Court Opinion

ID: 9770544
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 16:08:47.717857+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:31:18.302558
License: Public Domain

WALKER, Chief Justice,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent for reason following.
Appellant appeared at the First City Bank in Beaumont to cash a $250 check. Ms. Mae Duhon, bank teller, positively identified appellant as the person who passed the check in question. She also positively identified State’s Exhibit 1 as the check she cashed for appellant. She recalled the incident having taken place “on or about February 1, 1993.” Ms. Duhon testified that she went through the “regular procedures” for cashing checks with appellant, and that she personally witnessed appellant endorse the check on the reverse side and place his driver’s license number on the check. Ms. Duhon did not see appellant write anything on the front of the check. Ms. Duhon cashed the check for the amount written, $250.
It is obvious from the record that Mr. Rasa did not write nor authorize the writing of the subject instrument. It is clear from the record that appellant personally appeared at the bank and passed the instrument bearing a forged signature of Robert Rasa.
As with any appellate review of the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain the conviction, the relevant question is whether, after *629viewing all of the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict, any rational trier of fact could have found each of the essential elements of the offense proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979). The same standard applies in both direct and circumstantial evidence cases. See Geesa v. State, 820 S.W.2d 154, 160 (Tex.Crim.App.1991). The trier of fact is the sole judge of the witnesses’ credibility and the weight of the testimony. Adelman v. State, 828 S.W.2d 418, 421, 423 (Tex.Crim.App.1992); Tex.Code CRIM.PROcAnn. art. 38.04 (Vernon 1979). The trier of fact can draw reasonable inferences and make deductions from the evidence. Wawrykow v. State, 866 S.W.2d 87, 88-89 (Tex.App.—Beaumont 1993, pet. ref'd).
Relying somewhat persuasively on the eases Crittenden v. State, 671 S.W.2d 527 (Tex.Crim.App.1984); Pfleging v. State, 572 S.W.2d 517 (Tex.Crim.App.1978); and Stuebgen v. State, 547 S.W.2d 29 (Tex.Crim.App.1977), appellant contends that there is no evidence that any of the handwriting on the front of the cheek in question was appellant’s; that he (appellant) made no statement from which it could be inferred that he knew the check was forged; that he (appellant) used his true name and identification; and that he made no attempt to flee at any time nor conduct himself in any sort of suspicious manner. However, a common evidentiary thread that runs through each of appellant’s three cited cases, and emphasized in each case by the Court of Criminal Appeals in its insufficient evidence reviews, is the fact that none of the forged documents were shown to contain the particular defendant’s name in his own handwriting. See Crittenden, supra at 528; Pfleging, supra at 520; and Stuebgen, supra at 32.
In the instant case, Ms. Duhon testified that she personally witnessed appellant endorse the check on the back. This was not contested by appellant either at trial or on appeal. Furthermore, evidence was raised through Ms. Duhon that she hesitated in cashing the check because handwritten into the blank space next to the pre-printed word “For” was the word “work,” and that the check was for an even amount ($250). Looking at these two pieces of evidence under the standards for appellate review recited above leads me to no other conclusion than that any rational trier of fact could have found appellant’s intent to defraud or harm to have been proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
I would overrule point of error two.