PD-0263-15
COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS
AUSTIN, TEXAS
Transmitted 4/8/2015 4:00:35 PM Accepted 4/15/2015 12:41:26 PM ABEL ACOSTA PD-0263-15 CLERK
IN THE TEXAS COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS
_________________________________________________
DETRA PHILLIPS WEBSTER
APPELLANT vs.
THE STATE OF TEXAS
APPELLEE
_________________________________________________
FROM THE FIFTH COURT OF APPEALS
CAUSE NO. 05-12-00854-CR
APPEAL FROM THE 204TH DISTRICT COURT
OF DALLAS COUNTY, CAUSE NO. F10-60721-Q
_________________________________________________
APPELLANT’S PETITION FOR DISCRETIONARY REVIEW
_________________________________________________ BRUCE ANTON SORRELS, UDASHEN & ANTON State Bar No. 01274700 2311 Cedar Springs, Suite 250 [email protected] Dallas, Texas 75201 214-468-8100 (office) BRETT ORDIWAY 214-468-8104 (fax) State Bar No. 24079086 [email protected] Counsel for Appellant
April 15, 2015
Ground for Review Whether the court of appeals ignored the facts and law to arrive at its desired conclusions that an extraneous offense was properly admitted and not harmful Table of Contents Ground for Review ...................................................................................... 2 Index of Authorities .................................................................................... 4 Identity of Parties and Counsel ................................................................. 5 Statement Regarding Oral Argument ....................................................... 6 Statement of the Case and Procedural History ........................................ 7 Argument .................................................................................................... 9 The court of appeals ignored the facts and law to arrive at its desired conclusions that an extraneous offense was properly admitted and not harmful .................................................................................................... 9
I. The court of appeals’s holding ....................................................... 9
II. The court ignored the facts in holding that the alleged extraneous offense was properly admitted ...................................... 10
III. The court of appeals ignored the law in holding that Webster was not harmed, regardless .............................................................. 13 Prayer ........................................................................................................ 14 Certificate of Service ................................................................................ 16 Certificate of Compliance ......................................................................... 16 Appendix ................................................................................................... 17 Index of Authorities Cases Delay v. State, --- S.W.3d ---, No. PD-1465-13, 2014 WL 4843911 (Tex. Crim. App. Oct. [1], 2014) (Meyers, J., dissenting) ......................... 12, 14 Fahy v. Connecticut, 375 U.S. 85, 88 (1963) ............................................ 13 Garza v. State, No. 06-14-00054-CR, 2014 WL 5490947, *3 (Tex. App.— Texarkana Oct. 30, 2014) ..................................................................... 13 Harrell v. State, 884 S.W.2d 154, 160 (Tex. Crim. App. 1994) ................. 9 Lopez v. State, 288 S.W.3d 148, 178 (Tex. App.—Corpus Christi 2009, pet. ref’d) ................................................................................................ 13 Webster v. State, No. 05-12-00854-CR, 2014 WL 6873136 (Tex. App.— Dallas Dec. 8, 2014) .............................................................. 8, 10, 11, 13
Statutes TEX. PEN. CODE § 22.02(b) .......................................................................... 8 Identity of Parties and Counsel For Appellant Detra Phillips Webster:
LISA A. FOX
Trial counsel of record LAW OFFICE OF LISA A. FOX 6565 North MacArthur Boulevard, Suite 225 Irving, Texas 75039 BRUCE ANTON BRETT E. ORDIWAY Appellate counsel of record SORRELS, UDASHEN & ANTON 2311 Cedar Springs, Suite 250 Dallas, Texas 75201 [email protected] [email protected] For Appellee the State of Texas:
SOINKNE M. LEWIS
FARHEEN S. JAN
Trial counsel of record DALLAS COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY’S OFFICE 133 North Riverfront Boulevard Dallas, Texas 75207 MARISA ELMORE Appellate counsel of record DALLAS COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY’S OFFICE Trial court:
THE HONORABLE LENA LEVARIO
204TH JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT Statement Regarding Oral Argument Oral argument is waived.
Statement of the Case and Procedural History
Webster’s brother Otis 1 re-routed their disabled sister Katrina’s social security checks to his address. (RR7: 35-36). Otis claimed that when Webster learned of this, she stabbed him. (RR7: 38, 99). Webster claimed, however, that Otis became enraged when Katrina would not accompany him to the bank, and, blaming it on Webster’s influence, he attacked Webster with an iron. (RR8: 171-179, 195). Webster main- tained that she only stabbed Otis in self-defense. (RR8: 187-188).
