IN THE

TENTH COURT OF APPEALS

No. 10-19-00132-CR

SIMEON ZAMEKA FLOWERS,

Appellant

v.

THE STATE OF TEXAS,

Appellee

From the 443rd District Court

Ellis County, Texas

Trial Court No. 42650CR

MEMORANDUM OPINION

The jury convicted Simeon Flowers of the offense of aggravated sexual assault of 

an elderly person. TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. § 22.021 (a) (2) (C) (West 2019). The jury found 

the enhancement paragraphs to be true and assessed punishment at 60 years 

confinement. We affirm.
Flowers v. State Page 2

SUFFICIENCY OF THE EVIDENCE

In the first issue, Flowers complains that the evidence is insufficient to support 

his conviction. The Court of Criminal Appeals has expressed our standard of review of 

a sufficiency issue as follows:

When addressing a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence, we 

consider whether, after viewing all of the evidence in the light most 

favorable to the verdict, any rational trier of fact could have found the 

essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. 

Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319, 99 S. Ct. 2781, 61 L. Ed. 2d 560 (1979); Villa v. State, 

514 S.W.3d 227, 232 (Tex. Crim. App. 2017). This standard requires the 

appellate court to defer "to the responsibility of the trier of fact fairly to 

resolve conflicts in the testimony, to weigh the evidence, and to draw 

reasonable inferences from basic facts to ultimate facts." Jackson, 443 U.S. at 

319. We may not re-weigh the evidence or substitute our judgment for that 

of the factfinder. Williams v. State, 235 S.W.3d 742, 750 (Tex. Crim. App. 

2007). The court conducting a sufficiency review must not engage in a 

"divide and conquer" strategy but must consider the cumulative force of all 

the evidence. Villa, 514 S.W.3d at 232. Although juries may not speculate 

about the meaning of facts or evidence, juries are permitted to draw any 

reasonable inferences from the facts so long as each inference is supported 

by the evidence presented at trial. Cary v. State, 507 S.W.3d 750, 757 (Tex. 

Crim. App. 2016) (citing Jackson, 443 U.S. at 319); see also Hooper v. State, 214 

S.W.3d 9, 16-17 (Tex. Crim. App. 2007). We presume that the factfinder 

resolved any conflicting inferences from the evidence in favor of the verdict, 

and we defer to that resolution. Merritt v. State, 368 S.W.3d 516, 525 (Tex. 

Crim. App. 2012). This is because the jurors are the exclusive judges of the 

facts, the credibility of the witnesses, and the weight to be given to the 

testimony. Brooks v. State, 323 S.W.3d 893, 899 (Tex. Crim. App. 2010). 

Direct evidence and circumstantial evidence are equally probative, and 

circumstantial evidence alone may be sufficient to uphold a conviction so 

long as the cumulative force of all the incriminating circumstances is 

sufficient to support the conviction. Ramsey v. State, 473 S.W.3d 805, 809 

(Tex. Crim. App. 2015); Hooper, 214 S.W.3d at 13.

We measure whether the evidence presented at trial was sufficient 

to support a conviction by comparing it to "the elements of the offense as 
Flowers v. State Page 3

defined by the hypothetically correct jury charge for the case." Malik v. 

State, 953 S.W.2d 234, 240 (Tex. Crim. App. 1997). The hypothetically 

correct jury charge is one that "accurately sets out the law, is authorized by 

the indictment, does not unnecessarily increase the State's burden of proof 

or unnecessarily restrict the State's theories of liability, and adequately 

describes the particular offense for which the defendant was tried." Id.; see 

also Daugherty v. State, 387 S.W.3d 654, 665 (Tex. Crim. App. 2013). The "law 

as authorized by the indictment" includes the statutory elements of the 

offense and those elements as modified by the indictment. Daugherty, 387 

S.W.3d at 665.

Zuniga v. State, 551 S.W.3d 729, 732-33 (Tex. Crim. App. 2018).

Flowers lived with his mother, and Griselda1, who was 69 years-old, lived across 

the street from them. Flowers would visit with Griselda on occasion in her home. 

Griselda testified that in May 2017, Flowers brought her some fish to cook and that she 

ate the fish by herself after Flowers left her house. Griselda also smoked a cigarette that 

Flowers gave her. Griselda said that after smoking the cigarette, she began to feel dizzy 

and passed out. She said that when she came to, Flowers was in her home. Griselda had 

vomited on herself, and Flowers helped her change her clothes and get into bed. Griselda 

testified that Flowers then put his penis in her vagina. Griselda said that she tried to fight 

him off, but she was unable to do so. She passed out again, and when she woke up there 

was blood in her bed. Griselda went to the restroom, and when she wiped her vagina 

there was blood on the tissue. Griselda went back to bed and passed out again. When 

she came to, Flowers was knocking on her door.

 

1 Griselda is the pseudonym used by the victim at trial. We will also refer to the victim by that name. 
Flowers v. State Page 4

Griselda testified that she let Flowers in her house because he had taken her truck 

and she wanted her keys. Flowers had a friend with him, and they had a drink together. 

Griselda went back to sleep, and Flowers and his friend left. Griselda said that she called 

the police two weeks later because Flowers did not return her truck. She did not tell them 

about the sexual assault at that time because she was embarrassed. Griselda later spoke 

with a female detective, Elizabeth Glidewell, and told her about the sexual assault.

