Thomas v. State

352 S.W.3d 95, 2011 WL 3628872
Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided October 28, 2011·No. 14-10-00069-CR·Published·Cited by 37 cases

Opinion

SUBSTITUTE OPINION ON REHEARING

CHARLES W. SEYMORE, Justice.

We issued our original opinion in this case on May 17, 2011. Thereafter, appellant, Ron Arron Thomas, filed a motion for rehearing and a motion for en banc reconsideration. We overrule appellant’s motion for rehearing, withdraw our previous opinion, vacate our previous judgment, and issue this substitute opinion and a new judgment. Appellant’s motion for en banc reconsideration is denied as moot.

Appellant was convicted of reckless cruelty to an animal and sentenced to one year in jail, probated. In two issues, appellant contends the evidence is factually insufficient to support the verdict and the trial court erred by denying his motion for new trial. We affirm.

I. Background

On May 28, 2009, the Houston Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (“SPCA”) received information that a dog was strangling in appellant’s backyard. SPCA investigator Trischa Price and Houston Police Department Officer Christine Kendrick arrived at appellant’s house. After determining appellant was not home, they were allowed entry into a neighbor’s backyard. From that position, Officer Kendrick and Price viewed into appellant’s backyard and observed a dog, later identified as dog A07731362, tangled in its leash and in distress. Acting under the “emergency doctrine,” Officer Kendrick and Price entered appellant’s backyard and freed dog A07731362.

*99 While in appellant’s backyard, Officer Kendrick and Price observed several other dogs that appeared to be malnourished, on illegally short leashes, suffering hair loss, living in a poor environment, and lacking food or drinkable water. Officer Kendrick left and obtained a seizure warrant directing officers to seize all dogs in appellant’s backyard. When Officer Kendrick returned, she affixed the warrant to the front door of appellant’s house. Officers and SPCA investigators then proceeded to seize the dogs. SPCA investigators videotaped and took several photographs of the scene. During the seizure, two dogs escaped through a hole in appellant’s fence. Officers located and seized one of the escaped dogs, but the other dog evaded seizure. The next day, officers returned to appellant’s house and seized dog A07733831 — apparently the same dog that had evaded seizure the previous day.

The seized dogs were transported to SPCA facilities and examined by veterinarian Dr. Roberta Westbrook. On June 3, 2009, the trial court conducted a civil hearing to determine whether the dogs had been cruelly treated. Appellant did not attend the hearing. The court concluded the dogs had been cruelly treated and awarded SPCA ownership of the dogs.

In three separate informations, the State charged appellant with reckless cruelty to animals by confining dog A07731362 in a cruel manner and by failing unreasonably to provide proper nutrition or veterinary care to dog A07733331 and dog A07731353. See Tex. Penal Code Ann. § 42.092(b)(3), (5) (West Supp.2009). Appellant pleaded “not guilty” to each charge. The jury acquitted appellant of the charges related to dog A07731362 and dog A07731353 but convicted him of the charges related to dog A07733331. Appellant filed a motion for new trial in which he contended the evidence is insufficient to support the verdict and defense counsel provided ineffective assistance. The trial court denied the motion following an evi-dentiary hearing.

II. Factual Sufficiency

In his first issue, appellant contends the evidence is factually insufficient to support his conviction of cruelty to dog A07733331.

A. Applicable Law and Standard of Review

A person commits cruelty to a non-livestock animal if he, among other acts and omissions, recklessly “fails unreasonably to provide necessary food, water, care, or shelter for an animal in [his] custody.” Id. § 42.092(b)(3). 1 Necessary food, water, care, or shelter includes that required to maintain the animal in a state of good health. Id. § 42.092(a)(7).

A person acts recklessly, or is reckless, with respect to circumstances surrounding his conduct or the result of his conduct when he is aware of but consciously disregards a substantial and unjustifiable risk that the circumstances exist or the result will occur. The risk must be of such a nature and degree that its disregard constitutes a gross deviation from the standard of care that an ordinary person would exercise under all the circumstances as viewed from the actor’s standpoint.

Tex. Penal Code Ann. § 6.03(c) (West 2003). Recklessness is generally proved by circumstantial evidence. See Dillon v. State, 574 S.W.2d 92, 94 (Tex.Crim.App. [Panel Op.] 1978).

While this appeal was pending, five judges on the Texas Court of Criminal *100 Appeals held that only one standard should be employed to evaluate whether the evidence is sufficient to support a criminal conviction beyond a reasonable doubt: legal sufficiency. See Brooks v. State, 323 S.W.3d 893, 894-95 (Tex.Crim.App.2010) (plurality op.); id. at 926 (Cochran, J., concurring). Accordingly, we review appellant’s challenge to factual sufficiency of the evidence under the legal-sufficiency standard. See Pomier v. State, 326 S.W.3d 373, 378 (Tex.App.-Houston [14th Dist.] 2010, no pet.) (applying a single standard of review required by Brooks); see also Caddell v. State, 123 S.W.3d 722, 726-27 (Tex.App.-Houston [14th Dist.] 2003, pet. ref d) (explaining that this court is bound to follow its own precedent).

When reviewing sufficiency of evidence, we view all of the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict to determine whether the jury was rationally justified in finding guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Brooks, 323 S.W.3d at 899 (plurality op.). We may not sit as a thirteenth juror and substitute our judgment for that of the fact finder by reevaluating the weight and credibility of the evidence. Id. at 899, 901; Dewberry v. State, 4 S.W.3d 735, 740 (Tex.Crim.App.1999); see also Sharp v. State, 707 S.W.2d 611, 614 (Tex.Crim.App.1986) (expressing jury may choose to believe or disbelieve any portion of testimony). We defer to the fact finder’s resolution of conflicting evidence unless the resolution is not rational. See Clayton v. State, 235 S.W.3d 772, 778 (Tex.Crim.App.2007).

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