O'Brien v. State
| Decision Date | 25 January 2017 |
| Docket Number | No. 08-14-00221-CR,08-14-00221-CR |
| Parties | CHRISTOPHER IAN O'BRIEN, Appellant, v. THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee. |
| Court | Texas Court of Appeals |
Appeal from the County Court at Law of Terrell County, Texas
(TC# 1877)
Appellant Christopher O'Brien, his brother Jacob O'Brien, and their friends Seth Winkler and Tyler Bumpers went on a successful hunting trip and returned home with the heads of two aoudad sheep. They posted pictures of their bounty on Facebook. Unfortunately, their hunting trip occurred on the property of Nathan Pickett, who, Appellant admitted, had not given them permission to hunt. Appellant claimed Seth Winkler told him Seth's father owned the property and had given them permission to hunt. The jury disbelieved Appellant's assertion and found him guilty of hunting an exotic animal on Pickett's land without his express consent, and guilty of criminal trespass and criminal trespass while carrying a deadly weapon.1 The trial courtsentenced Appellant to 180 days' in jail and imposed a $1,000 fine and $2,000 in restitution.
Appellant contends on appeal that that the trial court erred in admitting into evidence two photographs from a game camera showing Appellant, his brother, and his friends on Pickett's property. He also contends the evidence is insufficient to support the jury's verdict. We conclude the trial court did not abuse its discretion in admitting the photographs into evidence and that the evidence is sufficient to support the verdict. We affirm the trial court's judgment.
Nathan Pickett purchased a 300-acre parcel of land in Terrell County from Joan Winkler in April 2011. The property included a cabin, running water, multiple deer blinds, and motorized game feeders. Aoudad sheep had been found on the property since 2012. The property lies more than 20 miles from the nearest highway. The final 10 miles is across a private road, which is guarded by a closed gate marked with a "no trespassing" sign. Pickett's property in particular is guarded by fencing and a locked front gate bearing a "no trespassing" sign that is marked with the name "Pickett." Numerous other signs also warn against trespassing or hunting on the property, some of which also colorfully warn: "Trespassing may induce lead poisoning," "Security provided by Ruger," and
Pickett visited his property about once a month. During a Memorial Day weekend trip to the property in 2013, Pickett installed a game camera. During a subsequent visit in August, Pickett discovered the lock on the entry gate had been shot and was inoperable. Pickett discovered tire tracks heading around the gate and found that someone had moved the tire spikes and the boulders that had been installed to prevent vehicles from driving around the gate. Because it was impossible to open the gate, Pickett was forced to drive around the gate, followingthe newly-discovered tire tracks, in order to travel the remaining quarter mile to his cabin. As soon as his cabin came into view, Pickett discovered the carport gate and gatepost had been knocked down. He also discovered that a striped retractable sun awning had been crudely cut away with a knife. Pickett found drink bottles and empty food cans on the patio and saw that the patio furniture had been moved and firewood had been used. In the fire pit, Pickett located spent shell casings from a 30.06 rifle and a .45 caliber automatic colt pistol, which are not guns he owns.
Pickett had his son retrieve the data card from the game camera and began reviewing the captured images. Pickett found two images depicting four unknown men. Both photographs were date stamped July 6, 2013, and were admitted into evidence as State's Exhibits 1 and 2, respectively. Pickett testified he did not know Christopher O'Brien, Jacob O'Brien, Seth Winkler, or Tyler Bumpers, and that he had not given them permission to be on his property or to hunt exotic animals or aoudad sheep on his property. Pickett shared the game camera photographs with Joan Winkler, Seth's mother, in the hope that she may recognize the men in the images. Joan Winkler informed Pickett that her son Seth was among the men in the photographs, and according to Pickett, told him that Seth knew that the property had been sold.
Pickett provided the photographs from the game camera to Texas Parks and Wildlife Game Warden Arnold Pinales and reported that photographs depicted trespassers who had been poaching on his property without his consent. Warden Pinales testified that aoudad sheep are considered exotic game, and a regular hunting license is required to legally hunt an exotic animal. In an effort to identify the offenders, the photographs were posted online in hunting and fishing forums and on Facebook. Pickett gave Warden Pinales the name of Seth Winkler as a possible suspect. Warden Pinales eventually determined that Appellant, Jacob O'Brien, Seth Winkler, and TylerBumpers were the four men depicted in the photographs from Pickett's game camera.
