Cain v. State

• Decision Date: 18 December 1997
• Docket Number: No. 1525-96,1525-96
• Citation: 958 S.W.2d 404
• Parties: Robert CAIN, Appellee, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellant.
• Court: Texas Court of Criminal Appeals

Page 404

958 S.W.2d 404

Robert CAIN, Appellee, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellant.

No. 1525-96.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas,

En Banc.

Dec. 18, 1997.

John Cornelius, Marshall, for appellant.

Jeffrey L. Van Horn, Asst. State's Atty., Matthew Paul, State's Atty., Austin, for State.

Before the court en banc.

OPINION ON STATE'S PETITION FOR DISCRETIONARY REVIEW

MEYERS, Judge, delivered the opinion of the Court in which BAIRD, MANSFIELD, KELLER and HOLLAND, Judges, joined.

Appellant was charged with violating the civil rights of a prisoner. ¹ § 39.021(a)(1) Texas Penal Code (Vernon 1993). The jury found Appellant guilty and assessed punishment at ten years' imprisonment, probated for five years, and a fine of five hundred dollars. As a condition of probation, Appellant was ordered to serve 30 days in the county jail.

The Tyler Court of Appeals reversed the conviction and ordered entry of a judgment of acquittal. Cain v. State, No. 12-93-00155-CR (Tex.App.--Tyler April 28, 1995) (unpublished opinion). We granted the State's petition for discretionary review, vacated the judgment of the Court of Appeals, and remanded the case for the Court of Appeals to consider the sufficiency of the evidence under the standard set forth in Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979).

On remand, the Court of Appeals determined the evidence to be legally sufficient, but factually insufficient to sustain the jury's verdict. The Court of Appeals reversed and remanded the case for a new trial. Cain v. State, No. 12-93-00155 (Tex.App.--Tyler September 30, 1996) (unpublished opinion).

We granted the State's petition for discretionary review to determine whether the court of appeals applied the correct legal standard for reviewing the factual sufficiency of the evidence.

I.

Appellant was a Harrison County constable. On the evening of March 25, 1991 Appellant and John Johnson, an off-duty Marshall police officer, were in Appellant's patrol car near Waskom, Texas. Johnson testified that he and Appellant had been drinking beer, and that they continued to drink beer during the events that transpired. They received a dispatch regarding a drunken person at a convenience store in Waskom. Appellant and Johnson claim that upon arriving at the convenience store they observed Forrest Anderson and found him to be so intoxicated that he was almost passed out. (At trial, Anderson testified that he had consumed up to eighteen beers that day.) The officers attempted to arrest Anderson who then "became rowdy." Eventually Anderson was successfully arrested and placed in Appellant's patrol car to be taken to the jail in Marshall. Johnson got into the back seat with Anderson, and Appellant drove.

Precisely what transpired during the ride to Marshall is unclear. According to Appellant, Anderson threatened to head butt Johnson as the vehicle was just a few miles outside of Waskom, and Johnson jabbed Anderson in the jaw. Appellant says he later stopped the car to speak with a truck driver because the truck's lights were flashing. Appellant further claims that while he was out of the car, Johnson beat Anderson on the left cheek and nose area. Johnson testified that Appellant only stopped the vehicle once, and that was to remove Anderson's handcuffs. Johnson also testified that while Appellant did not strike Anderson during the trip to Marshall, Appellant did hit Anderson in the face several times after arriving at the jail.

According to the State's theory of the case, at some point during the ride to Marshall, Appellant stopped the vehicle, pulled Anderson's hair, and got into the back seat, where he struck Anderson in the mouth and eye with a night stick. Anderson testified that Appellant and Johnson later stopped the vehicle to buy beer in Scottsville, and stopped at least two more times to wipe blood from Anderson's face. Anderson testified that he was only beaten in the patrol car on the way to the jail. At trial, Johnson testified that Appellant did not strike Anderson during the trip to Marshall, but that Appellant did hit Anderson in the face several times after arriving at the jail in Marshall.

The jailers noticed a little blood on Anderson's mustache and some minor swelling on the edge of his left eye, and they decided that Appellant should take Anderson to the hospital emergency room or a doctor. Appellant proceeded to do so, but the Med-Tex Medical Clinic in Marshall was closed, and Anderson refused to go to the hospital, so Appellant took him back to the jail. Hall Reavis, a representative from the district attorney's office, investigated the scene at approximately 10:00 p.m. that evening. Reavis discovered blood on the wall and table of the booking room. He observed that Anderson's shirt was stained with blood, his left eye and cheek were injured, he had dried blood beneath his nose, and he appeared "very intoxicated." Anderson gave Reavis a written statement alleging that he had been beaten by Appellant during the car ride from Waskom.

