Underwood v. State

176 S.W.3d 635, 2005 Tex. App. LEXIS 8455, 2005 WL 2590768
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedOctober 13, 2005
Docket08-03-00061-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

This text of 176 S.W.3d 635 (Underwood 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
Underwood v. State, 176 S.W.3d 635, 2005 Tex. App. LEXIS 8455, 2005 WL 2590768 (Tex. Ct. App. 2005).

Opinion

OPINION

RICHARD BARAJAS, Chief Justice.

This is an appeal from a jury conviction for the offense of public lewdness. The jury assessed punishment at a twenty dollar fine. On December 4, 2003, this Court entered a judgment reversing Appellant’s conviction. This Court found that the evidence was legally insufficient and rendered a judgment of acquittal. Underwood v. State, No. 08-03-00061-CR, 2003 WL 22870865, at * 1 (Tex.App.-El Paso December 4, 2003) (not designated for publication), reversed, No. 166-04, 2005 WL 77135, at *3 (Tex.Crim.App. November 10, 2004) (not designated for publication). On November 10, 2004, the Court of Criminal Appeals reversed the judgment of this Comb, and remanded the cause for consideration of Appellant’s remaining points on appeal. Underwood v. State, No. 166-04, 2005 WL 77135, at *3 (Tex.Crim.App. November 10, 2004) (not designated for publication).

I. SUMMARY OF THE EVIDENCE

The Court of Criminal Appeals summarized the evidence as follows:

The State alleged that the Appellant committed the offense of public lewdness by “knowingly engaging] in an act of sexual contact by touching the geni *638 tals of J. Medrano, with the intent to arouse and gratify the sexual desire of J. Medrano in a public place, to wit: Playmates,” on or about April 11, 2002.
In a trial by jury, the State produced evidence that, on the date alleged, four Odessa police officers went to “Playmates.” It was a place of business that the supervising officer called “an adult cabaret” or “topless bar.” Officer Jordan Medrano testified that he knew “topless dancing” went on there. The Appellant, in her counsel’s words, was “a dancer in a topless bar.”
The officers were men in plain clothes. Each was charged a cover charge of ten dollars when he entered Playmates. They sat at tables, bought and drank alcoholic beverages, watched women dancing on the stage, and gave tips to some of the dancers. Each officer paid for one or more “lap dances” or “table dances,” which are private dances at a table or couch where a customer is sitting. The Appellant was the only dancer who was charged with public lewdness.
Officer Medrano testified that he asked the Appellant for a table dance, and paid her twenty dollars. She took him from his table to a “couch seat,” which was “a large square seat. More of a long chair [than a couch].” The officer testified that “she removed her dress.” No one testified what, if anything, the Appellant wore after she removed her dress, except to say that she was not one of the dancers who “leave their lingerie on” when they remove their dresses to do table dances.
Medrano was clothed during the dance. He testified, “She began her dance in front of me. And she was dancing, at which time she then got between my legs and started rubbing my genitals with her legs.” She touched his “genital area” with her knee and thigh.
The Appellant (in her counsel’s words) “turn[ed] and show[ed] her backside to [Medrano] during the dance.” Medrano said, “She sat in my lap, and ... her buttocks touched my genitals.” Asked on cross-examination, “And did she sit down in your lap?” Medrano answered, “She sat down on my genital area.”
Medrano testified he “was kind of shocked at first” when the Appellant did that to him. When he was asked if his reaction changed into anything else, he said it did not. He wrote in his report that he was “stunned and alarmed” when the Appellant touched his genital area.
Another officer testified that, looking from his table to the couch area in the “fairly dimly lit” establishment, he saw “Officer Medrano seated at-kind of in a chair, seated back like this with his hands out to the side away from his body. And I observed Mrs. Underwood sitting on his lap.” The jury found the Appellant guilty of public lewdness.
Id. at *1-2.

II. DISCUSSION

In Issue No. Two, Appellant asserts that the evidence is factually insufficient to support the conviction. Specifically, Appellant argues that the evidence was factually insufficient to support the conviction in that the State failed to demonstrate that she intended to arouse or gratify the sexual desire of Detective Medrano. In conducting a factual sufficiency review, we view the evidence in a neutral light to determine whether a jury was rationally justified in finding guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. We set aside the fact finder’s verdict only if (1) the evidence supporting the verdict, when considered by itself, is too weak to support the finding of guilt *639 beyond a reasonable doubt; or (2) evidence contrary to the verdict is strong enough that the beyond-a-reasonable-doubt standard could not have been met. Zuniga v. State, 144 S.W.3d 477, 484-85 (Tex.Crim.App.2004). However, our factual sufficiency review must be appropriately deferential so as to avoid substituting our judgment for that of the fact finder. Clewis v. State, 922 S.W.2d 126, 133 (Tex.Crim.App.1996). Accordingly, we are authorized to set aside the jury’s finding of fact only in instances where it is manifestly unjust, shocks the conscience, or clearly demonstrates bias. Id. at 135. If the evidence is factually insufficient, we remand to the trial court for a new trial. Id. at 133-35.

The requisite specific intent to arouse or gratify the sexual desire of a person can be inferred from conduct, remarks or all the surrounding circumstances. McKenzie v. State, 617 S.W.2d 211, 216 (Tex.Crim.App.1981). An oral expression of intent is not required. C.F. v. State, 897 S.W.2d 464, 472 (Tex.App.-El Paso 1995, no pet.). The conduct alone is sufficient to infer intent. Id. In the present case, the conduct occurred in an adult entertainment establishment featuring topless dancers. Appellant performed the dance in question after obtaining a payment of twenty dollars. She then touched the complainant’s genitals with her leg and buttocks. We find that the evidence is factually sufficient to support the conviction. Issue No. Two is overruled.

In Issue No. Three, Appellant maintains that the court erred in overruling her motion for mistrial due to improper jury argument. During the prosecutor’s closing argument at the guilt-innocence stage of trial, the following exchange occurred:

STATE: And if you listened to that officer and judge his demeanor and what he said and compare it to the evidence that was heard — that was propounded by the other witnesses, there is no reason to think that he is lying to you. Why would we be here if there weren’t a crime committed?
DEFENSE: Objection, Your Honor. That invades the province of the jury. It’s improper argument.
COURT: Sustained.

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Bluebook (online)
176 S.W.3d 635, 2005 Tex. App. LEXIS 8455, 2005 WL 2590768, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/underwood-v-state-texapp-2005.