Bryant v. State

• Citation: 909 S.W.2d 579
• Decision Date: 29 September 1995
• Docket Number: No. 12-94-00243-CR,12-94-00243-CR
• Parties: Robert Erwin BRYANT, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee.
• Court: Court of Appeals of Texas

Page 579

909 S.W.2d 579

Robert Erwin BRYANT, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee.

No. 12-94-00243-CR.

Court of Appeals of Texas,

Tyler.

Sept. 29, 1995.

Kenneth L. Combs, Hawkins, for appellant.

Edward J. Marty, Tyler, for appellee.

HOLCOMB, Justice.

A jury convicted Robert Bryant of aggravated injury to a child, assessed his punishment at thirty-five years in prison and fined him $10,000. His co-defendant, who was the victim's mother, was charged with criminal neglect. In two points of error, Bryant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence. In the remaining four points, he contends that the court erred when it: (1) denied his motion to sever; (2) allowed an audiotape recording between him and his probation officer to be admitted into evidence; (3) overruled his objection to the admission of photographs of C.L., the victim, into evidence; and (4) allowed Dr. Rogers to testify that Bryant had the smell of alcohol on his breath when he entered the emergency room with C.L. We will affirm.

Five months prior to the incident in question, Mary Langford and her 10-month-old daughter, C.L., moved in with Bryant. Around 5:00 p.m. on August 26, 1993, Langford went to work and left C.L. with Appellant. According to Langford, C.L. did not have any bruises on her and did not appear to have anything wrong with her at that time. Although the facts are somewhat conflicting as to the series of events that occurred after Langford left for work, it is undisputed that Bryant was the only adult who was with C.L. from 5:00 p.m. until 9:30 p.m. that evening. At approximately 9:30 p.m., Bryant called Langford and told her that he had taken C.L. to the hospital because she appeared to have had a seizure. Langford immediately left her job and went to the hospital.

Dr. Paul Prescott and Dr. Rick Rogers examined C.L. in the emergency room and determined that she had severe fractures to both sides of her skull, a brain hemorrhage, fractures to both legs and bruises on her body. Dr. Prescott and Dr. Rogers both agreed that C.L.'s seizure was a result of an acute injury to the brain, which was inflicted on C.L. within thirty minutes before the seizure. Dr. Rogers testified that when he talked to Bryant in the emergency room, Bryant smelled like alcohol and did not offer any explanation for C.L.'s injuries.

In Bryant's second and third points of error, he challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to support his conviction. He contends that, because the evidence was circumstantial, the State failed to exclude every other reasonable hypothesis other than his guilt. We do not agree.

In a circumstantial evidence case, the State is no longer required to negate every reasonable hypothesis before it convicts a defendant. Geesa v. State, 820 S.W.2d 154, 159 (Tex.Cr.App.1991). The correct standard for reviewing a sufficiency question on appeal is whether, after reviewing all the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 2789, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979); Butler v. State, 769 S.W.2d 234, 239 (Tex.Cr.App.1989). Under this standard, we are not to act as a thirteenth juror in assessing the evidence. Butler v. State, 769 S.W.2d at 239. Rather, we are to position ourselves as a safeguard and ensure that the factfinder has made a rational decision. Moreno v. State, 755 S.W.2d 866, 867 (Tex.Cr.App.1988). Merely because Bryant presented a different version of the events does not mean that the evidence supporting his conviction was lacking. Anderson v. State, 701 S.W.2d 868, 872 (Tex.Cr.App.1985). A jury may chose to believe or disbelieve all or any portion of a witness' testimony, even though the witness' testimony may have been contradicted. Sharp v. State, 707 S.W.2d 611 (Tex.Cr.App.1986), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 872, 109 S.Ct. 190, 102 L.Ed.2d 159 (1988). When faced with conflicting testimony, we must presume that the trier of fact has resolved any such conflict in favor of the prosecution and we must defer to that resolution. Turro v. State, 867 S.W.2d 43, 47 (Tex.Cr.App.1993); Johnson v. State, 673 S.W.2d 190, 195 (Tex.Cr.App.1984).

With these principles in mind, we will review the evidence presented at trial. Dr. Prescott, Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the Child Abuse Clinic at Southwestern Medical School in Dallas, testified that he had worked extensively with the Reach Clinic in Dallas, and had been involved in the investigation of over 4,000 cases of children under the age of one year who had been the subject of abuse. On the night that C.L. was admitted to the hospital, Dr. Prescott examined her and determined that the force necessary to cause the trauma to her head, to her skull, and a brain hemorrhage was equal to dropping C.L. on her head onto concrete from fifteen to twenty feet in the air. According to Dr. Prescott, the blow was so powerful it ruptured C.L.'s right eye. In his opinion, C.L.'s symptoms of breathing difficulty and seizures at the hospital would have appeared within fifteen to thirty minutes after the trauma was inflicted on her. As a result of various tests that Dr. Prescott administered to C.L., he was able to rule out infections or any natural phenomenon as the cause of C.L.'s medical problems. In Dr. Prescott's opinion, C.L.'s injuries were so severe that she would have died within a few hours had she not received medical care.

As for the various fractures to C.L.'s legs, Dr. Prescott testified that C.L.'s left thigh and right shin bone had been fractured within a few days of his examination and that another fracture to C.L.'s leg had occurred within two weeks prior to his examination of her.

Tyler Police Officer Beverly Grage testified that she was assigned to investigate child-abuse matters for the police department. Upon receiving a complaint in this case, Grage began her investigation by getting a statement from Mary Langford. In this statement, Langford stated that, during the few months that she had lived with Bryant, she had never seen him lose his temper or spank his own two daughters. If his daughters misbehaved, Langford stated that Bryant would make them sit in the corner or send them to their rooms for a short period of time to "straighten up." However, according to Langford, C.L. began having unexplained injuries, bruises, and bites when she would stay with Bryant. Langford stated that he allowed a new puppy to nip at C.L, knock her over and pull her by the hair across the floor. On another occasion, Langford noticed that C.L. had a bruise from ear to ear under her chin. Bryant explained to Langford that he had put C.L.'s chin on the edge of the coffee table and that she fell from the table onto a "jungle gym" swing.

On August 26, 1993, Langford stated that she picked up Bryant at work and took him home. When Langford left for work around 5:00 p.m. that evening, C.L. was crying, but according to Langford, she did that every time that she saw her mother leave. At the hospital, Bryant told Langford that after Langford left for work C.L. had three loose bowel movements in a short period of time. Each time, Bryant claimed that he cleaned her up and took her back to the living room to play. After he took her back in the living room the third time, Bryant said C.L. let out a couple of screams and "stiffened up." He said that he then took C.L. to a neighbor, who drove them to the hospital.

As time passed and information about C.L.'s severe injuries were known, Bryant's version of the series of events that occurred that night varied. In his statement to Grage, Bryant stated that C.L. was constipated and crying, so he gave her a cup of water and sat her down in the living room...