Zuniga v. State

811 S.W.2d 177, 1991 Tex. App. LEXIS 1765, 1991 WL 129725
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedApril 30, 1991
Docket04-90-00593-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 811 S.W.2d 177 (Zuniga 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
Zuniga v. State, 811 S.W.2d 177, 1991 Tex. App. LEXIS 1765, 1991 WL 129725 (Tex. Ct. App. 1991).

Opinion

OPINION

GARCIA, Justice.

A jury convicted appellant, Rick Zuniga, of aggravated sexual assault of a child and assessed a sixty-five year prison term. On appeal, appellant alleges five points of error: that the evidence was insufficient to sustain a conviction; that the evidence was insufficient to show that the offense was committed in Bexar County, Texas, as reflected in the indictment; that the trial court erred in admitting the testimony of the medical expert; that the trial court erred in admitting the testimony of the Department of Human Services (DHS) caseworker since she was acting under col- or of law; and that the caseworker offered opinion evidence against appellant. We overrule each point of error and affirm the judgment.

On January 29,1989, complainant, a nine-year-old female child, was with her eight-year-old sister and appellant, her twenty-three-year old uncle, in her grandmother’s home in San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas. According to the unimpeached testimony of complainant, appellant summoned her into her grandmother’s bathroom, whereupon he forced her to undress and lie on the bathroom floor. He then undressed and remained on top of her, touching her sexual organ and mouth with his sexual organ. Appellant told complainant not to tell anyone about the incident; otherwise, she would be in serious trouble.

Shortly thereafter, complainant’s school counselor received an anonymous phone call indicating that complainant might have *179 been the victim of child abuse. Complainant was referred to Dr. Nancy Kellogg, a medical expert in the field of child abuse and trauma, for an examination. Thereafter, a DHS employee and caseworker, Leticia Coronado, contacted complainant and appellant to review the claim of sexual abuse. Before any indictment or arrest, appellant voluntarily met with the caseworker for about two hours. He also expressed during the interview that complainant could not lie about the alleged sexual abuse; when asked if complainant was lying about the allegations against him, he indicated the negative by nodding his head horizontally. Later at trial, he denied that he told the caseworker that complainant could not have lied about this allegation and that he nodded in the negative when asked if complainant lied about the allegations against him. Complainant had been the victim of an earlier child abuse incident committed by her mother’s boyfriend, a Mr. Guerra, and appellant claimed Mr. Guerra to be the person most likely responsible for the current allegation of sexual abuse.

In his first point of error, appellant contends that the evidence is insufficient to support a conviction for the offense of aggravated sexual assault of a child. We must, therefore, review the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict and determine whether any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the offense proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979). The appellate court does not weigh the evidence or evaluate the credibility of the witnesses; the jury, as the trier of fact, resolves any conflicts in the evidence, evaluates the credibility of the witnesses, and determines the weight to be given any particular evidence. Sharp v. State, 707 S.W.2d 611 (Tex.Crim.App.1986), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 872, 109 S.Ct. 190, 102 L.Ed.2d 159 (1988).

Complainant testified as to the events made the basis of the indictment. She testified that her uncle, appellant, accosted her in the bathroom of her grandmother’s room. According to complainant’s version of the facts, appellant removed her clothing, removed his clothing, and proceeded to get on top of her. His private part, which complainant referred to as his “front,” touched her private part, which she referred to as her “front.” She testified how he placed his “front” in her mouth. During the course of her testimony, the State’s attorney asked complainant to identify the private parts of her body and that of a male’s body by using two anatomically correct dolls entered as exhibits. She correctly distinguished the sexual organs of the male and female dolls. Complainant described the acts which occurred in the bathroom involving appellant’s sexual organ and her sexual organ using the dolls.

The medical expert, Dr. Kellogg, testified that she examined the child after being referred to her by school authorities. Dr. Kellogg testified that complainant’s hymen had been forcibly touched and that the examination revealed sexual assault. The Department of Human Services caseworker, Ms. Coronado, testified that she interviewed complainant and appellant before the police were involved in the case and that the appellant acknowledged by nodding his head in the negative when she asked if complainant was lying about the allegations against him. Appellant testified that he did not commit the crime and offered complainant’s mother’s boyfriend, Mr. Guerra, who had previously been found guilty of molesting or assaulting complainant, as the probable culprit in the matter.

Appellant was indicted on four different theories. However, at the conclusion of appellant’s case, the trial court withdrew two theories and the State proceeded only on the two remaining theories — that appellant’s sexual organ came in contact with complainant’s sexual organ and appellant penetrated his sexual organ into the complainant’s sexual organ. Proof of either theory will sustain a conviction for the offense. Cook v. State, 741 S.W.2d 928 (Tex.Crim.App.1986), rev’d and vacated on other grounds, 488 U.S. 807, 109 S.Ct. 39, 102 L.Ed.2d 19 (1988); Richardson v. State, 766 S.W.2d 538 (Tex.App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 1989, pet. ref’d). A *180 minor complainant need not testify in the terms of the statutory language, but may use unsophisticated language to describe the sexual assault, in a manner sufficient to sustain the conviction. Clark v. State, 558 S.W.2d 887 (Tex.Crim.App.1977). To hold otherwise would be to encourage those persons capable of such heinous crimes to prey upon innocent children with no recourse in the law. Thus, the focus of the review is whether the testimony is sufficient to prove the facts of the assault as alleged. See id. Anatomically correct dolls can be used to assist a minor complainant’s version of the facts to convey the substance of her testimony. Villalon v. State, 791 S.W.2d 130 (Tex.Crim.App.1990).

In this case, we find that based on the basically unimpeached testimony of complainant, the medical testimony, and the evidence adduced by the use of the anatomically correct dolls, a rational trier of the facts could have found appellant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Both contact and penetration could have been rationally found beyond any reasonable doubt.

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Bluebook (online)
811 S.W.2d 177, 1991 Tex. App. LEXIS 1765, 1991 WL 129725, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/zuniga-v-state-texapp-1991.