Case Name: Roosevelt BEASLEY, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee
Court: Texas Court of Criminal Appeals
Jurisdiction: Texas
Decision Date: 1995-06-28
Citations: 902 S.W.2d 452
Docket Number: No. 1365-93
Parties: Roosevelt BEASLEY, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee.
Judges: MEYERS, J., joins.
Reporter: South Western Reporter Second Series
Volume: 902
Pages: 452–471

Head Matter:
Roosevelt BEASLEY, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee.
No. 1365-93.
Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, En Banc.
June 28, 1995.
David L. Richards (on appeal only), Fort Worth, for appellant.
Tim Curry, Dist. Atty. and Betty Marshall, Charles M. Mallín, Anne E. Swenson and Terri Moore, Asst. Dist. Attys., Robert Hut-tash, Fort Worth, State’s Atty., Austin, for the State.

Opinion:
OPINION ON APPELLANT'S PETITION FOB DISCRETIONARY REVIEW
OVERSTREET, Judge.
Appellant was indicted for the felony offense of murder, V.T.C.A. Penal Code, § 19.02(a)(1), alleged to have been committed on or about the 3rd day of February 1990, in Tarrant County. He was found guilty in a trial by jury in the 372nd District Court of Tarrant County on the 13th day of November, 1992. The jury assessed punishment at life imprisonment in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Institutional Division, and a fine of $10,000. Appellant's conviction was affirmed by the Fort Worth Court of Appeals on November 10, 1993. Beasley v. State, 864 S.W.2d 808 (Tex.App.—Fort Worth 1993). We granted appellant's petition for discretionary review to decide if evidence of bad conduct generally engaged in by gang members is admissible absent a showing of a connection between such conduct and appellant.
I. SUMMARY OF PERTINENT FACTS
During the guilt/innocence phase of the trial, testimony was given by the victim that he was with the deceased and a third party at Cheddar's Restaurant on February 1,1990 when appellant entered the restaurant along with another young man, two ladies, and a baby. The victim testified that he and his friends noticed that appellant and his male friend were wearing jeans with a black Raiders cap and a L.A. Lakers jacket. Both men also had blue bandannas hanging out of their back pockets. Subsequently, the deceased and appellant had a conversation and exchanged beeper numbers. Two days later, appellant met the deceased and the victim at a bowling alley, lured the two of them to an isolated area, shot both of them and then took their money. When the police arrived, the victim informed them that he was "shot by some Crips."
During the punishment phase of the trial, the State presented two witnesses who testified about appellant's gang membership. First, the victim testified that while in Cheddar's Restaurant on February 1st, he overheard appellant say to the deceased, "I am a part of the East-something Crips." The remainder of the testimony regarding the gang and gang membership was given by Leo Griego, a police officer from California. Officer Griego testified that he was a police officer from Barstow, California, where appellant had lived before moving to Texas, that he had been a police officer for the past twenty years, and that he had interactions with gangs including Crips for the last fifteen years. Officer Griego further explained that the Crips is a black street gang that has an "allegiance for a common goal, and they engage in violent and criminal activity." He added that specifically, "[tjheir cause is violence, criminal activity such as drug trafficking, robberies, witness intimidation."
Officer Griego explained that one manner in which Crip gang members identify themselves is through their distinguishing clothing. He explained in detail that:
"[t]he Crips are known to wear blue garb, such as blue pants or shirts, tennis shoes, shoelaces, caps with Raider's logo on them, jackets with Raider's logo, black or dark blue shirts, in combination with other blue garb...."
Officer Griego also testified that when the Crips were "Cripped out or dressed out", along with the other blue garb, they would wear blue rags or handkerchiefs on their heads or in their pockets.
Officer Griego testified that he personally knew appellant. He testified that he had seen appellant in the presence of other known Crip members, and that he had seen him wearing the type of gang clothing that he had earlier described. When asked if he knew of appellant's reputation in the community for being a peaceful and law-abiding citizen, officer Griego responded that he did know of his reputation and that it was bad.