Detective Glidewell testified that Griselda was reluctant to talk about the offense 

because she was embarrassed. Griselda later called Detective Glidewell and said she had 

her sheets with blood on them as physical evidence of the assault. Detective Glidewell 

collected the sheets for DNA testing. The samples taken from the sheets contained semen 

that was 236 octillion times more likely coming from Flowers than from any other 

individual. There was a blood sample on the pillowcase that was identified as belonging 

to Flowers. There was another blood sample on the sheet that contained a mixture of 

blood. Griselda was identified as a contributor of that sample, and it was inconclusive as 

to whether Flowers was also a contributor.

Flowers testified at trial that he went to Griselda’s house approximately three 

times a week and that he would take her food and talk with her. Flowers said that he 

spent the night with Griselda on occasion, and that he would lay in bed with her and 

massage her back. Flowers stated that their relationship was friendly at first, but 

eventually she began to masturbate him.
Flowers v. State Page 5

Flowers testified that on the day of the offense, at her request, he gave Griselda a 

“blunt” to smoke and the two of them smoked together. He left with his mother, and 

when he returned later that day, he found Griselda on the ground covered in vomit and 

urine. Flowers helped her change into a nightgown and then left. Flowers returned 

sometime later to check on Griselda, and she was in bed watching television. He stayed 

with her most of the day watching television.

Flowers stated that later in the evening his cousin came to Griselda’s house. The 

three of them were drinking together, and Griselda asked Flowers to go to the store to 

get her a soda. Griselda gave Flowers her debit card and told him he could purchase 

cigarettes for himself. Flowers returned over an hour later and took his cousin home in 

Griselda’s truck. Flowers admits that he did not timely return Griselda’s truck to her. 

Flowers denied sexually assaulting Griselda.

A person commits the offense of aggravated sexual assault of an elderly person if 

the person intentionally or knowingly “causes the penetration of the anus or sexual organ 

of another person by any means, without that person's consent” and “the victim is an 

elderly individual or a disabled individual.” TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. § 22.021 (a) (1) (a) & 

(2) (C) (West 2019). "Elderly individual" means a person 65 years of age or older. TEX.

PENAL CODE ANN. § 22.04 (c) (2) (West 2019).

The record shows that Griselda was 69 years-old. Griselda testified that Flowers 

put his penis in her vagina without her consent. The sheets from her bed contained semen 
Flowers v. State Page 6

that matched the DNA from Flowers and also blood from Griselda. Flowers testified that 

Griselda consensually masturbated him that would account for his semen being in her 

bed and that he had a wound Griselda treated that would account for his blood on her 

pillowcase. The jurors are the exclusive judges of the facts, the credibility of the 

witnesses, and the weight to be given to the testimony. Brooks v. State, 323 S.W.3d 893, 

899 (Tex. Crim. App. 2010). We find that the evidence is sufficient to support Flowers’s 

conviction for aggravated sexual assault of an elderly person. We overrule Flowers’s first 

issue on appeal.

PRIOR CONVICTIONS

In the second issue, Flowers complains that the trial court erred in admitting 

evidence of two of his prior convictions contained in Exhibits 42 and 43. During the 

punishment phase of the trial, the State admitted an exhibit of Flowers’s known 

fingerprints. The State then introduced Flowers’s prior judgments and sentences in 

Exhibits 36 through 41. Investigator Todd Woodruff testified that Flowers’s known 

fingerprints matched those in Exhibits 36 through 41. The State offered Flowers’s prior

judgments and sentences in Exhibits 42 and 43, but those exhibits did not contain an 

adequate fingerprint to compare to Flowers’s known fingerprints. The trial court 

admitted Exhibits 42 and 43 over Flowers’s objection.

In Flowers v. State, the Court of Criminal Appeals stated:

To establish that a defendant has been convicted of a prior offense, the State 

must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that (1) a prior conviction exists, and 
Flowers v. State Page 7

(2) the defendant is linked to that conviction. No specific document or 

mode of proof is required to prove these two elements. There is no "best 

evidence" rule in Texas that requires that the fact of a prior conviction be 

proven with any document, much less any specific document. While 

evidence of a certified copy of a final judgment and sentence may be a 

preferred and convenient means, the State may prove both of these 

elements in a number of different ways, including (1) the defendant's 

admission or stipulation, (2) testimony by a person who was present when 

the person was convicted of the specified crime and can identify the 

defendant as that person, or (3) documentary proof (such as a judgment) 

that contains sufficient information to establish both the existence of a prior 

conviction and the defendant's identity as the person convicted.

Flowers v. State, 220 S.W.3d 919, 921-22 (Tex. Crim. App. 2007) (citations omitted).

Exhibit 42 contains a judgment and sentence for the offense of forgery. During the 

guilt-innocent portion of the trial, Flowers admitted to a prior conviction for forgery. 

Exhibit 43 contains a judgment and sentence for the offense of theft. Flowers also 

admitted to that theft during his testimony at trial. Investigator Woodruff testified that 

he verified the offenses in Exhibits 42 and 43 in Flowers’s criminal history. We find that 

the State proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the prior convictions exist and that 

Flowers is linked to the convictions in Exhibits 42 and 43. Moreover, the Court admitted, 

without objection, judgments and sentences for Flowers in Exhibits 36 through 41. 

Flowers testified at trial and admitted to numerous prior convictions and entered a plea 

of true to the enhancement paragraphs. Any error in admitting Exhibits 42 and 43 did 

not affect Flowers’s substantial rights. TEX. R. APP. P. 44.2 (b). We overrule Flowers’s 

second issue on appeal.
Flowers v. State Page 8

CONCLUSION

We affirm the trial court’s judgment. 

JOHN E. NEILL

Justice

Before Chief Justice Gray,

Justice Davis, and

Justice Neill

Affirmed

Opinion delivered and filed February 19, 2020

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