jury charge on the ground that it submitted more than one paragraph per count. See Martinez, 225 S.W.3d at 552-53. The State urges that because appellant did not similarly object in this case, the trial court was authorized to impliedly “amend” the indictment by treating the paragraphs as if they were separate counts. 4 The State cites article 28.10, which permits the amendment of an indictment after trial begins if the defendant does not object. Tex.Code Crim. Proc. Ann. art. 28.10(b) (West 2006). Article 28.10 does not apply here, however, because the indictment was not actually amended. The State cites no authority, and we are aware of none, holding that *496 article 28.10 permits a trial court to impliedly amend an indictment, whether by rendering more than one judgment of conviction on a single count or otherwise.

Martinez does not support the State’s argument. First, the error identified in Martinez was not the trial court’s submission to the jury of more than one paragraph per count. See Martinez, 225 S.W.3d at 555. Rather, after the jury returned its verdicts, the court erred by rendering judgment on more than one paragraph per count. See id.

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Bluebook (online)
262 S.W.3d 492, 2008 Tex. App. LEXIS 6463, 2008 WL 3877695, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sledge-v-state-texapp-2008.