Though only Otis’s wife supported his version of events, while Katrina and Webster’s children vouched for Webster’s, Webster was in- dicted on October 14, 2010, for aggravated assault with a deadly weap- on of a family member. (RR7: 152-153; 209-211, 249-251, 286-287; RR8: 24, 32, 35, 59); (CR: 13); see TEX. PEN. CODE § 22.02(b). Webster initially pleaded guilty to the charge, but, when she explained to the trial court that Otis had attacked her first, the court refused to accept her plea and set the case for a jury trial. (RR2: 9; RR3: 28). The jury ultimately found Webster guilty and sentenced her to 10 years’ imprisonment. (CR: 85).
1Because all relevant persons are related to Webster, they will be referred to by their given names.
On appeal to the Fifth Court of Appeals, Webster argued that the trial court abused its discretion by admitting extraneous offense evi- dence, and that the admission of such evidence was harmful. Webster v. State, No. 05-12-00854-CR, 2014 WL 6873136 (Tex. App.—Dallas Dec. 8, 2014). The court overruled her contention and affirmed her conviction in an opinion released December 8, 2014. Id. Webster then filed a mo- tion for rehearing, which the court denied on February 9, 2015.
Argument
The court of appeals ignored the facts and law to arrive at its desired conclusions that an extraneous offense was properly admitted and not harmful
! ! !
I. The court of appeals’s holding
In Webster’s opening brief on appeal, she urged the court that the trial court abused its discretion in admitting extraneous offense evi- dence—specifically, that she had previously stolen from Katrina’s bank account—because it had not been proven beyond a reasonable doubt. (Ap. Br. at 9) (citing RR7: 16-17, 35-36; Harrell v. State, 884 S.W.2d 154, 160 (Tex. Crim. App. 1994) (“in deciding whether to admit extrane- ous offense evidence in the guilt/innocence phase of trial, the trial court must, under rule [of evidence] 104(b), make an initial determination at the proffer of the evidence, that a jury could reasonably find beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant committed the extraneous of- fense.”)). The only evidence that Webster did came from the highly mo- tivated Otis, while Katrina herself testified she gave Webster permis- sion to withdraw money from her bank account, and moreover that, if anyone had stolen from her, it was Otis’s wife. (Ap. Br. at 9) (citing RR8: 39, 73-74). Webster further contended the erroneous admission was harmful for exactly those reasons for which the evidence was ad- mitted: it turned a “he said, she said” case into one in which Webster had a clear motive for assaulting Otis. (Ap. Br. at 13-14). Because this error plainly affected Webster’s substantial rights, she respectfully re- quested the court to reverse and remand this case for a new trial. (Ap. Br. at 14).
The court of appeals disagreed, determining that, despite Katri- na’s testimony, a jury “could have” found the theft proved beyond a rea- sonable doubt, and that, regardless, she was not harmed, because the jury “could have” found Webster guilty without the evidence. Webster v. State, No. 05-12-00854-CR, 2014 WL 6873136, *5 (Tex. App.—Dallas Dec. 8, 2014). In so doing, the court both ignored the facts and the law.
II. The court ignored the facts in holding that the alleged extraneous offense was properly admitted In determining that, despite Katrina’s testimony, a jury “could have” found the theft proved beyond a reasonable doubt, the court of appeals reasoned that a jury “could have… concluded Katrina was un- aware of [Webster] taking money from her on numerous other conclu- sions” because “her account was short on funds to take care of her own needs after she loaned Detra her debit card.” Id. Alternatively, the court reasoned that jury could have “simply concluded Katrina lied.” Id. If so, the court figured, the remaining evidence indeed supported the infer- ence that Webster stole from Katrina. Id.
This is an entirely unreasonable view of the record. There is noth- ing in the record that indicates Katrina was oblivious, or lied. As to the former, that Webster “drained” Katrina’s bank account when she gave Webster her debit card to get her car fixed is not evidence of theft—it’s evidence the repairs were costly, or that Katrina’s bank account had a low balance to begin with. (RR8: 55-56). And more importantly—and as maintained by Webster in her brief on appeal—Katrina explicitly in- sisted Webster had not stolen from her:
Defense counsel: Okay. Now, there’s been some allegations that [Webster] had been taking your money. Had she been taking your money?
Katrina: No.
Defense counsel: Did you give her permission to have any money needed?
Katrina: Yeah.
Defense counsel: Okay. And did you let her have money for car repairs and things like that?
Katrina: Yeah.
Defense counsel: And so if someone said she was stealing your money, is that true or not true?
Katrina: Not true.
(RR8: 39). This exonerating testimony followed Katrina accusing Otis and his wife of stealing from her. (RR8: 38-39). As to the latter, the court, unsurprisingly, pointed to nothing at all.
