Estrella v. State
| Decision Date | 27 February 2018 |
| Docket Number | NO. 01–17–00162–CR,NO. 01–16–00938–CR,01–16–00938–CR |
| Citation | 546 S.W.3d 789 |
| Parties | Jorge Luis ESTRELLA, Appellant v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee |
| Court | Texas Court of Appeals |
Leigh Love, The Love DuCote Law Firm LLC, 4610 Sweetwater Blvd., Suite 210, Sugar Land, TX 77479, for Appellant.
John F. Healey, District Attorney—Fort Bend County, Tx, Jason Bennyhoff, Assistant District Attorney, 301 Jackson Street, Richmond, TX 77469, for Appellee.
Panel consists of Justices Keyes, Brown, and Lloyd.
Harvey Brown, JusticeJorge Luis Estrella was convicted of felony injury to a child for failing to provide medical care for a burn suffered by his son, J.E. (pseudonymously referred to as "Jason").1 He was sentenced to nine years' confinement. In five issues, Estrella challenges the sufficiency of the evidence supporting his conviction, contends there was error in the trial court's charge, and argues that the trial court erroneously limited his cross-examination of his son.
Estrella also was convicted of felony injury to a child for failing to provide Jason adequate nourishment. The jury assessed punishment for that offense at 10 years' confinement but recommended that the sentence be suspended and that Estrella be granted community supervision. With regard to this second conviction, Estrella challenges the legal sufficiency of the evidence and, again, argues that the trial court erroneously limited his cross-examination of Jason.
We affirm both convictions.2
A nine-year-old boy rang the doorbell of the home of J.S., pseudonymously referred to as Jane. The temperature was in the 30s, yet the boy, later identified as Jason, was wearing only shorts and a long-sleeved shirt. He was not wearing socks or shoes. Jane described his startlingly poor physical condition, testifying that she had "never seen anything like that before." His bare legs were "skinny as a rail." One leg looked like it was "knocked out of joint or broken or something." The boy's skin was not a healthy color, or even the color of red that would be expected from being exposed to cold weather; instead, it was "salmon colored." She had "never seen that color skin" on a person. The boy's eyes were swollen almost shut, and his eye sockets protruded out past his cheek bones. Jane brought Jason into her house. She immediately fed him, and he would ask for more food as he finished each serving. Jason was very hungry.
Jane called a neighbor over, and they called for police and emergency medical assistance. The police and EMS personnel arrived quickly. EMS notes state that Jason was emaciated with atrophy to both arms and legs, distension and rigidity in his abdomen, and swelling in his face and eye orbits. Jason had trouble supporting his own weight and could not walk well. His hair was thin, and he had bruising and scars across his body. Jason seemed very hungry.
A scar on Jason's hip, according to emergency medical personnel who evaluated him at Jane's house, indicated that he had suffered an extensive, painful burn that would have required immediate medical attention. Jason had a second burn scar on his arm.
Jason was taken to Texas Children's Hospital in Katy, where he was weighed, examined, and photographed. Jason, at age nine, weighed 52 pounds. A doctor testified that was the average weight for a six-year-old child.3
The examination photos were admitted into evidence. They show a young boy with extremely thin legs, no muscle development on his arms or legs, and protruding knee joints. His underwear hung from his body with gapes in the leg holes. His stomach was distended. And his eye sockets were swollen to the point that they protruded out beyond his cheek bones.
The physical exam and photos also revealed an older burn to Jason's arm and hip. The hip burn
was described as "extensive" by medical personnel. It wrapped around his groin area. It covered an area from his hip, traveling down between his legs, and then up the other side of his body. The burn scar was a combination of red and dark red, almost black colors. Dr. Isaac, the Texas Children's pediatrician who took over Jason's care after he was transferred from the emergency center, testified that the burn pattern indicated that an accelerant had been used. The accelerant appeared to have pooled in the groin crease and flowed outward when it ignited. The extensiveness of the scarring indicated to Dr. Isaac that Jason had not received appropriate medical care for his hip burn.
After being evaluated, Jason was admitted to the hospital with a diagnosis of chronic malnutrition resulting from child abuse. A chest x-ray
revealed that he also had a ruptured lung, and additional testing revealed that he had a foreign body lodged in one of his feet. Medical staff attended to his medical needs and monitored his health as food was reintroduced. While at Texas Children's, he gained 11 pounds in nine days.
