Wenger v. State

292 S.W.3d 191, 2009 Tex. App. LEXIS 4859, 2009 WL 1815781
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJune 25, 2009
Docket2-07-282-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by45 cases

This text of 292 S.W.3d 191 (Wenger 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
Wenger v. State, 292 S.W.3d 191, 2009 Tex. App. LEXIS 4859, 2009 WL 1815781 (Tex. Ct. App. 2009).

Opinion

OPINION

ANNE GARDNER, Justice.

I. Introduction

Appellant Ruben Wenger appeals his conviction on three counts of promotion of child pornography and four counts of possession of child pornography as alleged in the same indictment. Appellant argues that the evidence is legally and factually insufficient to support his conviction on the promotion counts and that the trial court abused its discretion in overruling his *194 hearsay objection and in admitting extraneous offense evidence of possession of child pornography.

II. Factual and procedural background

Sergeant Ried, an agent with the Attorney General’s Cyber Crimes unit, testified that on November 28, 2005, he used file-sharing software called Shareaza to access the Internet through a covert access point in his office in Austin. Shareaza is a peer-to-peer 1 file sharing software that allows a user to search for music, movies, and image files and download them from other Shareaza users’ computers. A Shareaza user can type exactly what he or she is looking for via search terms, and a results list will appear with download links for the user to choose from. The software also allows a user to select another user’s Internet protocol (“IP”) address 2 . and browse all files available from that user's collection. Downloads from Shareaza are automatically placed in a “Shared” folder created by the software on the user’s computer. By default, Shareaza automatically shares the items downloaded with other Shareaza users.

For his investigation, Sergeant Ried used a special search term popular in the child pornography community and discovered several results. Over Appellant’s hearsay objection, the trial court allowed Sergeant Ried to testify that he downloaded child pornography files from the IP address assigned to Appellant by his Internet service provider. He stated that IP addresses are like telephone numbers, assigned to only one person. Based on the child pornography 3 Sergeant Ried downloaded from Appellant’s IP address, he obtained a grand jury subpoena and a search warrant. Police executed the warrant on Appellant’s residence on February 8, 2006. Sergeant Ried retrieved a computer from the residence and took a statement from Appellant’s wife.

During trial, the State |olayed an audio recording of a February 8, 2006 interview between Sergeant Ried, Sergeant Smith, and Appellant while they were at the Fort Worth police substation after the warrant was executed. Sergeant Ried testified that, before taking the statement, he read Appellant his Miranda 4 rights and did not make any promises or threats regarding Appellant’s making the statement. In the recording, Sergeant- Ried read the Miranda rights, told Appellant that he was not under arrest, and informed Appellant that he could ask to go home at any time. Appellant voluntarily waived his Miranda rights and spoke with the officers.

After waiving his Miranda rights, Appellant confirmed that he was the jorimary user of both the computer and the installed Shareaza software. He claimed that a neighborhood child used the computer occasionally, along with his son. He stated that he formerly used the file-sharing soft *195 ware Kazaa but switched to Shareaza. He installed Shareaza and registered his name, hometown, state, and zip code on the software’s user information section. He registered his user name as “C.W.” because his nickname was Chip Wenger. Appellant stated initially that he had only movies and “straight” pornographic images on his computer. He denied having child pornography and stated that he did not know how it came to be on his computer unless it was “clicked on accidentally.” He stated that he “[tried] to view everything that gets downloaded.” Appellant admitted that he had searched for files containing the words “young” and “Lolita,” but denied having used other search terms associated with child pornography.

After Sergeant Ried confronted Appellant by informing him that he had personally downloaded child pornography from Appellant’s IP address, Appellant admitted that the ages of the children in the videos on his computer were “very early teens” and that the youngest child was “probably eight.” Appellant described the video of the youngest child and said that the video was in his “Shared” folder. He explained that he was curious about the visual material. Appellant denied finding the material sexually arousing, but compared his viewing of the pornographic images and videos to the “Taliban beheading [video],” stating that “you’d watch it even though you find it disgusting, but you are drawn to it.” He admitted he knew it was illegal.

When asked if he knew how many times he had “allowed people to upload those videos of child pornography from [his] computer,” Appellant replied that he “had no idea.” When asked if he was “aware that [it was possible for] people [to] upload ... [his] files,” Appellant stated, “I’m assuming that it is, ... but I think it says that it is — that’s part of Shareaza is that [ ] ... that’s your way to use it is that people pull files from members.” Appellant then claimed that he “did not know how to not share and share and separate those items out.” He ultimately admitted that there were “probably 300” videos of child pornography on his computer. Appellant described some files as located in folders that had titles such as “extreme,” “amateur,” “group,” “toy,” and “young.” He explained that after he obtained the files from Shareaza, he would create “subfold-ers” and move the files. 5

The State offered into evidence the files that Sergeant Ried downloaded from Appellant’s IP address during his November investigation. 6 Sergeant Ried stated that the files included both videos and photo images of children under eighteen, including the children’s genitalia and children engaging in sexual activity. He testified that one can preview partially downloaded files on Shareaza.

While Sergeant Ried testified about the steps of his investigative process on November 28, 2005, the State offered into evidence an exhibit of Shareaza screen captures 7 that showed a folder on a corn- *196 puter at Appellant’s IP address with a list of labeled subfolders and 900 files that included file names graphically describing both adult and child pornography. After a rule 403 objection and lengthy voir dire, the tidal court overruled the objection and admitted the screen captures into evidence. The trial court gave Appellant a running objection to that evidence.

Detective Lawrence testified that he worked in the Computer Crime Detail of the Major Crimes section of the Fort Worth Police Department, where he investigated computer crimes and conducted computer forensics. He conducted a forensic examination on Appellant’s computer after it was seized.

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

Related

Quincy Henry v. the State of Texas
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2023
Jose Antonio Nasipak v. the State of Texas
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2022
Aaron Sebastian Redmond v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2021
Casey Michael Jones v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2020
Brian Woolard v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2020
Troy Kevin Mason v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2020
Terrence Coleman v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2020
Thomas Peter Higgins v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2019
Redkovsky v. State
Court of Special Appeals of Maryland, 2019
James Doyle Collins, Jr. v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2018
People v. Robles-Sierra
2018 COA 28 (Colorado Court of Appeals, 2018)
Jason Terrence Leita v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2016
Nicolas A. Ramirez v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2016
Charles Ray Diaz v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2016
Gary James Cox v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2015
Adam Aguirre v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2014
Ronnie Paul Kappel v. State
402 S.W.3d 490 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2013)
Al D. Checo v. State
402 S.W.3d 440 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2013)
John William McNatt v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2011
Tracy Lynn Escobedo v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2011

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
292 S.W.3d 191, 2009 Tex. App. LEXIS 4859, 2009 WL 1815781, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wenger-v-state-texapp-2009.