Court Opinion

ID: 9857433
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 14:34:11.668548+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:42:24.614922
License: Public Domain

McCORMICK, Judge,
concurring.
I agree that the standard for review in any case is whether any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. I write to emphasize that application of the “exclusion of outstanding reasonable hypotheses” analysis is, as stated by the majority, one criteria which may be applied in arriving at the answer to the ultimate result, but it should not be considered an element of that ultimate standard. And as the majority emphasizes, the method of analysis does not change this standard of review.
Logic dictates that if there is a “reasonable hypotheses” other than the guilt of the accused, then it cannot be said that the guilt has been shown “beyond a reasonable doubt.” In Hankins v. State, 646 S.W.2d 191 (Tex.Cr.App.1983), we recognized that direct and circumstantial evidence were to be treated with equal dignity. Thus, any effort to weave into the standard of appellate review any exception or difference or special treatment for one type of evidence or the other will fail for lack of logic.
Lastly, in applying this standard to the cases before us, the final outcome is the same. Therefore, I concur in the overruling of the States’ motions for rehearing in each case.
TOM G. DAVIS, W.C. DAVIS and TEAGUE, JJ., join in this concurrence.