### TEXA S COU RT O F AP PEAL S, THIR D DISTRIC T, AT AU STIN
NO. 03-01-00069-CR

Kawana Taeis ha Hall

, Appellant
v. The State of Texas , Appellee

FROM THE DISTRICT CO URT OF BELL COUNTY, 27TH JUDICIAL DIS TRICT NO. 50,723, HONORABLE MARTHA J. TRUDO, JUDGE PRESIDING

A jury fou nd ap pellant Kawa na T aeisha H all guilty o f rec klessly cau sing bo dily i nj ury to a ch i l d. See Tex. Pen. Code An n. § 2 2.04(a )( 3), (f

) (We st Supp . 2002) . The di stri ct court assess ed pun i sh men t at in carc eration f

or two yea

rs i n a sta te j ai l , b ut s uspe nd

ed i m pos i ti on of sent ence and p laced Hall on c ommunit y supe rvisio n. T he so le is sue on appeal is whether Hal

l wa s entitled to a jury in struct ion on the defense

of a thi rd person. Fi

ndi ng that the court properly

refuse d t he inst ruc t io n, we will a ffir m.

Brian Souder, t he complain ant, and St ephon Lewis, Hal l ’sson, were m

i ddl e s ch ool classm ates. Dur ing t he da ys leading u p t o t he even t givi ng ri se to t hi s prosecution, the two boys had been, t o u se d efense co unse l’s phr ase , “like t wo barn r oosters try i ng to si ze e ach other up .” Acco rd ing t o B rian, St epho n had be en “t alking t ra sh” a nd “t elling peo ple ho w he ca n be at me up.” Stephon testifi

ed that Brian

had f oll owed him as he walke d ho me fro m scho ol, t hre at ening t o fight hi m . Wh en Stephon tol d hi

s m other ab out thi s, sh

e sa i d “he mess wi th y ou, you f i ght h i m .”2 On t he aft er no o n in

question, Brian was s

tandin g out side the school wi

th fri ends wh en Stephon and Hal l a pproached hi

m. Bri an testif ie d that Hal l

“wal ke d u p to me a n d s ai d y ou w an t to f i gh t? Here he goes an

d she pus hed h im to wards m

e.” Stephon then swun

g at Br ian wit h his fist and mi ssed. Br ian st ruc k S t ep ho n in the f ace and he f el l to the groun

d. Bria n “ got on to p of hi

m, started punc hinghi

m .” A f ter B ri an hi t Stephon several tim es, Hall s eized

Br ian by t he co llar , t ur ne d h im, and sl ap pe d h i m . Sh e then pus he d B ri an to the grou nd an d “ tol d her s on

t o g et on t op of me and she grabbed her so n and p ut him on t op of me. ” T he t wo boys c ont inued t o e xchang e blow s unt il the f i ght wa s broken

up by a teac her. Other wit nesse s ga ve si

m i l ar ac coun

ts of th e i nc i den t. Even Stephon ackn

owledged th at h e “ wal ke d u p to [B rian

] a n d h i t h i m ,” sa y i n g h e d i d s o b ec au se

“ th e on l y wa y h e w as goi n g to stop bo t he r ing me wa s to f i gh t hi m so If ough t hi m .” W i th reg ard to Ha l l ’s i nte rv en ti on i n th e f i gh t, Stephon tes ti f i ed , “ Bri an f el l on top of m e an d m y mom p ull ed h i m off me. I stoo d up and wen

t after him ag ain
. ” S t ep ho n a dmit ted th at he nev

er aban doned the fi

ght, and stopped tr yi

ng to hit Bri an wh en “[a ]nothe r student gra

bb ed m e an d I coul dn’ t get af

ter hi m .” H all t es t if

ied t hat as she and he r so n wer e leaving t he sc hoo l, she he ar d so meone “b el ittle” St epho n. S he tur

n ed to a g rou p of stu den ts a n d a sk ed , “W h o i s i t th at w an ts t o fight him?” Bria n st epp ed fo rw ar d. “I sa id well, I do n’t kno w whyyou w ant to fi ght h i m but I don ’t thi

nk y ou’re going to lea

ve h im al one until

he f igh ts you. So I t old Stephon go ahead an d fi ght hi m.” Afte r t he fight began , Brian

was “b eatin

g Stephon to death. He jus t was beatin

g on hi m.” Sh e said she put her hand o n Brian’ s sho ulder and t o ld h im “o ka y, t ha t ’s en o ug h. Gr ab be d h is s ho uld er an d p ulle d h im away f rom S teph on.”3 A pers on i s j usti f

i ed i n us i ng f orce ag ai ns t anothe

r to protect a thi

rd pers o n if: (1) under the ci rcu m sta nc esasthe

ac torreasonabl

y b el ie ves them t o be , she wo uld be jus t ifi ed in us ing force to protect hers el f

agai ns t the un l awf ul f orce sh e rea sona bl y be l i ev es to be

threa teni ng th e thi rd pe rs on sh e s eeksto protect; and (2) the actor reasonabl y b el ie ves that he rint er ve nt io n is imme dia t ely
ne ces sary to prot ect the third person. Tex. Pen. Code An n. § 9.33 (W es t 199 4). Th e e f f ec t of
se cti on 9.33 is to place

the actor in the sh

oes of the thi

rd pers on. Hughes

v. State , 719 S.W.2d 560, 564 ( T ex . Cr im. App . 1 98 6) . I f, un de r the c i rc um sta n ce s a s th e actor re as on ab l

y b el i ev es th em to be, the third perso n would be j ustifi ed in usin g force in sel

f-defen se, the act or may step in

and use f orce on b eh al f

of the thi rd pers on. Id
. The use of force in s elf

-defense i s not justifi

ed if the act or p rovo ked the o ther’s use
oratt empted use of unlawf ul f orce, unl ess the

ac tor ab an

don s th e e nc oun ter or cl early comm unicates his i n ten t to do so . T ex. Pen. Co de Ann. § 9. 31( b)( 4) (A) (Wes t Su pp. 200 2) . I n t he co nt ext of t he th i rd -p ar ty defen se, thi s m ea ns tha t i nte rv en ti on on be ha l f of a th i rd p arty i s n ot j us ti f i ed i f the ac tor knows or bel

i ev es that the th

i rd party provoke d the

di f f i cul ty. Hanley v. State , 921 S.W.2d 904, 911 (Tex . App.—Waco 199 6, pet. ref ’d). In this cause, the undisputed evi

dence sh ows that Hall

sought out t he co mplainant a nd encouraged

her son to fi ght h i m . Step hon a dmitt ed t hro wing t he first punc h and s aid t hat he continue d t o fight Brian u nt il he was r est ra ined by an o t he rst ud en t . Un de rt he cir cu mst an ce s a s H all knew the m to be , Ste

phon ( an d H al l ) provok ed Bri an ’s us e of force, and Stephon n

ever sou gh t to ab an don the e nc ounter. Be ca us e S t ep ho n w as no t jus t ified in usin g force t o defend hi

msel f agai nst4

Brian, Hal l

wa s n ot en ti tl ed to us e f orc e to def

end Steph on ag ai ns t Bri an . T he dis t r ict co ur t pr o pe r ly
re fused t he r equ est ed d efensive inst ru ct ion.

The j udgme

nt of convi

ction i s af fi rmed.

__________________________________________ Bea An n Sm ith, Justice Bef ore Chi ef J

ustice A boussie, Justices

B. A. Sm ith an d Puryear Af fi rmed File d: February

28, 2002 Do No t Publis

h