Court Opinion

ID: 9665532
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 00:50:54.448055+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:15:16.462733
License: Public Domain

O’CONNOR, Justice,
dissenting.
I dissent. This ease involves serious misconduct by the prosecutor and gross incompetence by the defense counsel. We should grant the appellant a new trial.
The main issue in this appeal is whether the appellant received a fair trial. Between prosecutorial misconduct and defense counsel’s incompetence, he did not. No defendant should be tried by a prosecutor who withholds favorable evidence; no defendant should be represented by counsel who does not investigate the case. To have both happen in one trial assured the appellant’s conviction. That result might have been changed by full disclosure of the evidence and representation by effective counsel.
The appellant did everything he could, as a non-lawyer, to protect himself from both lawyers — the State’s and his own. After the State rested, defense counsel told the trial court that the appellant wanted to fire him as his lawyer. The trial court conducted a hearing at which the appellant testified that the evidence was not coming out and that his lawyer did not prepare for trial. The trial court overruled the appellant’s motion.
A.
Trial counsel ineffectiveness
The appellant complains that his counsel was ineffective, and his due process rights under the United States and Texas Constitutions were violated. I agree.
1. No investigation or preparation
In points of error one and four, the appellant asserts that trial counsel was ineffective because he did not conduct an independent investigation of the facts and did not offer evidence favorable to the appellant.
The defense counsel filed a motion for discovery, but did not get a ruling on it. He met with the prosecutor to discuss the evidence, but did not review the State’s file. The prosecutor told him he had three pieces of evidence: medical records (which were furnished to defense counsel), the eye-witness Joshua Jasso (who could not be located), and the confession.
The only investigation the defense counsel conducted was into the complainant’s sexual past. His investigator told him that the complainant had sex with other boys before this incident, but that all of them were juveniles. Evidence of her sexual past was not a defense to the charge brought against the appellant — sexual assault of a juvenile.
The defense counsel’s only pre-trial preparation for trial involved talking to the defendant and the defendant’s sister. The defense counsel knew the names of all the people who were at the Jasso house on the night of the incident, but he did not talk with them. On the day of trial, the defense counsel gave the appellant’s sister a yellow pad and asked her to interview the witnesses. She testified at the motion for new trial hearing that he gave her no instructions, that she is not a lawyer, but she did the best she could. All the witnesses who testified at trial testified at the motion for new trial hearing that defense counsel did not talk with them before putting them on the stand.
A defendant in a criminal case is entitled to reasonably effective assistance of counsel. Butler v. State, 716 S.W.2d 48, 54 (Tex.Crim.App.1986). Among counsel’s duties is that of making an independent investigation of the facts of the client’s case. Id.; Ex parte Duffy, 607 S.W.2d 507, 514 n. 14 (Tex.Crim.App.1980) (counsel has a professional duty to present all available evidence to support the defense of client); Doherty v. State, 781 S.W.2d 439, 442 (Tex.App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 1989, no pet.). An attorney is ineffee-*118tive if, as a result of his failure to investigate, he is not able to present a viable defense for the defendant. Ex parte Ybarra, 629 S.W.2d 943, 948 (Tex.Crim.App.1982).
The majority’s opinion reflects uncertainty about the proper standard of review for gauging this point of error. I believe the test is whether the defense counsel, as a result of his failure to investigate, was not able to present a viable defense. Ybarra, 629 S.W.2d at 948.1 Quoting from another case, the Court of Criminal Appeals rejected the “crucial defense” analysis with the statement: “In such circumstances we may not save the judgment by speculating whether the defense would have been successful.” Id. at 952. As the court said, the failure to investigate and to present evidence mocks the adversary system under the law. Id.
As in Ybarra, this ease involves a prosecutor who was less than candid with the defense counsel, and took advantage of the defense counsel’s inexperience.2 The record reflects that the assistance provided the appellant was shockingly ineffective. Id. at 952.
a. Barbara Jasso
The appellant argues that his counsel was ineffective for not presenting the testimony of Barbara Jasso, who contradicted the testimony of the complainant and Bill Broderick, the only other fact witnesses.
The appellant argues that Barbara Jasso’s testimony contradicted the testimony of the complainant and Broderick on two important points: (1) that the complainant started crying when they told her what happened; and (2) that the appellant was ordered to leave. I agree. Her testimony challenges that of the state’s two key witnesses. There is a reasonable probability Barbara Jasso’s testimony would have affected the jury’s perception of their credibility, and could have changed the outcome of the case.
Broderick testified he and Joshua Jasso told the appellant to get out of the house, and he left. He testified that after the appellant left, they went into the bedroom and woke the complainant. After they woke her, they told her that she had been assaulted by the appellant. The complainant testified that Broderick and Joshua told her she had been assaulted as soon as she woke, that she cried, and felt sore in her vagina.
