Terry Edward Keylon Jr. v. the State of Texas

CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedApril 23, 2025
Docket09-23-00119-CR
StatusPublished

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Terry Edward Keylon Jr. v. the State of Texas, (Tex. Ct. App. 2025).

Opinion

In The

Court of Appeals

Ninth District of Texas at Beaumont

________________

NO. 09-23-00119-CR ________________

TERRY EDWARD KEYLON JR., Appellant

V.

THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee ________________________________________________________________________

On Appeal from the 435th District Court Montgomery County, Texas Trial Cause No. 21-07-10585-CR ________________________________________________________________________

MEMORANDUM OPINION

A jury found Terry Edward Keylon Jr. (“Keylon”) guilty of the third-degree

felony offense of assault family violence with a prior conviction for assault family

violence strangulation. See Tex. Penal Code Ann. § 22.01(a), (b)(2)(A). Keylon also

pleaded “true” to two felony enhancements, making him eligible for punishment as

a habitual offender. See id. § 12.42(d) (outlining enhanced punishment range for

habitual offenders). The jury found the enhancement paragraphs true, assessed

punishment at fifty years of confinement, and the trial court sentenced him

1 accordingly. Keylon challenges the trial court’s judgment, and in three issues, he

complains of certain evidentiary rulings and the sufficiency of the evidence to

support his conviction. We affirm the trial court’s judgment for the reasons discussed

below.

I. BACKGROUND AND TRIAL EVIDENCE

Keylon and “Lisa” were in a dating relationship and lived together on his

grandmother’s property in Montgomery County. 1 They were involved in a domestic 0 F

dispute that began on July 25, 2021, which continued into the early morning hours

of July 26, 2021. Shortly after the dispute, Lisa drove to a gas station where she

encountered two sheriff’s deputies, told them Keylon assaulted her, and showed

them her injuries, and they began investigating. A Montgomery County Grand Jury

indicted Keylon, and the indictment alleged that Keylon

on or about July 26, 2021, . . . did then and there intentionally, knowingly or recklessly cause bodily injury to [Lisa], [] a person with whom the defendant has or has had a dating relationship, . . . by grabbing/squeezing/pushing with defendant’s hand,

And it is further presented . . . that before the commission of the offense alleged above, on April 11, 2016, in Cause Number 27436 in the 12th District Court of Walker County, Texas, the defendant was convicted of the offense of Assault Family Violence Strangulation, an offense under Chapter 19, Chapter 22, Section 20.03, Section 20.04, Section 21.11, or Section 25.11 of the Penal Code, against a person whose

1We refer to the victim by a pseudonym to conceal her identity. See Tex.

Const. art. I, § 30 (granting crime victims “the right to be treated with fairness and with respect for the victim’s dignity and privacy throughout the criminal justice process[ ]”). 2 relationship to or association with the defendant is described by Section 71.003, 71.005 or 71.0021(b) of the Family Code[.]

Keylon stipulated to the April 11, 2016, assault family violence conviction. With

this background in mind, we turn to the evidence adduced at trial.

A. Lisa’s Testimony

Lisa testified that on July 25 and 26, 2021, she and Keylon were in a dating

relationship and had been since October 2020. She testified that their relationship

was getting serious, and when this happened, she described him as her fiancé. In July

2021, they lived together in his “grandparents’ old house” in Montgomery County.

Lisa testified that late on the night of July 25, and into July 26, 2021, she and

Keylon had a fight. She explained it began after a night of drinking when Keylon

received a text message from a family member. Lisa testified they both drank heavily

that evening and were intoxicated. She estimated she drank a twelve-pack of beer.

She explained that he became more agitated when she decided it was time for bed

and wanted to stop drinking, but he wanted to continue drinking and drive around

the property on the side-by-side.

When Lisa did not want to ride around with him, they started arguing, and “it

just got physical.” She testified that Keylon put his hands on her first. She described

him grabbing her with both hands by her upper arms, squeezing, and pushing her

against the kitchen counter. She testified it did not hurt immediately when he

squeezed her arms but did later. She testified that they “were still yelling at each 3 other, and he was just shaking me up against the counter and the cabinets[,]” and did

so “[v]iolently.” When he did this, he caused her to hit her hip and back on the

countertops. During the altercation, Keylon also grabbed her tightly by the hair

behind her ears and was “[v]iolently” “slamming” her head against the cabinets, so

she reacted by grabbing his beard. She said that when he grabbed her hair it caused

her pain and ripped out some of her hair.

Lisa testified that “it was really physical,” and she “was scared.” She wanted

him to let her go, and although it lasted minutes, “it seemed like forever.” She

described her attempts to get away from him, and he eventually let her go. Lisa

testified she immediately grabbed her things and drove to a nearby gas station. About

twenty or thirty minutes after the assault, she approached some police officers she

encountered at the gas station. Lisa testified she asked them for help, because she

wanted her things out of the house and “didn’t know where else to go.” When she

met the police officers, she was crying, “scared, nervous[,]” and still in pain.

The officers began investigating and asked her what happened, collected

evidence, took photographs, then went to the residence to try to talk to Keylon.

During Lisa’s testimony, photographs of her injuries were admitted into evidence.

Lisa testified that when the officers photographed her, she was still in pain and

graded her pain as a level six out of ten. Lisa testified the photographs showed the

injuries caused by Keylon during the assault, including a mark on her cheek, missing

4 hair, a bite mark on her knuckle, and a swollen lip, among others. She also took

photographs of her injuries which were admitted into evidence showing her swollen

lip and redness around her shoulders and back. Lisa testified that she told prosecutors

and defense counsel that on July 26, 2021, Keylon assaulted her in Montgomery

County, Texas.

On cross-examination, Lisa testified that she was diabetic and could have

experienced a diabetic episode when this happened in addition to being intoxicated.

She also admitted that she did not remember most of the evening but remembered

“pieces” and explained there were some things that she remembered after watching

a video from that night. Lisa testified that she did not remember falling that night,

but she could have, but if she did it was because of him. She also testified she owns

and works with horses. Nevertheless, she denied that her level of intoxication,

diabetes, or a horse caused the injuries shown in the photographs.

B. Joshua Wright’s Testimony

Deputy Joshua Wright (“Wright”) with the Montgomery County Sheriff’s

Office also testified. He described his training relating to family violence and

testified he has investigated about one hundred family violence cases while working

as a sheriff’s deputy.

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