Thrift v. State

134 S.W.3d 475, 2004 Tex. App. LEXIS 4360, 2004 WL 575206
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMay 12, 2004
Docket10-02-00201-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by27 cases

This text of 134 S.W.3d 475 (Thrift 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
Thrift v. State, 134 S.W.3d 475, 2004 Tex. App. LEXIS 4360, 2004 WL 575206 (Tex. Ct. App. 2004).

Opinions

MEMORANDUM OPINION

BILL VANCE, Justice.

A jury convicted Jeffery Arnold Thrift on two counts: sexual assault of a child and indecency with a child. The jury assessed punishment at fifteen years in prison on each count which the trial court ordered to run concurrently. On appeal, [477]*477Thrift complains that (1) the State asked improper commitment questions on voir dire about whether jurors could convict based on the testimony of a single witness, and (2) regarding the indecency conviction, sexually-explicit photographs of minors found in his residence should not have been admitted into evidence.

We will affirm the conviction for sexual assault and reverse the conviction for indecency with a child.

Improper Voir Dire

We find that the complaint about the voir dire question was not properly preserved. Tex.R.App. P. 33.1(a). The State asked numerous jury-panel members about whether they could convict based on the testimony of a single witness, and how they “felt” about convicting based on the testimony of a single witness. Most of the questions were not objected to. Eventually, defense counsel did object and obtain a ruling limiting the State’s questioning to how panel members “felt.” But by then the matter had been explored with the jury panel, without objection. We will not review unpreserved complaints. Id. Therefore, we overrule the first issue.

Photographs

The elements of the offense of indecency with a child are:

(a) A person commits an offense if, with a child younger than 17 years and not the person’s spouse, whether the child is of the same or opposite sex, the person:
(1) engages in sexual contact with the child or causes the child to engage in sexual contact;
[[Image here]]
(c) In this section, “sexual contact” means the following acts, if committed with the intent to arouse or gratify the sexual desire of any person:
(1) any touching by a person, including touching through clothing, of the anus, breast, or any part of the genitals of a child;
[[Image here]]

Tex. Pen.Code Ann. § 21.11 (Vernon 2003).

The State offered four photographs of nude teenage males, sexually aroused, which were found in a Dallas Cowboys book at Thrift’s residence. Defense counsel objected that the photographs were inadmissible (a) under Rule 404(b) as extraneous bad acts and (b) under Rule 403 because the probative value of the pictures was substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice that might be caused by them. Tex.R. Evid. 403, 404(b). The trial court admitted the photographs on the ground they were relevant to prove that the act supporting the “indecency with a child” offense, ie., Thrift touching the minor’s genitals, was done with the intent to arouse Thrift, which is also an element of that offense. The trial court gave the following jury-charge instruction:

You are instructed that certain testimony has been admitted before you regarding certain pictures, State’s exhibits 15, 16, 17 and 18. You cannot consider said pictures and testimony concerning same unless you believe beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant possessed said pictures, if he did. And even then you may only consider same, if you consider same at all, in determining the intent of the defendant to arouse or gratify his sexual desire as alleged in Count Two of the indictment, and for no other purpose.

When properly objected to under both Rules 404(b) and 403, as here, the trial court’s analysis for admissibility requires not only that the extraneous-act evidence relates to one of the matters listed in Rule 404(b), here “intent,” but also that the [478]*478evidence passes the test of Rule 403, ie., that the probative value of the evidence not be substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice, confusion of the issues, or its tendency to mislead the jury. Tex.R. Evid 403; Santellan v. State, 939 S.W.2d 155, 168-69 (Tex.Crim.App.1997); Montgomery v. State, 810 S.W.2d 372, 388 (Tex.Crim.App.1990) (opinion on reh’g); Graff v. State, 65 S.W.3d 730, 739 (Tex.App.-Waco 2001, pet. ref'd). The trial court’s decisions about the admissibility of evidence under Rules 403 and 404(b) are reviewed for abuse of discretion. Santellan, 939 S.W.2d at 168-69.

Factors considered by a trial court in a Rule 403 analysis are:

(1) how eompellingly the extraneous offense evidence serves to make a fact of consequence more or less probable — a factor which is related to the strength of the evidence presented by the proponent to show the defendant in fact committed the extraneous offense;
(2) the potential the evidence of the other offense has to impress the jury “in some irrational but nevertheless indelible way”;
(3) the time the proponent will need to develop the evidence, during which the jury will be distracted from consideration of the indicted offense;
(4) the force of the proponent’s need for this evidence to prove a fact of consequence, ie., does the proponent have other probative evidence available to him to help establish this fact, and is this fact related to an issue in dispute.

Id. at 169 (citing Montgomery, 810 S.W.2d at 389-90). Relative to “4,” courts have repeatedly held that evidence fails the Rule 403 test if the Rule 404(b) matter is not controverted and can be readily inferred from other evidence, including the offense itself. Cantrell v. State, 731 S.W.2d 84, 89 (Tex.Crim.App.1987) (generally); Castillo v. State, 910 S.W.2d 124, 127-28 (Tex.App.-El Paso 1995, pet. ref'd, untimely filed) (“intent to arouse” in a case of indecency with a child; reversed); Garcia v. State, 827 S.W.2d 27, 30 (Tex.App.Corpus Christi 1992, no pet.) (“intent to arouse” in a case of indecency with a child; reversed); Reed v. State, 751 S.W.2d 607, 612 (Tex.App.-Dallas 1988, no pet.) (“identity”).

Our review measures the trial court’s ruling against the “relevant criteria ... (1) that the fact at issue was not seriously contested; (2) that the State had other convincing evidence to establish the issue; (3) that the probative value of the evidence was not particularly compelling; and (4) that the evidence was of such a nature that a limiting instruction would not likely have been effective.” Graff v. State, 65 S.W.3d 730, 740 (Tex.App.-Waco 2001, pet refd) (citing Reese v. State, 33 S.W.3d 238, 241 (Tex.Crim.App.2000), and Montgomery, 810 S.W.2d at 392-93.). Thrift was eighteen at the time of the alleged offenses.

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

Related

Daniel Toombs v. the State of Texas
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2025
Akin, William James
Texas Supreme Court, 2015
William James Akin v. State
Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2015
William James Akin v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2015
Mark Anthony Aponte v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2013
Jack Daniel Mattingly v. State
382 S.W.3d 611 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2012)
Leonard Jay Kane v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2012
My Thi Tieu v. State
299 S.W.3d 216 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2009)
James Ashley Mayer v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2008
Jason Earl White v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2008
Sarabia v. State
227 S.W.3d 320 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2007)
Adam Sarabia v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2007
Hernandez v. State
203 S.W.3d 477 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2006)
Thrift v. State
176 S.W.3d 221 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2005)
Thrift, Jeffrey Arnold
Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2005
Ross v. State
154 S.W.3d 804 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2005)
Ross, Michael Cleon v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2004
Powell v. State
151 S.W.3d 646 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2004)
Thrift v. State
134 S.W.3d 475 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2004)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
134 S.W.3d 475, 2004 Tex. App. LEXIS 4360, 2004 WL 575206, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/thrift-v-state-texapp-2004.