COURT OF APPEALS
SECOND DISTRICT OF TEXAS
FORT WORTH
NO. 2-07-367-CR
CHRISTOPHER ANTHONY MILLER APPELLANT
V.
THE STATE OF TEXAS STATE
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FROM COUNTY CRIMINAL COURT NO. 6 OF TARRANT COUNTY
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MEMORANDUM OPINION 1
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In one issue, Appellant Christopher Anthony Miller appeals from his
conviction for driving while intoxicated (DWI), arguing that the evidence is
factually insufficient to sustain the conviction. We affirm.
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… See T EX. R. A PP. P. 47.4.
I. Factual and Procedural History
In the early hours of March 3, 2007, Grapevine Police Officer Greg Ross
stopped Miller on State Highway 121 for speeding and erratic driving. As he
walked up to Miller’s car, Officer Ross smelled a strong odor of alcohol
emanating from the vehicle. He also noticed that Miller had heavy and watery
eyes and that his speech was slurred. When Officer Ross asked where Miller
had come from, Miller responded, “Chaucer’s in Addison,” a bar, and that he
had consumed “a beer or two.” After taking several minutes to find his license
and proof of insurance—even providing Officer Ross a copy of a Firestone
receipt—Miller eventually handed over the actual proof of insurance. Officer
Ross administered three standardized field sobriety tests: the Horizontal Gaze
Nystagmus (“HGN”), the walk-and-turn test, and the one-leg stand test. After
Miller had failed all three tests, Officer Ross placed Miller under arrest for DWI
and took him to the Grapevine jail, where Miller refused to give a breath sample.
Miller was charged with DWI and entered a plea of not guilty. On
September 12, 2007, a jury found Miller guilty. The trial court sentenced Miller
to 120 days in the Tarrant County jail. The trial court, however, suspended
Miller’s sentence to time served, placed him on a two-year probation, and
ordered him to pay a $900 fine, plus court costs. This appeal followed.
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II. Factual Sufficiency
Miller complains that “[t]he key piece of evidence presented in this case
is the videotape” of his sobriety test performance, and he claims that the
videotape does not support the arresting officer’s testimony that Miller “flunked
the sobriety tests.” Therefore, he asserts, “the record cannot support a finding
that [Miller] lost the normal use of his physical faculties[,]” and the evidence is
insufficient to support his conviction.
A. Standard of Review
When reviewing the factual sufficiency of the evidence to support a
conviction, we view all the evidence in a neutral light, favoring neither party.
Watson v. State, 204 S.W.3d 404, 414 (Tex. Crim. App. 2006); Drichas v.
State, 175 S.W.3d 795, 799 (Tex. Crim. App. 2005). We then ask whether
the evidence supporting the conviction, although legally sufficient, is
nevertheless so weak that the fact-finder’s determination is clearly wrong and
manifestly unjust or whether conflicting evidence so greatly outweighs the
evidence supporting the conviction that the fact-finder’s determination is
manifestly unjust. Watson, 204 S.W.3d at 414–15, 417; Johnson v. State, 23
S.W.3d 1, 11 (Tex. Crim. App. 2000). To reverse under the second ground,
we must determine, with some objective basis in the record, that the great
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weight and preponderance of all the evidence, though legally sufficient,
contradicts the verdict. Watson, 204 S.W.3d at 417.
In determining whether the evidence is factually insufficient to support a
conviction that is nevertheless supported by legally sufficient evidence, it is not
enough that this court “harbor a subjective level of reasonable doubt to
overturn [the] conviction.” Id. We cannot conclude that a conviction is clearly
wrong or manifestly unjust simply because we would have decided differently
than the jury or because we disagree with the jury’s resolution of a conflict in
the evidence. Id. We may not simply substitute our judgment for the fact-
finder’s. Johnson, 23 S.W.3d at 12; Cain v. State, 958 S.W.2d 404, 407
(Tex. Crim. App. 1997). Unless the record clearly reveals that a different result
is appropriate, we must defer to the jury’s determination of the weight to be
given contradictory testimonial evidence because resolution of the conflict
“often turns on an evaluation of credibility and demeanor, and those jurors were
in attendance when the testimony was delivered.” Johnson, 23 S.W.3d at 8.
Thus, we must give due deference to the fact-finder’s determinations,
“particularly those determinations concerning the weight and credibility of the
evidence.” Id. at 9.
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B. Analysis
A person commits DWI “if the person is intoxicated while operating a
motor vehicle in a public place.” T EX. P ENAL C ODE A NN. § 49.04(a) (Vernon
2003). A person is intoxicated if he does “not have the normal use of mental
or physical faculties by reason of introduction of alcohol . . . or any other
substance into the body[.]” Id. § 49.01(2)(A) (Vernon 2003). Appellant’s sole
contention is that he was not intoxicated on the morning of March 3, 2007;
therefore, we will not address the other elements of DWI.
Miller argues that the evidence presented at trial—specifically the
videotape of the field sobriety tests—is factually insufficient to support his
conviction. According to Miller, the video only showed that he was
uncoordinated and not that he was intoxicated. However, the record shows
that Officer Ross did not arrest Miller based solely upon Miller’s field sobriety
tests. First, Officer Ross testified that the videotape did not show everything
he had observed, e.g., the odor of alcohol, Miller’s eyes during the horizontal
gaze nystagmus test, and the wateriness and heaviness of Miller’s eyes.
Second, the jury could assess Officer Ross’s testimony with the videotape,
which was published to the jury. Namely, the jury saw on the videotape that
Miller drove erratically, swerved around a slower car, and came to a stop in the
center median of State Highway 121, perpendicular to the freeway. Also, the
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jury saw Miller handing Officer Ross a piece of paper, later determined to be a
Firestone receipt instead of his proof of insurance. Furthermore, the jury saw
Miller perform the standardized field sobriety tests and could determine how
well he performed. During the walk-and-turn test, for example, Miller stepped
off the line, turned incorrectly, missed heel-to-toe nine times, and used his arms
for balance. Additionally, during the one-leg stand test, Miller swayed and used
his arms for balance.
Giving due deference to the jury’s determinations of Officer Ross’s
demeanor and credibility, and its evaluation of the videotape, we cannot say
that the evidence of Miller’s intoxication is so weak that the verdict is clearly
wrong and manifestly unjust. See Watson, 204 S.W.3d at 414–15, 417;
Johnson, 23 S.W.3d at 11. Thus, we hold that the evidence is factually
sufficient to support Miller’s conviction. We overrule Miller’s sole point.
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III. Conclusion
Having overruled Miller’s sole point, we affirm the trial court’s judgment.
PER CURIAM
PANEL: MCCOY, LIVINGSTON, and DAUPHINOT, JJ.
DO NOT PUBLISH
T EX. R. A PP. P. 47.2(b)
DELIVERED: August 29, 2008
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