Barbara Jasso was not called to testify at trial. At the motion for new trial hearing, Barbara Jasso testified she is the cousin of the complainant and the sister of the missing eye-witness, Joshua Jasso. On the afternoon of the event, Barbara Jasso and the complainant went to the Jassos’ house where her brother was having a party. The complainant played a game called “quarters,” which forces the loser to take a drink if they cannot throw a coin into a glass. Later that afternoon, Barbara found the complainant passed out in the bathroom, and moved her into the bedroom. Barbara was in and out of the house after that. That evening she returned to the house with Broderick and her brother. As she started cleaning the kitchen her brother and Broderick went to the bedroom. She heard someone talking and joined them. In the bedroom she saw the appellant, the complainant, Gene Perez, her brother, and Broderick. She testified the complainant was not crying or upset. She helped the complainant put on her shoes and told her brother to take her home because the complainant was sick. She said the complainant was not crying or upset. She said the appellant left with everybody else, that no one asked him to leave, as Broderick had testified.
The majority does not address the appellant’s complaint that Barbara Jasso’s testimony contradicts the testimony of the complainant, which it does. The majority states *119that Barbara’s testimony does not contradict Broderick’s testimony, because Barbara Jas-so talked with the complainant before the complainant was taken to Broderick’s house, and the complainant was not told about the assault until after she had arrived at Broder-ick’s home. That is not what the record reflects. Broderick testified he and Joshua told her what happened after she woke up. The two of them took the complainant to Broderick’s house, where she met her brother.
The majority characterizes Barbara Jas-so’s testimony as “circumstantial and inconclusive,” and holds that the defense counsel’s failure to provide it at the trial did not deprive the appellant of a crucial defense, or even of a viable defense.3 Even so, I would argue the defense was crucial to the appellant, if not to the majority, because it was the only defense he had. Barbara Jasso’s testimony was neither circumstantial or inconclusive when supported by the same testimony of two other witnesses.4
b. Miguel Vielma
Vielma testified at the trial and at the motion for new trial hearing. At the motion for new trial hearing, he testified that defense counsel did not talk with him before putting him on the stand. About that evening, he testified that he and his girlfriend picked up the complainant’s brother and took him to Broderick’s house. Vielma testified that the complainant’s brother confronted her and insisted that she report the assault to the police. She did not want to because she did not think she had been hurt. She started crying after her brother yelled at her. Vielma drove the complainant and her brother home.
The majority reviews Vielma’s testimony and states that it is subject to two interpretations: (1) that the complainant genuinely believed that nothing happened to her; or (2) that she was drunk, fatigued, and embarrassed and wanted to avoid an ugly scene within her family. The majority creates the second interpretation but does not explain how such an interpretation can be drawn from Vilema’s testimony or how the interpretation hurts the appellant. Nothing in Viel-ma’s testimony supports the majority’s second interpretation, that the complainant did not want to call the police because she was drunk, fatigued, and embarrassed and wanted to avoid an ugly scene with her family. The only inference we can draw from Viel-ma’s testimony is that she said what he said she said, or that he lied about what she said. Either way, the jury should have heard that testimony.
The majority then concludes that “We are not persuaded ... the addition of Miguel’s testimony would have led to a different result.” That is not the issue. The issue is whether the jury might have been influenced by this evidence. If Vielma had testified to this in front of a jury, the jury might have decided the complainant did not think anything had happened to her immediately after the alleged assault, that later, for some other reason, she lodged a complaint against the appellant. Without this testimony, the jury did not have any evidence on this issue except that produced by the State, that she made an immediate outcry.
c. Gracie Quintanilla
Gracie Quintanilla testified at trial and at the motion for new trial hearing. At the motion for new trial hearing, she testified that defense counsel did not talk with her before putting her on the stand. At the hearing, she testified that the complainant did not act like anything was wrong and she was not crying or upset.
Quintanilla accompanied Vielma to the party and to Broderick’s home. Her testimony confirmed Vielma’s testimony. The majority states there is no reasonable probability that her testimony would have changed the outcome of the proceedings. I disagree. If the jury had heard another person testify that the complainant’s first statement was that she did not believe any thing had happened, *120it would have bolstered Vielma’s testimony and supported the appellant’s defense.
2. No rulings on pretrial discovery motions
In point of error two, the appellant faults trial counsel for failing to “obtain rulings on Appellant’s discovery motions and set a date certain for delivery of each item allowed the State to avoid providing information to the Appellant that would aid in his preparation for trial.” The majority overrules this point of error, finding that trial counsel properly requested those items and that the State should have produced them. That does not excuse the appellant’s trial counsel from securing a ruling on a discovery motion. If he had pressed for a ruling, the State might have produced the items before trial.
The defense counsel’s failure to pursue discovery and use it in his investigation and presentation of the appellant’s defense raises the reasonable possibility of a different outcome. I would sustain this point of error.
3. Cumulative effect