Warden Pinales found a Facebook account for Appellant that displayed images of Appellant and Seth Winkler at Pickett's cabin posing with the aoudad heads. Appellant's Facebook images matched his image found in the game camera photos. Both sets of images showed the distinctive tattoos on Appellant's arms as well as Appellant wearing a white shirt bearing the phrase "Follow the Leader." Warden Pinales was also provided three photos from an anonymous source. The first image depicts two aoudad heads laying on the striped sun awning cut down from Pickett's property, the second image shows Appellant wearing the white "Follow the Leader" shirt and holding an aoudad head, and the third image shows a hand-made poster bearing the message:
Hunting on "Dad's" property.
$$ Wanted $$
Seth Winkler and Chris O'Brien.
Appellant admitted at trial that he had hunted and killed an aoudad on Pickett's property without his consent. He also admitted that he was one of the individuals in the game camera photos and that everything shown in the photographs was "completely true." But Appellant asserted Seth Winkler had informed him that the property belonged to Winkler's father.2 Appellant claimed that if Seth had informed him that his father did not own the property, he would have never gone hunting on the property.
Appellant testified that after driving six or seven hours in Appellant's truck with Seth navigating, they arrived at the property late at night. Appellant testified that they accessed the property from its southeast corner along the rugged "back drive," which Seth said was the originaldrive used when they were building the cabin. Appellant denied that there were any fences, gates, or "no trespassing" signs on the south side of the property, and claimed he never saw any signs bearing Pickett's name. Appellant said he was convinced from the moment he set foot on the property that it was Seth's father's property, because it was exactly as Seth had described. Appellant admitted, however, that "I was a little uncertain because, you know, a story could be too - you know, too good to be true at times."
According to Appellant, the following day after the hunt, they drove out of the property the opposite way toward the front gate. When they reached the front gate, Appellant for the first time noticed a "no trespassing" sign, but he did not believe the sign had Pickett's name on it. Appellant testified that Seth Winkler had told him before they left on the hunting trip that he had a set of keys to the front gate. But when they arrived at the front gate, Seth informed him they would have to drive around it because he didn't have the keys to open the gate. Appellant concluded "after the fact" that "there were never any keys." Appellant claimed that to get out, he drove his truck around and over the boulders by the front gate and did not move them, noting that his truck had a six-inch lift kit and went right over the boulders.
Appellant admitted that they left trash on the property. He also admitted that the carport gate had been moved and that he was "accountable" even though he did not touch the gate but merely backed up his truck into the carport to unload gear. He also stated that when they were loading the aoudad heads into the back of his truck, Seth pulled or cut down the striped sun awning because, Seth said, his father was going to replace it anyway. He denied that the striped sun awning was used to cover the aoudads' heads to prevent their detection on the return trip, but rather Seth did not want Appellant's truck bed to get bloody. Appellant testified that he had borrowedthe 30.06 and a 9 millimeter pistol for the hunt. Appellant acknowledged that an exotic aoudad hunt would normally cost approximately $1,500 or more, but he did not see any problem with hunting at no cost on what he believed was the property of Seth's father. Appellant admitted that he had posted a photograph on Facebook of himself and Seth holding two aoudad heads with the caption, "Got 'em." After learning that there were warrants out for his arrest, Appellant turned himself in and informed the game warden that Seth was in possession of the heads. Appellant asserted that Seth kept both aoudad heads after the hunt, but could not explain why only one head was found at Seth's house.
Pickett testified on rebuttal that there is a gate on the southeast side of his property that is always locked. He also explained that it would have been impossible for a vehicle to reach his cabin from the southeast due to a massive, 200-foot deep canyon located between the southeast gate and the cabin.
In Issue One, Appellant contends the trial court erred in admitting the two game camera photographs showing his presence on the property (State's Exhibits 1 and 2) because they were not properly authenticated and because their admission violated his Sixth Amendment right to...
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