Appellant was tried by a jury and convicted of Violating the Civil Rights of a Prisoner.

II. The Court of Appeals' Decision

On appeal, Appellant argued that the evidence to support his conviction was factually insufficient. ² The Court of Appeals found the evidence legally sufficient, but factually insufficient:

After viewing all of the evidence impartially, we hold that the verdict was so contrary to the overwhelming weight of the evidence as to be clearly wrong and unjust. It is undisputed that Anderson was intoxicated in varying degrees at various times, and may have been confused about some of the facts which occurred on the night in question. Additionally, Johnson admitted that he struck Anderson in the car. The testimony of various witnesses established that Anderson's face and clothes were bloody when he arrived at the jail.

Additionally, the chronology of events following Anderson's arrival at the jail indicates that Appellant simply did not have time to beat Anderson in the booking room. Finally, two witnesses testified that Anderson told them that Appellant did not hit him at all, but that Johnson did.

In short, although we are bound to find the evidence legally sufficient, as mandated by the Court of Criminal Appeals, we believe the verdict is so contrary to the overwhelming weight of the evidence as to be clearly wrong and unjust. Having found that the judgment was rendered in error, we reverse and remand for new trial.

Cain v. State, No. 12-93-00155-CR, slip op. at 5 (Tex.App.--Tyler Sept. 30, 1996) (unpublished).

In its petition for discretionary review, the State argues that the court of appeals incorrectly applied the legal standard for reviewing the factual sufficiency of the evidence.

III. Appellate Review of Factual Sufficiency in the Courts of Appeals

We delineated the proper standard of review for the courts of appeals to apply in reviewing factual sufficiency grounds in Clewis v. State, 922 S.W.2d 126 (Tex.Crim.App.1996). ³ In reviewing factual sufficiency of the elements of the offense, the court of appeals "views all the evidence without the prism of 'in the light most favorable to the prosecution' and sets aside the verdict only if it is so contrary to the overwhelming weight of the evidence as to be clearly wrong and unjust." Clewis, 922 S.W.2d at 129 (internal quotation punctuation omitted). In Clewis this Court discussed three major principles to guide courts of appeals when conducting a factual sufficiency review.

First is the principle of deference to jury findings. The Code of Criminal Procedure establishes that the jury is the judge of the facts. Tex.Code Crim. Proc. art. 36.13, ⁴ 38.04. ⁵ In Clewis we explained that "[a]ppellate courts should only exercise their fact jurisdiction to prevent a manifestly unjust result; ... those courts 'are not free to reweigh the evidence and set aside a jury verdict merely because the judges feel that a different result is more reasonable.' " Clewis 922 S.W.2d at 135 (citing Pool v. Ford Motor Co., 715 S.W.2d 629, 634 (Tex.1986) quoting Dyson v. Olin Corp., 692 S.W.2d 456, 458 (Tex.1985) (Robertson, J. concurring)) (ellipses in original). A court of appeals may not reverse a jury's decision simply because it disagrees with the result; the appellate court must defer to jury findings, and may find the evidence factually insufficient only where necessary to prevent manifest injustice.

Second, court of appeals must support a finding of factual insufficiency by providing a detailed explanation of that finding so that this Court can ensure that the appellate court accorded the proper deference to the jury findings. See Clewis 922 S.W.2d at 135, quoting Meraz v. State, 785 S.W.2d 146, 154 (Tex.Crim.App. 1990). We explained that when a court of appeals reverses a lower court decision on factual sufficiency grounds, it should "detail the evidence relevant to the issue in consideration and clearly state why the jury's finding is factually insufficient ... as to be manifestly unjust; why it shocks the conscience; or clearly demonstrates bias. Further, those courts, in their opinions, should state in what regard the contrary evidence greatly outweighs the evidence in support of the verdict." Clewis, 922 S.W.2d at 135, citing Pool, 715 S.W.2d at 635 (as quoted in Meraz, 785 S.W.2d at 154 n. 2).

Third, the standard of review for factual insufficiency states that courts of appeals must review "all the evidence." Clewis, 922 S.W.2d at 129. This differs from a legal sufficiency review, where the court of appeals considers only the evidence that supports the verdict. See, e.g., Clewis, 922 S.W.2d at 132, n. 10. The court of appeals must consider the evidence as a whole, not viewing it in the light most favorable to either party.

IV. Review By This Court

A. Jurisdiction

Article 5, Section 6 of the Texas Constitution contains what is often called the 'factual conclusivity clause,' which provides that "the...