Thoys Dewayne Sanders v. State

CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMay 5, 2011
Docket02-09-00221-CR
StatusPublished

This text of Thoys Dewayne Sanders v. State (Thoys Dewayne Sanders 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
Thoys Dewayne Sanders v. State, (Tex. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

02-09-221-CR

COURT OF APPEALS

SECOND DISTRICT OF TEXAS

FORT WORTH

NO. 02-09-00221-CR

Thoys Dewayne Sanders

APPELLANT

V.

The State of Texas

STATE

------------

FROM County Criminal Court No. 4 OF Tarrant COUNTY

OPINION

I.  Introduction

          A jury convicted appellant Thoys Dewayne Sanders of assault.  The trial court assessed punishment at 270 days’ confinement and probated that sentence for two years, placing Sanders on community supervision.  The court also required Sanders to pay $21,541 in restitution.  In three issues, Sanders contends that the evidence is insufficient to prove he assaulted the alleged victim, that the trial court abused its discretion by assessing the restitution amount, and that he received ineffective assistance of counsel at trial.  We will affirm.

II.  Background

Leah Williams, who lived with her mother and Sanders, her stepfather, entertained friends on the night of Saturday, April 21, 2007.  Sara Grauerholz, Amanda Sessions, Jeremiah Langen, and Justin Henninge, the alleged victim in this case, were Williams’s guests.  Williams and her friends smoked marijuana and drank alcohol that evening.  They eventually fell asleep in different rooms of the residence’s garage apartment.

          Early the next morning, Williams’s mother woke her up and told her that Sanders was angry and that she and her friends needed to leave.  Williams’s mother was also upset because someone’s car was blocking her car in the driveway.  The layout of the garage apartment requires one to walk down the stairs and exit through the garage, where Sanders kept his cabinet-making workshop.  As Williams and her friends began to leave, Williams and Grauerholz walked outside as Sanders quickly passed them and entered the garage.  At that moment, Sanders encountered Henninge.  That encounter led to assault charges against Sanders.

A.      Justin Henninge

According to Henninge, he was woken when Williams’s mother confronted Williams that morning.  He said that Williams’s mother said, “Wake up.  Wake up.  [Sanders] is angry.  [Sanders] is mad.  You have to leave.”  Henninge testified that he, Grauerholz, and Williams walked down the stairs of the garage apartment, attempting to exit the garage.  By Henninge’s account, as soon as Grauerholz and Williams left the garage, Sanders came into the garage and, using his arm, “pinned [Henninge] against the wall.”  Henninge said, “from then I woke up to [Grauerholz] yelling.”  Henninge said that because he was knocked unconscious by Sanders, he did not really remember much of anything from the encounter other than Grauerholz yelling “You hit my boyfriend.”  Henninge and the prosecutor re-enacted Henninge’s account of the encounter with Sanders for the jury.  Henninge said that despite having smoked marijuana the night before, he was sober when these events happened.  At some point, police and EMT arrived on the scene and Henninge was taken to the hospital.  Henninge did not remember talking with a police officer and did not remember riding to the hospital, but he did remember being placed on a stretcher.

The next thing Henninge vividly remembered was getting an MRI at the hospital.  Henninge said Sanders’s actions left a huge bruise on one side of his face, another on the back of his head, and another on the opposite side of his face.  The State introduced pictures of these injuries, and Henninge testified that they were accurate depictions of the injuries he had sustained from his encounter with Sanders.  Henninge also averred that Sanders had caused him to have a black eye, multiple facial rashes and abrasions, and internal bleeding of the brain.  Henninge testified that the hospital performed multiple scans, including MRIs and X-rays.

B.      Sara Grauerholz

Much like Henninge’s account, Grauerholz testified that she, Henninge, and a few others stayed with Williams that night.  As the morning approached, Williams’s mother woke them all, mildly irritated that Grauerholz’s vehicle was blocking hers.  According to Grauerholz, Williams’s mother informed them that Sanders was upset.  Grauerholz recounted the noise she heard when she left the garage and was outside, “[W]e heard a noise against a garage door . . . .  A slam or something hitting a garage door.”  Grauerholz said she immediately turned toward the garage and saw Henninge lying on the floor not moving.  She said that Sanders was standing over Henninge.  She and Williams attempted to carry Henninge to her car, but Williams’s mother came out, told them to stay, and informed them that 9-1-1 had been called.  Grauerholz also testified that she believed Henninge was sober that morning.  She said that she asked Sanders why he had hit her boyfriend and that Sanders simply went upstairs without responding.  Sanders also did not assist Henninge despite Henninge’s injuries.

C.      Jason Bowman

Jason Bowman, an EMT basic paramedic, responded to the request for medical assistance that morning.  Bowman said that when he arrived and encountered Henninge, Henninge appeared confused.  Bowman averred, given his experience as an EMT paramedic, that Henninge did not appear high on drugs or alcohol.  He also said that Henninge was injured.  Based on his training and experience, Bowman believed that Henninge’s injuries appeared to be the result of an assault.  Bowman testified that he initially diagnosed Henninge with a concussion.  He said that Henninge also had facial tenderness, swelling, lacerations to the face, and a nosebleed.  Bowman said that Henninge’s injures were severe and the result of a “severe blunt force.”  He also testified that Henninge had no injuries to the back of his head and that Henninge’s injuries were consistent with a frontal blow.

D.      Leah Williams

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Jackson v. Virginia
443 U.S. 307 (Supreme Court, 1979)
Strickland v. Washington
466 U.S. 668 (Supreme Court, 1984)
Curry v. State
30 S.W.3d 394 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2000)
Perez v. State
310 S.W.3d 890 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2010)
Hooper v. State
214 S.W.3d 9 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2007)
Weir v. State
278 S.W.3d 364 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2009)
Hilburn v. State
312 S.W.3d 169 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2010)
Wesbrook v. State
29 S.W.3d 103 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2000)
Guevara v. State
152 S.W.3d 45 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2004)
Cartwright v. State
605 S.W.2d 287 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1980)
Geesa v. State
820 S.W.2d 154 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1991)
Stafford v. State
813 S.W.2d 503 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1991)
Gollihar v. State
46 S.W.3d 243 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2001)
Moore v. State
694 S.W.2d 528 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1985)
Ex Parte McWilliams
634 S.W.2d 815 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1982)
Orona v. State
836 S.W.2d 319 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1992)
Delrio v. State
840 S.W.2d 443 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1992)
Ex Parte Walker
777 S.W.2d 427 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1989)
Paulson v. State
28 S.W.3d 570 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2000)
Kemp v. State
892 S.W.2d 112 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1995)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
Thoys Dewayne Sanders v. State, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/thoys-dewayne-sanders-v-state-texapp-2011.