Court Opinion

ID: 9643279
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 20:24:35.41939+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:10:59.027299
License: Public Domain

ADELE HEDGES, Chief Justice,
concurring.
I agree with the majority that the trial court abused its discretion by requiring appellant to wear handcuffs without finding a reason specific to appellant and that this constituted harmful error. However, I respectfully disagree with the majority’s legal sufficiency analysis. Instead of finding the evidence to be legally sufficient under the law of parties, I would find the evidence to be legally sufficient to support appellant’s conviction as a principal. Ru-bio testified that she saw only one perpetrator and she identified appellant at trial. Appellant admitted that he was present during the robbery and that he owned the knife. He also was seen driving the complainant’s van. Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict, I believe that the jury could have found beyond a reasonable doubt that appellant committed the offense as a principal.
Examining the sufficiency of the evidence with regard to appellant’s conviction as a party takes into account appellant’s own self-serving testimony, intended as exonerating, and contorts it into incriminating evidence. This analysis seems to me to violate the spirit, if not the letter, of the legal sufficiency standard of review. Therefore, I respectfully concur.