Tallant v. State

658 S.W.2d 828, 1983 Tex. App. LEXIS 5110
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedSeptember 21, 1983
DocketNo. 2-83-212-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 658 S.W.2d 828 (Tallant 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
Tallant v. State, 658 S.W.2d 828, 1983 Tex. App. LEXIS 5110 (Tex. Ct. App. 1983).

Opinion

OPINION

ASHWORTH, Justice.

A jury found Karen Sue Tallant guilty of the offense of aggravated rape of a child younger than fourteen years, and sentenced her to 99 years confinement.

Judgment affirmed.

In order to consider appellant’s nine grounds of error, a brief recitation of the evidence is appropriate. Appellant is the natural mother of the twelve year old complainant, D.M.M. Appellant and the child’s natural father were divorced several years ago and appellant then married Trevor Tal-lant. Appellant had custody of D.M.M. and her younger sister.

When D.M.M. was ten years of age, appellant bathed her, clothed her in a bathrobe, and sent her to the stepfather’s bedroom. She was told by appellant to cooperate with the stepfather. From that time on, the child was regularly subjected to rapes and other sexual offenses by the stepfather. On many occasions, appellant would apply makeup to the child and nude pictures of the child would be taken by the stepfather. At the time of appellant’s arrest, 1,036 such pictures were found in the apartment of appellant and Trevor Tallant.

When the child protested about the practices, she was told that if she did not submit to the stepfather that the mafia would kill her. In January, 1982, the child was told by appellant that the child needed to go to Mexico and marry the stepfather; the appellant would then report the stepfather to be a bigamist, he would be arrested, and the child would not have to sleep with him again. They went to Mexico and the child testified that while there she was told to sign a paper on a darkened stairway and did so.

When they returned from Mexico, appellant told the child that appellant had divorced the stepfather while they were in Mexico; that the child was now the wife of the stepfather and would have to have sex with him. The child complied, but the next day she telephoned her natural father and advised him of the circumstances. The authorities were notified and the child was given a medical examination which revealed spermatozoa in her vagina. Based on information she gave, an arrest and search warrant was issued; appellant was arrested and the nude pictures taken into custody.

Appellant’s first ground of error contends the trial court erred in overruling her motion to suppress evidence (the nude pictures of the child). Prior to the trial, a motion was filed to suppress the admittance of such pictures into evidence on the ground that there was nothing in the affidavit or warrant to show that the informant had seen the pictures at that address, or that they were in the possession and custody of the appellant and the stepfather on the date the warrant was issued and served.

[830]*830In evaluating the affidavit, we note that it is given by a police officer who works with juveniles in the Criminal Investigation Division, Youth Section. Information from a named juvenile is that the child has been the victim of sexual abuse by her stepfather, aided and abetted by her mother, the appellant. The child states she has had nude pictures taken of her by her stepfather. The affidavit alleges the address in question is in charge of and controlled by appellant and the stepfather.

The information from the named twelve years old victim is that when the three returned from the trip to Mexico, a specific act of rape took place. The location of that offense is described as “their apartment in Dallas, ...” Under the circumstances related, it would be illogical to presume the suspects had more than one apartment. It would be logical that the act and the photography would have occurred in their apartment, the one particularly described in the affidavit, and such apartment would be the logical place for the photographs to be located.

A common sense interpretation of the affidavit leads us to the conclusion that the photographs were in fact at the address given. The affidavit is sufficient under Lopez v. State, 535 S.W.2d 643 (Tex.Cr.App.1976), as well as being consistent with the language in Illinois v. Gates, - U.S. -, 103 S.Ct. 2317, 76 L.Ed.2d 527 (1983). Appellant’s first ground of error is overruled.

Appellant’s second ground of error alleges error in failing to give her requested charges that the child was the wife of the stepfather. The requested charge was,

[Tjherefore, if you find from the evidence that at the time of the alleged offense [M.M.] was the wife of Trevor Tallant, or if you have a reasonable doubt as to whether she was then his wife you will find the Defendant not guilty.

The charge given contains the following instruction,

You are instructed as part of the law in this case that one of the elements which the State of Texas must prove beyond a reasonable doubt is that [M.M.] was not the wife of TREVOR TALLANT on the date of the alleged offense.

Appellant contends the instruction given was only that which the court was required to give in order to define the State’s burden of proof, and that she was entitled to the requested charge in order that her defensive theory might be properly considered. Appellant cites Montgomery v. State, 588 S.W.2d 950 (Tex.Cr.App.1979) in support of her contention. In Montgomery, the defendant testified he engaged in a drug transaction and took money from a buyer because he was following instructions of a law enforcement officer. He was convicted of aggravated robbery, and the conviction was reversed because the court failed to instruct the jury on the defense of mistake of fact. The State contended such instruction was not required since the jury was instructed on the statutory definition of intent. The Court of Criminal Appeals held that was not sufficient, and he was entitled to an affirmative submission of every defensive issue raised by the evidence.

Montgomery is distinguishable from the instant case. Here the defensive issue is built into the definition of the offense. The burden is properly placed on the State to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the child was not the wife of the stepfather. If such burden is not met, a verdict of not guilty results. The appellant’s defensive theory was properly submitted to the jury.

We further hold that as a matter of law the child was not the wife of the stepfather. We have before us the testimony of the child and two instruments in Spanish which were admitted into evidence. An interpreter translated the instruments into English — one purports to be a Mexican divorce decree terminating the marriage of appellant and Trevor Tallant, the other purports to be a Mexican certificate of the marriage of the child and Trevor Tallant.

Schacht v. Schacht, 435 S.W.2d 197 (Tex.Civ.App.—Dallas 1968, no writ) sets out the presumption of validity of a second marriage. Since we cannot take judicial notice of Mexican law, we must presume it is the [831]*831same as Texas law, absent proof that it is different. Hall v. State, 619 S.W.2d 156 (Tex.Cr.App.1980). Tex.Fam.Code Ann. § 3.21

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Related

Tallant v. State
742 S.W.2d 292 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1987)

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658 S.W.2d 828, 1983 Tex. App. LEXIS 5110, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tallant-v-state-texapp-1983.