Judge Meyers recently lamented that “[y]ou can always tell when an opinion is written with the outcome decided before any legal analysis is done because it reads like a medical report written by a doctor who has never conducted a physical examination of the patient.” Delay v. State, --- S.W.3d ---, No. PD-1465-13, 2014 WL 4843911 (Tex. Crim. App. Oct. [1], 2014) (Meyers, J., dissenting). And just like in that case, “this is precisely how the… opinion in this case comes across.” Id. The opinion simply “ignored the facts in order to arrive at a desired out- come.” Id. Accordingly, Webster respectfully requests this Court to grant this petition so that it may reverse the decision of the court of ap- peals and hold that the trial court erred in admitting evidence of the al- leged extraneous offense.
III. The court of appeals ignored the law in holding that Webster was not harmed, regardless Because the court of appeals also held that, regardless, the admis- sion of the evidence was not harmful, however, this Court must exam- ine that conclusion, too.
It is equally strained. As to the harm imparted by the trial court’s error, the court of appeals held that Webster was not harmed by the admission of the extraneous offense because: “While we agree with [Webster] that the State relied on the theft as a motive for [Webster] to attack Otis, the record shows that even without that evidence, the jury could have discounted [Webster’s] self-defense claim.” Webster, 2014 WL 6873136 at *6 (emphasis added).
In evaluating harm, though, the reviewing court is not to be “con- cerned with whether there was sufficient evidence on which [Webster] could have been convicted, but rather, whether there is a reasonable possibility the impermissible testimony might have contributed to the conviction.” Garza v. State, No. 06-14-00054-CR, 2014 WL 5490947, *3 (Tex. App.—Texarkana Oct. 30, 2014) (citing Lopez v. State, 288 S.W.3d 148, 178 (Tex. App.—Corpus Christi 2009, pet. ref’d)); see also Fahy v. Connecticut, 375 U.S. 85, 88 (1963)). Just as the court “ignored the facts in order to arrive at a desired outcome” in its discussion of the merits of the issue, then, it also “changed the law” in its evaluation of whether Webster was harmed by the error. See Delay, --- S.W.3d ---, 2014 WL 4843911 (Meyers, J., dissenting). Because the court of appeals should, of course, do neither, Webster further respectfully requests this Court to grant this petition for discretionary review so that it may reverse and remand this case to the court of appeals to conduct the proper harm analysis.
Prayer
Webster respectfully requests this Court to grant this petition so that it may: (1) reverse the decision of the court of appeals and hold that the trial court erred in admitting evidence of the alleged extraneous of- fense; and (2) remand this case to the court of appeals to conduct the proper harm analysis.
Respectfully submitted, /s/ Bruce Anton BRUCE ANTON Bar Card No. 01274700 [email protected] /s/ Brett Ordiway BRETT ORDIWAY Bar Card No. 24079086 [email protected] SORRELS, UDASHEN & ANTON 2311 Cedar Springs Road Suite 250 Dallas, Texas 75201 (214)-468-8100 (office) (214)-468-8104 (fax) Attorneys for Appellant
15 Certificate of Service I, the undersigned, hereby certify that a true and correct copy of the foregoing Appellant’s Petition for Discretionary Review was elec- tronically served to the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office and the State Prosecuting Attorney on April 8, 2015.
/s/ Bruce Anton BRUCE ANTON
Certificate of Compliance
Pursuant to TEX. R. APP. P. 9.4(i)(3), undersigned counsel certifies that this brief complies with:
1. the type-volume limitation of TEX. R. APP. P. 9.4(i)(2)(D) because this petition contains 1,122 words, excluding the parts of the brief exempted by TEX. R. APP. P. 9.4(i)(1). 2. the typeface requirements of TEX. R. APP. P. 9.4(e) and the type style requirements of TEX. R. APP. P. 9.4(e) because this brief has been prepared in a proportionally spaced typeface using Microsoft Word 2011 in 14-point Century Schoolbook.
/s/ Bruce Anton BRUCE ANTON Appendix
17 Affirmed and Opinion Filed December 8, 2014
Court of Appeals S In The Fifth District of Texas at Dallas No. 05-12-00854-CR
DETRA PHILLIPS WEBSTER, Appellant V. THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee
On Appeal from the 204th Judicial District Court Dallas County, Texas Trial Court Cause No. F10-60721-Q
MEMORANDUM OPINION
Before Justices Bridges, Lang, and Evans Opinion by Justice Bridges A jury convicted appellant Detra Phillips Webster of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon of a family member and sentenced her to ten years’ imprisonment. On appeal, she argues the trial court abused its discretion by admitting extraneous offense evidence, and the admission of such evidence was harmful. We affirm.
Background
On September 16, 2012 Detra was at home, where she lived with her two sons, De’Jaun and Deveion,1 and her disabled sister, Katrina. Earlier in the day, Otis, the complainant and Detra’s older brother, picked up De’Jaun and took him to a court appearance. When they