II. COURT OF APPEALS' HOLDING
The Second Court of Appeals affirmed the judgment of the trial court holding that the evidence admitted was not evidence of an extraneous offense and was therefore admissible. Beasley v. State, 864 S.W.2d 808 (Tex.App.—Fort Worth 1993). It stated that article 37.07 § 3 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure and the Rules of Evidence provide for the admission of evidence by the state or the defendant of anything that the court deems relevant, including the defendant's prior criminal record, his reputation, and his character. Id. at 810. The court of appeals rejected appellant's argument that the evidence was inadmissible because it is evidence of an extraneous offense. The court of appeals first stated that appellant's objection to the evidence being admitted was untimely, and went further to explain that the testimony that was objected to was only the witness' opinion of the character and nature of the gang. Id. at 811. The court of appeals likened appellant's affiliation with the gang to one's religious affiliation, and reasoned that the evidence that Beasley was a member of a street gang dedicated to violence and other criminal activity is admissible at the punishment phase of the trial. Id. at 810-811. Lastly, because this evidence's purpose was to show only the general nature of the gang, the court of appeals found that it was unnecessary for the State to link appellant to every single kind of crime that the gang may have engaged in. Id.
III.APPELLANT'S CONTENTION
Appellant claims that the evidence that was admitted regarding the conduct of the gang was all inadmissible. He maintains that the evidence that the State introduced was evidence of unadjudicated extraneous offenses of the gang. According to appellant, the State introduced evidence of these unad-judicated extraneous offenses of the gang so that the jury would consider these acts while assessing his punishment. Because the evidence introduced by the State was unadjudi-cated extraneous offense evidence, appellant argues that Grunsfeld v. State, 843 S.W.2d 521 (Tex.Cr.App.1992) controls, and consequently, admitting unadjudicated extraneous offense evidence in the punishment phase of a noncapital offense was reversible error.
In the alternative, appellant argues that in the event that this Court finds that the testimony was not unadjudieated offense evidence, the State neglected to demonstrate that appellant was a member of the Crips or that he engaged in, or had knowledge of the criminal activities attributed to the gang. To support this contention, appellant refers to Urbano v. State, 837 S.W.2d 114 (Tex.Cr.App.1992). Furthermore, appellant, citing People v. Smith, 141 Ill.2d 40, 152 Ill.Dec. 218, 565 N.E.2d 900 (1990), contends that being in the presence of gang members is insufficient alone to show that one is a gang member, and in this ease, there was no clear evidence presented that appellant actually was a member of the crips gang.
IV.STATE'S CONTENTION
The State's first contention is that this Court should dismiss appellant's petition because appellant has failed to address the court of appeals' holding that appellant's trial objection was untimely. Therefore, the State maintains that appellant is asking this Court to grant an advisory opinion. The State next contends that even if this court does decide the merits of this ease, the court of appeals decision should be affirmed because the evidence was not evidence of unadjudicated extraneous offenses and consequently was properly admitted. The State, citing Harris v. State, 738 S.W.2d 207, 224 (Tex.Cr.App.1986), asserts that in order to establish evidence of an extraneous offense, the evidence must demonstrate that an offense was committed and that appellant was connected with the offense. According to the State, the testimony that was given by the witness regarding gang activity was offered not as evidence of specific unadjudicated offenses of the gang or of appellant, but only as the opinion of the witness as to the gang's general nature and character, and is therefore admissible during punishment under Article 37.07, § 3(a).
The State also asserts, citing Miller-El v. State, 782 S.W.2d 892, 895-97 (Tex.Cr.App.1990) and Murphy v. State, 777 S.W.2d 44, 63 (Tex.Cr.App.1988), that the testimony is admissible at the punishment phase as circumstances of the offense or offender. The State argues that this information is extremely relevant and the jury should be given as much relevant information as possible so that they can make the most informed decision possible concerning appellant's punishment. Additionally, it avers that "circumstances of the offender" evidence, which includes evidence of background, education and religious affiliation, is not limited to character evidence, and therefore evidence concerning appellant's gang membership is admissible.
