Court Opinion

ID: 9766855
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 05:00:41.664525+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:30:26.725348
License: Public Domain

NYE, Chief Justice,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent because I find from the record that the State did present sufficient evidence to corroborate the testimony of the accomplice witness.
I would affirm the conviction of aggravated delivery of heroin. The Court of Criminal Appeals has stated that proof that the accused was at or near the crime scene at or about the time the crime was committed, when combined with suspicious circumstances such as unreasonableness of the hour, lack of apparent reason for the accused’s presence at the crime scene, being in the company of the accomplice, and subsequent flight, furnishes sufficient corroboration of an accomplice witness to support a conviction. Rodriquez v. State, 508 S.W.2d 80, 82-3 (Tex.Crim.App.1974); see also Reed v. State, 744 S.W.2d 112, 127 (Tex.Crim.App.1988). Also, accomplice testimony may be corroborated by circumstantial evidence. Wolf v. State, 674 S.W.2d 831, 838 (Tex.App.—Corpus Christi 1984, pet. ref’d).
The record shows that appellant was at or near the crime scene at or about the time the offense transpired. The evidence indicates that after the accomplice parked his vehicle in the parking lot of the Racquet Club Apartments, he left his vehicle and entered a nearby apartment where the narcotics transaction took place. The evidence also shows that appellant followed the accomplice’s vehicle into the parking lot and parked his vehicle right next to the accomplice’s vehicle. The criminal transaction occurred at about 10:30 p.m., and only moments later at the time of the “bust,” appellant was still seated in his vehicle parked next to the accomplice’s vehicle.
Furthermore, a close scrutiny of the facts clearly reveals that appellant acted under suspicious circumstances. This, too, provides sufficient corroboration to support his conviction. The evidence indicates that the actors arrived at the Racquet Club Apartments during the cover of night, and only one went inside to complete the criminal transaction. This late and unusual hour, coupled with the secrecy of the transaction, also supplied the ideal atmosphere needed to ensure the successful completion of the crime.
Appellant testified that George Gonzalez came to his apartment the night of the arrest and asked for a ride to some apartments. Gonzalez neither gave him the name of the apartments he wished to visit nor the apartment number. He only told appellant that he knew some people over there. Appellant testified that he went to the Racquet Club Apartments because this is where Gonzalez directed him to go. The facts strongly suggest that appellant and the accomplice went to the Racquet Club Apartments together. Appellant and the accomplice were first seen on Caravelle Street, turning into the parking lot of the Racquet Club Apartments. After the accomplice parked his vehicle, appellant parked his vehicle right next to it. After a minute or two, Gonzalez got out of the vehicle and stood next to the accomplice’s vehicle. When he saw a plain clothes policeman walking towards him, he ran. The policeman ran after him and caught him. After his capture, he said, “The guy in— the guy in the brown car, he’s going to get away.” Gonzalez was then returned to the parking lot where he pointed to appellant and said, “That’s the guy. His name is Leno.” Testimony revealed that appellant was sometimes referred to as “Leno.” Appellant testified that he drove a brown car over to the Racquet Club Apartments that night.
The conduct exhibited by Gonzalez does not support appellant’s version of the fact; i.e., that Gonzalez went to the apartments because he knew some people there. Appellant offered a convenient and innocent explanation for his presence at the scene of the crime which the jury did not believe. In considering all the facts and inferences, appellant’s explanation offers no plausible hypothesis for his presence other than that he was a likely participant in the criminal transaction.
*790Appellant also testified that he had known the accomplice since the seventh or eighth grade. During his trial, which the record indicates began on May 6, 1987, appellant stated that he was twenty-seven years old. The offense occurred on or about September 23, 1986. This means that appellant had known the accomplice for many years prior to the commission of the offense. The evidence indicates that appellant saw the accomplice at least one day before the crime occurred. He also spoke with the accomplice over the telephone prior to his trial. The Court of Criminal Appeals has also stated that one of the factors in corroboration, is that the accomplice and the accused were close associates. See Paulus v. State, 633 S.W.2d 827, 845-46 (Tex.Crim.App.1981).
These facts clearly indicate that appellant was in the company of the accomplice at or near the time of the criminal transaction. I find it extraordinary that by sheer accident, as appellant would have this Court believe on appeal, that he and his long time acquaintance just happened to be in the same parking lot of the same apartment complex late at night with their vehicles parked side by side at the time of the “bust.”
The majority states that they are mindful of the rule that the evidence should generally be reviewed in the light most favorable to the verdict. However, they have deviated from this rule, in my opinion, by considering evidence tending to contradict the corroborating evidence. An appellate court must view the evidence in a light most favorable to the verdict. This includes accepting all reasonable inferences that tend to support the verdict. Any conflicts in the evidence must be resolved in favor of the verdict. We must affirm the conviction unless reasonable minds could not conclude that the totality of the evidence presented is inconsistent with the hypothesis of innocence. Houston v. State, 667 S.W.2d 157, 160 (Tex.App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 1982, pet. den’d).
After carefully considering all of the facts and circumstances in the light most favorable to the verdict, I must conclude that the corroborating evidence tends to connect the appellant with the offense committed. Tex.Code Crim.P.Ann. Art. 38.14 (Vernon 1979). I would affirm the judgment of conviction by the jury and the trial court.