IN THE
TENTH COURT OF APPEALS
No. 10-15-00038-CR
RONNY JOE STANDIFER,
Appellant
v.
THE STATE OF TEXAS,
Appellee
From the 19th District Court
McLennan County, Texas
Trial Court No. 2013-122-C1
MEMORANDUM OPINION
Ronny Joe Standifer was convicted of aggravated assault causing serious bodily
injury which was enhanced to a first degree felony because of a prior felony conviction.
See TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. 22.02 (West 2011). He was sentenced to life in prison.
Because error, if any, has not been preserved, we affirm the trial court’s judgment.
The victim of the crime died of cancer before trial.
Standifer contends the State was allowed to ask improper commitment
questions. In his sole issue, Standifer complains that the trial court erred in permitting
“the prosecution to ask the voir dire panel what evidence the panel wanted at trial
when the alleged victim would not testify.”
During voir dire, the State asked, “[h]ow would you prove something without
the victim – the person that was actually there who was injured?” Standifer objected to
the question as an improper commitment question. That objection was overruled. The
State did not, however, press the question with the voir dire panel and obtain an
answer. Rather, the State moved on and when the State rephrased the question, two
questions later, and asked, “What [type of evidence] would you want to see,” Standifer
did not object.
A colloquy followed that ended with the State and prospective jurors discussing
other types of evidence to prove the crime other than testimony of the victim. But no
objections were made after the State rephrased the question and moved on to the
discussion. Accordingly, error, if any, is not preserved. TEX. R. APP. P. 33.1.
Standifer’s sole issue is overruled. The trial court’s judgment is affirmed.
TOM GRAY
Chief Justice
Before Chief Justice Gray,
Justice Davis, and
Justice Scoggins
Affirmed
Opinion delivered and filed September 10, 2015
Do not publish
[CRPM]
Standifer v. State Page 2