V.ANALYSIS
The record reveals that the objections to the disputed testimony were timely, and accordingly we will address the merits of this case. Article 37.07, § 3(a) of the Code of Criminal Procedure provides that "Regardless of the plea and whether the punishment be assessed by the judge or the jury, evidence may, as permitted by the Rules of Evidence, be offered by the state and the defendant as to any matter the court deems relevant to sentencing, including the prior criminal record of the defendant, his general reputation and his character." Therefore, if evidence of the defendant's character or reputation is deemed relevant by the trial court, the evidence is admissible during punishment if it is permitted by the Rules of Evidence. Rule 404(c) of the Texas Rules of Evidence provides that at punishment, "evidence may be offered by an accused or by the prosecution as to the prior criminal record of the accused [and] [o]ther evidence of his character may be offered by an accused or by the prosecution."
Rule 401 of the Rules of Criminal Evidence defines "relevant evidence" as "evidence having any tendency to make the existence of any fact of consequence to the determination of the action more probable or less probable than it would be without the evidence."
In Ybarra v. State, 775 S.W.2d 409 (Tex.App.—Waco 1989, no pet.), the Tenth Court of Appeals held that gang membership is admissible to show the character of the accused. The court added that "[i]f reputation of gang membership gives the jury valuable information regarding the character of the defendant it should be allowed." Id. The Ybarra court reasoned that evidence of gang membership is relevant because the jury can make a determination of the defendant's character based on the fact that the defendant is a member of a gang. Id.
Appellant's reliance on Urbano is misplaced. Urbano v. State, 887 S.W.2d 114 (Tex.Cr.App.1992). The case at bar can be distinguished from Urbano by examining the purpose of the introduction of the gang evidence in both eases. In Urbano, this Court held that:
"Rational jurors could not conclude beyond a reasonable doubt simply from [UrbanoJ's membership in the gang that he was aware of all of the gang's rules."
Id. at 117. In that case, the gang membership evidence was not admitted for the jury's evaluation of the defendant's character, but to show whether Urbano knew he would advance and share in profits, which would prove the element of remuneration.
In this case, from all of the "gang evidence" that was presented during the punishment phase of the trial, a rational jury could have concluded that the State had established three things: 1) that appellant was a member of the Crips gang; 2) that the Crips gang was involved in misconduct; and 3) that the Crips gang had a bad reputation in the community. As far as showing appellant's gang membership, the testimony of Officer Griego revealed that he had personally witnessed appellant wearing the gang colors and clothing which indicated appellant's membership in the Crips gang. Additionally, Officer Griego testified that he had seen appellant in the presence of other known Crips gang members. The State also showed that the Crips was a gang that was involved in misconduct. Again, they accomplished this through the testimony of Officer Griego. Officer Griego testified that the gang engaged in violent and criminal behavior, "such as drug trafficking, robberies, witness intimidation." Finally, because of all of the evidence that was heard regarding the misconduct of the gang, a rational jury could conclude that the gang's reputation was indeed bad.
The evidence concerning appellant's gang membership is relevant because it relates to his character. This information alone however, may not be enough for the jury to make an informed decision of appellant's character. It is essential for the jury to know the types of activities the gang generally engages in so that they can determine if his gang membership is a positive or negative aspect of his character, and subsequently his character as a whole. Only after the jury has been provided with this information can there be a fair evaluation of how gang membership reflects on the gang member's character.
VI. CONCLUSION
We hold that it is not necessary to link the accused to the bad acts or misconduct generally engaged in by gang members, so long as the jury is 1) provided with evidence of the defendant's gang membership, 2) provided with evidence of character and reputation of the gang, 3) not required to determine if the defendant committed the bad acts or misconduct and 4) only asked to consider reputation or character of the accused. A fair reading of Article 37.07 § 3(a) and Rule 404(c) implicates that the sentencer should be provided with all relevant evidence in order to assess fair and appropriate punishment. Accordingly, the judgment of the court of appeals is affirmed.
. Appellant's question for review reads as follows: Whether the court of appeals erred in ruling that it is proper for the state to introduce, for purposes of punishment, evidence of bad conduct generally engaged in by gang members, without having to link the defendant to such conduct.