In point of error eight, appellant complains of two instances of prejudicial acts and omissions by trial counsel. He asserts that the “cumulative effect of counsel’s deficient performance denied him a fair trial.” I agree. The defense counsel’s representation fell below the objective standard of reasonableness. Ex parte Welborn, 785 S.W.2d 391, 396 (Tex.Crim.App.1990); Doherty v. State, 781 S.W.2d 439, 442 (Tex.App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 1989, no pet.). Even if the individual instances of conduct complained of by the appellant, standing alone, might not require reversal, the cumulative effect of such conduct denied the appellant a fair trial and the effective assistance of counsel.
B.
Prosecutorial Misconduct
In points of error 10 and 11, the appellant complains that the prosecutor withheld exculpatory evidence in the form of lab tests run by the Brazoria County Crime Lab on a sexual assault kit, clothing, and a bedsheet. The appellant asserts that he was denied a fair trial by the prosecutor’s misconduct. I agree.
If the appellant had been represented by competent counsel, the disclosure of evidence before trial would have helped him prepare his defense. With incompetent counsel and without the all evidence, the appellant’s conviction was a foregone conclusion.
The majority concedes the appellant met the first part of the three-part test:
(1) The prosecutor fails to disclose evidence;
(2) the evidence is favorable to the defendant; and
(3) the evidence creates a probability sufficient to undermine the confidence in the outcome of the proceeding.
Thomas v. State, 841 S.W.2d 399, 404 (Tex.Crim.App.1992). Despite a motion for discovery, the prosecutor did not disclose before trial the test results from the sexual assault kit, the undergarments, or the bedsheet, and did not deliver the physical evidence to the appellant so that he could conduct independent testing.
The majority and I disagree on the resolution of the second part of the test, whether the appellant proved the evidence is favorable to the accused. Thomas, 841 S.W.2d at 404.
At the motion for new trial hearing, the director of the crime lab testified that preliminary examination of the sexual assault Mt did not reveal any sperm, seminal fluid, or hair. The majority states that the lack of evidence merely corroborates the appellant’s statement, in which he says, “But before I was finished [with sexual intercourse], Joshua Jasso came back inside his house and turned on the light and saw me on top of [the complainant].” The majority states that the absence of semen and seminal fluid, in the light of the appellant’s own testimony, is not exculpatory, but merely corroborative. I think the absence of the fluids was important corroborative evidence, and the appellant’s defense was weakened without it. More important, however, is that the laboratory tests did not reveal any hair, particularly pubic hair.
*121The majority finds there is no evidence that if the bedsheets had been tested, the results of tests run would have been favorable to the appellant. Of course. The State frustrated the appellant’s right to discovery. After the fact, when no tests have been conducted, it is impossible for the appellant to show on appeal what he would have discovered. As the Court of Criminal Appeals observed in Duffy, quoting from a case involving a claim of that the defense counsel failed to investigate:
[Sjince the facts remained uncovered and undetected, there is no way of telling whether those facts, if fully developed, would or would not have established the defenses in dispute. If the record on appeal is defective or incomplete, it is due solely to the neglect of trial counsel.
Duffy, 607 S.W.2d at 521 (quoting People v. Corona, 145 Cal.Rptr. 894, 911-12, 80 Cal.App.3d 684, 724 (1978)). Here, the record is defective and incomplete because of the failure to investigate and prosecutorial misconduct.
The majority states that the bedsheets were neutral in their evidentiary impact. Without an analysis by the appellant, that is correct. That is the point-of the entire exercise — the prosecutor withheld evidence, and the appellant was not able to have the evidence analyzed.
One of the strongest arguments a defense counsel could make in this kind of case is to argue that the State did not produce any physical evidence that connected the defendant to the crime. Here, because the State withheld the evidence, and the inept counsel did not seek it out, the appellant was not able to take advantage of that kind of argument.
The majority makes the same mistake when analyzing the complainant’s undergarments — how can the appellant show that the evidence would have favored him if he has no access to it?
I would find the appellant also met the third part of the test, that he “created a probability sufficient to undermine the confidence in the outcome of the proceeding.” Thomas, 841 S.W.2d at 404. The majority refuses to address the part of the test by holding the appellant did not prove the withheld evidence was not favorable.
C.
Summary
The majority holds that the appellant did not preserve the errors or he did not prove that, but for those errors, the jury would have acquitted him. I disagree with the majority’s analysis of the record and its analysis of the law.
In applying the harmless error rule, we are required to focus on the propriety of the process, not the result. Harris v. State, 790 S.W.2d 568, 588 (Tex.Crim.App.1989). It is the effect of the error, not the other evidence, that determines whether the error is reversible. Id. The effect of the errors in this case is that the appellant did not receive a fair trial.

. I recognize that the Duffy opinion uses the word "crucial” in describing the defense, but only in its quote of a case from California. See Duffy, 607 S.W.2d at 521, citing People v. Corona, 145 Cal.Rptr. 894, 911-12, 80 Cal.App.3d 684, 724 (1978). In Ybarra, a more recent case, the Court of Criminal Appeals described the defense as viable, not crucial.

. The defense counsel was licensed to practice law in 1989. At the time of this trial, he had tried only three or four felony cases, and no misdemeanor case.

. See note 1, supra.

. Barbara Jasso’s testimony also contradicts the hearsay testimony of her brother, Joshua, offered on the bill of exceptions.