Court Opinion

ID: 9778028
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 20:30:29.365151+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:33:03.197901
License: Public Domain

WHITE, Judge,
dissenting.
The majority opinion relies on the recent decision of this Court in Long v. State, 742 S.W.2d 302 (Tex.Cr.App.1987), to reverse the appellant’s conviction. At that time I joined the dissent of Judge McCormick to the holding of Long. My opinion has not changed, though I now accept that Long is a final decision. However, I disagree with the majority’s decision that the Long error in the instant case harmed the appellant. I would hold, instead, that the error was harmless under Tex.R.App.Pro. Rule 81(b)(2).
The majority discusses the fact that the only specific evidence directly proving the penetration of the victim’s vagina was contained in the videotaped testimony of the victim. In that tape, she said the appellant, “got on top of me and stuck his ding aling in mine.” Because the majority feels this is the only direct evidence of the alleged penetration, they concluded that its admission, beyond a reasonable doubt, contributed to the conviction of the appellant.
The videotaped testimony may have been more direct than the rest of the State’s evidence, but it was not specifically direct evidence of the alleged violation. At no time did the victim specifically state on the tape that her vagina was penetrated by the sexual organ of the appellant. She used the dolls to show the relative positions of her and the appellant during the assault, and to point out that the appellant’s “ding aling” was his penis and that hers was her genital area. The victim undoubtedly came as close as a child of her years could to definitely enunciating the allegations in the indictment. But the most that can be said for her testimony was that it was more direct than the State’s other evidence. This is not sufficient for me to conclude, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the videotape contributed to the verdict. Rule 81(b)(2), supra.
Considering the other evidence presented by the State at trial, I believe that the erroneous admission of the videotape was harmless. There was evidence that the victim had become infected with gonorrhea (the victim’s mother’s account of her conversation with Dr. Ayers of Texarkana). There was also evidence that the victim made an outcry to her mother on the day after her mother’s conversation with Dr. Ayers. In this outcry she told her mother what happened between her and the appel*572lant. Lastly, we have the confession of the appellant. Though he also does not specifically state that he penetrated the victim’s vagina, the appellant made an admission of sexual intercourse with the victim. This admission may have been somewhat self-serving, in that appellant blamed the victim for initiating the sexual activity, but it placed the appellant engaging in a sexual assault with the victim at the right time and in the right place. Upon this evidence, and without the videotape, a rational trier of fact could have found beyond a reasonable doubt that the appellant was guilty of the alleged aggravated sexual assault. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979). As such, appellant has not established that the erroneous admission of the videotape contributed, beyond a reasonable doubt, to his conviction. Self v. State, 709 S.W.2d 662 (Tex.Cr.App.1986).
I also believe that the record in the instant case shows, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the admission of the videotape did not contribute to the punishment which appellant received. Rule 81(b)(2), supra. The appellant was sentenced to twenty-five years in the Texas Department of Corrections, even though he faced a maximum of life imprisonment. Although the appellant was not shown to have a criminal record, the lack or absence of a prior conviction is only a single factor in the analysis of error. Becknell v. State, 720 S.W.2d 526 (Tex.Cr.App.1986), at 530. The record shows that the victim was a seven year old child and the appellant was an adult male entrusted with the care of the victim. The victim was shown to have suffered from a vaginal discharge and venereal disease as a result of the assault. Considering that the appellant confessed to the offense, and that he received a sentence in the lower range of punishment for this offense, appellant was not harmed by the admission of any tainted evidence during the punishment stage of his trial. Self, supra; and Becknell, supra.
I would overrule the appellant’s ground for review and affirm the judgment against him. I dissent to the majority’s decision to rule otherwise.
McCORMICK, J., joins this dissent.