Ordonez, Marky Lee v. State







In The

Court of Appeals

For The

First District of Texas

____________


NO. 01-02-00865-CR

____________


MARKY LEE ORDONEZ, Appellant


V.


THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee





On Appeal from the 23rd District Court

Brazoria County, Texas

Trial Court Cause No. 41,352





MEMORANDUM OPINION

          A jury found appellant, Marky Lee Ordonez, guilty of burglary of a habitation with intent to commit sexual assault. The jury further found the allegations contained in a single enhancement paragraph to be true and assessed punishment at 47 years’ confinement in prison and a $5,000 fine. In his first issue, appellant contends that the trial court erred in denying his request that an instruction on the lesser-included offense of criminal trespass be included in the jury charge. In his remaining two issues, appellant contends that the evidence was legally and factually insufficient to support his conviction. We affirm.

Background

          At approximately 7:45 a.m. on August 10, 2001, while in bed in her trailer home, Angela Coleman awoke to being sexually assaulted by a man she later identified as appellant. As he was assaulting her, appellant laid on top of Coleman and touched her breasts, stomach, and “bikini line.” Coleman struggled with appellant, kicked him several times, and asked him to leave the trailer. The ongoing struggle startled Coleman’s children, who had been sleeping in the bedroom. After the children began to cry, appellant sat up on the edge of Coleman’s bed, removed a pair of children’s pajamas that had covered his face, and stared at the children. Appellant then left the trailer.

          Coleman immediately telephoned the Brazoria County Sheriff’s Department. Having observed appellant after he removed the pajamas from his face, Coleman described her attacker as a five foot, eight-to-ten inches tall, curly-haired, Hispanic male, in his twenties, clothed in a yellow shirt and baggy blue jeans. Upon arriving at the scene, Brazoria County police officers noticed shoe prints in the driveway of the trailer. After a witness informed the officers that he saw a man matching Coleman’s description heading across the trailer park, the officers followed the shoe prints to another trailer owned by appellant’s mother. There, appellant was found sleeping in his mother’s bedroom, with a yellow shirt and baggy blue jeans lying next to him on the floor. The officers apprehended appellant and drove him back to Coleman’s trailer, where Coleman identified him as her attacker.

Lesser-Included Offense

          In his first issue, appellant contends that the trial court erred in denying his request that an instruction on the lesser-included offense of criminal trespass be included in the jury charge. A defendant is entitled to a charge on a lesser-included offense if (1) the lesser-included offense is included within the proof necessary to establish the offense charged, and (2) there is some evidence that would permit the jury rationally to find that the defendant, if guilty, is guilty only of the lesser-included offense. Lofton v. State, 45 S.W.3d 649, 651 (Tex. Crim. App. 2001). The evidence must establish the lesser-included offense as a valid, rational alternative to the charged offense. Wesbrook v. State, 29 S.W.3d 103, 113 (Tex. Crim. App. 2000). A charge on the lesser-included offense is not required when the defendant presents no evidence or presents evidence that no offense was committed. Lofton, 45 S.W.3d at 652.

          A person commits the offense of criminal trespass if he or she enters or remains on property or in a building of another without the owner’s effective consent and with notice that the entry was forbidden. Tex. Pen. Code Ann. § 30.05(a) (Vernon 2003).

          In this case, there was no evidence that appellant entered Coleman’s trailer for any purpose other than to commit sexual assault. Appellant’s entire defense was that he was not the attacker and thus committed no offense. At no point during trial did appellant raise any evidence to show that he was guilty of merely trespassing. Because no evidence was adduced at trial to show that, if appellant was guilty, he was guilty only of the lesser-included offense of criminal trespass, the trial court properly refused to include appellant’s requested instruction. See Lofton, 45 S.W.2d at 652.

          We overrule issue one.

Legal Sufficiency

          In his second issue, appellant contends that the evidence was legally insufficient to support his conviction. When reviewing the legal sufficiency of evidence, we view the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict and ask whether a rational trier-of-fact could find the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. King v. State, 29 S.W.3d 556, 562 (Tex. Crim. App. 2000); Valencia v. State, 51 S.W.3d 418, 423 (Tex. App.Houston [1st Dist.] 2001, pet. refd). The fact finder may reasonably infer facts from the evidence before it, credit the witnesses if it cares to, disbelieve any or all of the testimony proffered, and weigh the evidence in the manner it chooses. Bruno v. State, 922 S.W.2d 292, 293 (Tex. App.Amarillo 1996, no pet.).

          Viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict, the evidence shows that Coleman described her attacker as a five foot, eight-to-ten inches tall, curly-haired, Hispanic male, in his twenties, clothed in a yellow shirt and baggy blue jeans. A man wearing a yellow shirt and baggy blue jeans was seen shortly after the burglary walking away from Coleman’s trailer towards another trailer owned by appellant’s mother. The police then found appellant asleep in his mother’s trailer, with a yellow shirt and baggy blue jeans lying on the floor. Appellant matched Coleman’s description of the attacker, and the prints from appellant’s tennis shoes matched prints found outside of appellant’s trailer. Coleman identified appellant as her attacker. In light of this evidence, we conclude that there was legally sufficient evidence to allow a rational trier-of-fact to find the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. See King v. State, 29 S.W.3d at 562.

          We overrule issue two.

Factual Sufficiency

          In his third issue, appellant contends that the evidence was factually insufficient to support his conviction. When reviewing the factual sufficiency of evidence, we examine all the evidence neutrally and ask whether proof of guilt is so obviously weak as to undermine confidence in the jurys determination or so greatly outweighed by contrary proof as to indicate that a manifest injustice has occurred. Zuliani v. State, 97 S.W.3d 589, 594 (Tex. Crim. App. 2003); King, 29 S.W.3d at 563; Valencia, 51 S.W.3d at 423. While conducting our analysis, if there is probative evidence supporting the verdict, we must avoid substituting our judgment for that of the trier-of-fact, even when we disagree with the determination. King, 29 S.W.3d at 563. The trier-of-fact is the sole judge of the weight and credibility of the witnesses’ testimony. Johnson v. State, 23 S.W.3d 1, 7 (Tex. Crim. App. 2000).

          Appellant contends that he presented evidence tending to show that Coleman’s identification of him was “mistaken.” According to appellant, because Coleman testified that her attacker initially covered his face with pajamas, and because the police showed Coleman only one suspect shortly after the burglary, the evidence created an inference of “misidentification.”

          Coleman also testified, however, that her attacker removed the pajamas from his face when the children began to cry and that appellant was “undoubtedly” the man that attacked her. Viewing the evidence neutrally, we observe that the jury decided to believe Coleman and to disbelieve appellant. Because the jury, as the trier-of-fact, is the sole judge of the weight and credibility of the witness’s testimony, we decline to substitute our judgment for the jury’s when probative evidence exists to support the verdict. See King, 29 S.W.3d at 563. The proof of guilt in this case was not so obviously weak as to undermine confidence in the jury’s determination or so greatly outweighed by contrary proof as to indicate that a manifest injustice occurred. Zuliani, 97 S.W.3d at 594. Accordingly, we hold that the evidence was factually sufficient to support the verdict.

          We overrule issue three. Conclusion


          We affirm the judgment of the trial court.





     Elsa Alcala

     Justice


Panel consists of Chief Justice Radack and Justices Alcala and Higley.


Do not publish. Tex. R. App. P. 47.4.