Trial testimony established that Jason had been living in a house across the street from Jane with his father, Estrella (the defendant-appellant), and his step-mother. Jason also lived with five step- and half-siblings. He was the only child in the home that was not the biological child of his step-mother.
Jason testified that he began to be treated differently after his step-mother suspected him of taking one of her rings. She burned his arm and his hip as punishment for taking the ring. There was evidence Estrella and his wife took Jason to Mexico the following day for medicine for the burns. Around the same time, Jason's step-mother began confining him to a locked closet without adequate food or water.
There was evidence that the other children in the home were treated differently. All the other children had bedrooms and beds, but Jason testified that he slept in a locked closet. The police inspected the home and found that the bedroom upstairs where Jason's parents said he slept was barer than the other bedrooms and did not have a mattress on the bed frame. There were dozens of pictures of the other children throughout the home and virtually none of Jason. Additionally, all the other children attended public school, but Jason was "homeschooled." The other children were on Medicaid and saw local physicians when they became ill, but according to Estrella and Jason's step-mother, Jason had no medical coverage and would be taken to Mexico for any medical care.4
The children were not fed equally either. All the other children testified that they ate regularly, but Jason testified that he was frequently denied food and water. There was evidence that the parents kept the kitchen pantry locked and that every child except Jason knew where the key was stored. The parents claimed that Jason's food intake was more closely monitored because he had undiagnosed food allergies and had recently eaten an unknown item that caused the face swelling seen in the medical photographs. But the doctors who examined Jason at Texas Children's Hospital testified that there was no medical evidence that Jason had an allergic reaction
as the parents described.
Jason testified to what he believed caused his face swelling. He had become so thirsty the week before he escaped the house that he drank his own urine. His face swelled up, his step-mother saw it, and she moved him from the closet to the upstairs bedroom. A few days later, while Estrella and Jason's step-mother were away shopping, Jason escaped out the bedroom window and walked to Jane's house. Jason told emergency medical personnel that he had not eaten for two days when he escaped.
Following Jason's recovery at Texas Children's Hospital, the State removed him from the family home. He lived with foster parents but eventually moved back to Brownsville to live with his biological mother.
Estrella was charged with two injury-to-a-child offenses, both by omission: one for withholding nutrition and the other for failing to provide medical care for the hip burn
Jason suffered months before his escape.
A person commits the offense of injury to a child by omission if, having a legal duty to act, he "intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly by omission, causes to a child ... serious bodily injury ... or bodily injury." TEX. PENAL CODE § 22.04(a)(1), (3) ; see id. § 22.04(b) ; see also Jefferson v. State , 189 S.W.3d 305, 312 (Tex. Crim. App. 2006). The offense is a first-degree felony when the mental state is intentionally or knowingly and the result is serious bodily injury. TEX. PENAL CODE § 22.04(e).
Injury to a child is a result-oriented offense requiring a mental state that relates not to the specific conduct but to the result of that conduct. Williams v. State , 235 S.W.3d 742, 750 (Tex. Crim. App. 2007). It is not enough for the State to prove that the defendant engaged in the alleged conduct with the requisite criminal intent; the State must prove that the defendant caused the result with the requisite criminal intent. See Cook v. State , 884 S.W.2d 485, 490 (Tex. Crim. App. 1994) ; Lee v. State , 21 S.W.3d 532, 540 (Tex. App.—Tyler 2000, pet. ref'd).
Estrella was convicted of two injury-to-a-child offenses, each with a different mental state. One conviction was for intentionally or knowingly causing a serious bodily injury to Jason by omission—that is, failing to obtain appropriate medical treatment for his hip burn
. The second conviction was for recklessly causing a serious bodily injury to Jason by omission—that is, failing to provide adequate nourishment to Jason.
A person acts "intentionally" with respect to a result of his conduct when it is his conscious objective or desire to cause the result. TEX. PENAL CODE § 6.03(a). A person acts "knowingly" when he is aware that his conduct is reasonably certain to cause the result. Id. § 6.03(b). A person acts "recklessly" when he is aware of but consciously disregards a substantial and unjustifiable risk that the result will occur. Id. § 6.03(c). The result here, "serious...
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