Court Opinion

ID: 9775914
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 19:12:38.820635+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:32:32.014320
License: Public Domain

DEVANY, Justice,
dissenting.
Appellant was convicted of aggravated robbery by a jury upon a finding that appellant used or exhibited a deadly weapon in the course of the robbery. The majority reforms the conviction to a lesser offense of robbery based upon its conclusion that the evidence was insufficient to show that the screwdriver used by the appellant during the robbery was a deadly weapon. The majority bases this conclusion on a jury aid that was admitted into evidence, to-wit: a screwdriver that one of the complainants purchased after the robbery “to show the color of the handle,” but which was not identical to the one used by appellant during the robbery.
The husband-complainant testified that he heard his wife scream and, upon investigation, found appellant holding his wife against a wall with a screwdriver in appellant’s hand in a threatening manner toward the wife. A struggle ensued between appellant and the husband. Then, appellant ran after the wife, threw her down, and kicked her.
The wife-complainant testified that she responded to a loud knock on the door by opening the door. Appellant pushed the wife into the apartment and up against a wall, pulled a screwdriver from his pocket, raised it toward her, and threatened her with it. She testified that she was very frightened at the point when appellant pulled the screwdriver from his pocket.
Both complainants testified that the jury aid was similar to the screwdriver that appellant used to threaten the wife.
The husband actually testified that the jury aid was a replica of the weapon used by appellant. The wife testified that the jury aid looked something like the weapon used. She further stated that the weapon used was about the size of the jury aid. She further testified that when appellant raised the weapon toward her, she thought he was going to hurt her.
Hence, the testimony was about a screwdriver that was actually used in the robbery, not the jury aid. The jury aid was nothing more than a description of the weapon used. The majority puts too much emphasis on the jury aid rather than the testimony about the weapon actually used.
After the complainants identified the jury aid as a replica of the actual weapon used, and as being the same size as the actual weapon used, the police investigator witness identified the jury aid as a screwdriver that could be a deadly weapon, could cause serious bodily injury, and could cause death. Since the jury aid was identified by the complainants as about the same size as the actual weapon, the jury had sufficient evidence before it to make a determination that a deadly weapon was used during the robbery.
Appellant complains in his third point of error that the evidence is insufficient to show the screwdriver was a deadly weapon. However, the evidence was about what appellant actually used during the robbery. The question is whether the testimony from each complainant, which corroborated the testimony of the other, was sufficient in and of itself to constitute the existence of the use of a screwdriver as a deadly weapon during the robbery. With the evidence that was presented *182to the jury, it is not within the province of this Court to second guess the jury’s finding.
I would overrule appellant’s third point of error in which he complains that the evidence was insufficient to support the conviction of aggravated robbery.
I would address appellant’s first point of error as to his claim that there was a fatal variance between the allegations in the indictment and the proof offered at trial.