Gear v. State

• Decision Date: 15 June 2011
• Docket Number: No. PD–1069–10.,PD–1069–10.
• Parties: Christopher Robert GEAR, Appellantv.The STATE of Texas.
• Court: Texas Court of Criminal Appeals

340 S.W.3d 743

Christopher Robert GEAR, Appellant

v.The STATE of Texas.

No. PD–1069–10.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas.

June 15, 2011.

John D. Reeves, for Appellant.Dale Summa, Asst. Dist. Atty., Lufkin, Jeffrey L. Van Horn, State's Attorney, Austin, for State.

OPINION

HERVEY, J., delivered the opinion of the Court in which KELLER, P.J., and WOMACK, KEASLER and ALCALA, JJ., joined.

Appellant was convicted in a bench trial of attempted burglary of a habitation.¹ The court of appeals decided that the evidence is legally insufficient to support appellant's conviction because it would have been unreasonable for a fact finder to infer that appellant “intended to commit a felony, theft, or an assault inside the house” when he attempted to enter the complainant's home through a window that he had broken. See Gear v. State, No. 12–09–00226–CR, slip op. at 8, 2010 WL 1899645 (Tex.App.-Tyler, delivered May 12, 2010) (not designated for publication).² We decide that a fact finder could reasonably infer that appellant intended to commit theft when he attempted to enter the complainant's home through the broken window.³

The complainant testified that, just after lunch on January 2, 2009, she was inside her home and heard a rattling noise from a side door that had been nailed shut. Soon after this, she heard three loud bangs. When she went into a bedroom to investigate, she came face to face with appellant as he was trying to enter her home through a broken window that was not broken before the complainant heard the noises and before her encounter with appellant. The complainant testified that appellant “looked startled like he didn't know [she] was there.” Appellant said something like, “I didn't do it” and ran. The complainant testified:

Q. [STATE]: And you went in. And what happened next?

A. [COMPLAINANT]: I went in, and the window was busted. So I immediately ran over to the window.... I stepped out the window like this (indicating), and then this young man stepped in the window. I mean, like we were right here (indicating). We were right there. And I just—I panicked. I don't know. I said, “What are you doing?” or something. And he said something to the fact, “I didn't do it” or something.

Q. What did he do then?

A. He took off and I took off. He took off this way, and I took off my way.

* * *

Q. Now, what was he doing when you first saw him?

A. When I was walking toward the window, I didn't see him. When I got to the window and bent over to look out the window, he was jumping towards me. That's how we met. He was just—like he was prancing towards me, so—like he was jumping in.

* * *

Q. Okay. Now, what were his actions when you saw him consistent with or what did that—

A. He just looked startled. I mean, I—I just really—It happened really fast. He looked startled like he didn't know I was there. Well, we didn't expect to see each other. I was startled because he was jumping towards me, and I guess he was startled because I was there. Like I said, I just said, “What are you doing?” And it kind of happened so fast. He ran one way, and I ran the other way. And I didn't see him anymore—

* * *

Q. What did he appear to be doing when—

A. I thought he was jumping in. I thought he was—I thought he was jumping towards me. I really thought he was jumping in. That's what startled me. That's what made me run. I'm, like, you know, I didn't know—that was really scary, so ... ⁴

Appellant testified at trial that he did not attempt to break into the complainant's home and that he did not intend to steal anything or to harm anyone. Appellant testified that he thought that the complainant's home was abandoned when he went to the back of the home to urinate. He testified that he may have punched the complainant's home because he was agitated at himself for having just quit his roofing job with no transportation and only about a dollar in his pocket. According to appellant, he saw the complainant “through a hole in her window” asking him if he was trying to break into her home, which he denied. Appellant denied breaking the window and “rattling” the side door. ⁵

Appellant, however, had previously stated to the police that he broke the complainant's window when he leaned on it. An investigator (Herrington) with the Angelina County Sheriff's Department testified in rebuttal:

Q. [STATE]: But is it real clear to you that he said he leaned on the window and broke the window in?

A. [HERRINGTON]: Yes, sir.

Q. Did he ever tell you that he hit the house with his fist or anything like that?

A. No, sir.

The court of appeals decided that “there is sufficient evidence to conclude that [appellant] was attempting to break into the house,” but that “there is no evidence that allows any inference about what Appellant intended to do within the house,” even though “a rational finder of fact could conclude that Appellant's intentions were not honorable.” Gear, slip op. at 7. The court of appeals also decided that the “implausibility” of appellant's story “as to what he was doing that day at the [complainant's] house ... does not lead to the conclusion, even in a light most favorable to the verdict, that he intended to commit some felony, to steal something, or to assault a person within the house.” Gear, slip op. at 5. The court of appeals stated:

We agree with the State that it appears, and the trial court believed, that Appellant was not being truthful as to what he was doing that day at the [complainant's] house. But while the implausibility of his story suggests that it is not true, it does not lead to the conclusion, even in a light most favorable to the verdict, that he intended to commit some felony, to steal something, or to assault a person within the house.

* * * In this case, there is no reasonable inference to support the conclusion that Appellant intended to commit a felony, theft, or an assault within the house. Indeed, the State has not identified, either at trial or on appeal, what evidence supports the conclusion that Appellant intended to commit a felony, theft, or an assault within the house. It is reasonable to conclude that Appellant pushed at the nailed-shut door and broke the window because he was trying to get into the house. But among the various things he could have done inside, there is no evidence to support a conclusion that he intended to commit a felony, theft, or an assault.

* * *

There is the matter of Appellant's denials. He denied he was trying to break into the house.... But, as we have said, there is sufficient evidence to conclude that he was attempting to break into the house. His denial of being the person who broke the window is consistent with his intending to commit a felony, theft, or an assault within the house. But as with his flight, his unconvincing story allows the conclusion that it is not true but not that he intended to commit a felony, theft, or an assault within the house.

Gear, slip op. at 5–7.

In determining whether the evidence is legally sufficient to support a conviction, a reviewing court must consider all of the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict and determine whether, based on that evidence and reasonable inferences therefrom, a rational fact finder could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 318–19, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979); Hooper v. State, 214 S.W.3d 9, 13 (Tex.Cr.App.2007). This “familiar standard gives full play to the responsibility of the trier of fact fairly to resolve conflicts in the testimony, to weigh the evidence, and to draw reasonable inferences from basic facts to ultimate facts.” Jackson, 443 U.S. at 319, 99 S.Ct. 2781. “Each fact need not point directly and independently to the guilt of the appellant, as long as the cumulative force of all the incriminating circumstances is sufficient to support the conviction.” Hooper, 214 S.W.3d at 13.

The issue in this case is whether a fact finder may reasonably infer that appellant intended to commit a felony, theft, or an assault inside the complainant's home when he attempted to enter the home through the window that he broke. This Court's decision in Solis v. State⁶ is instructive. The evidence in Solis showed that the defendant removed a screen from a window of Alfred's habitation, took the screen to Pierce's habitation, and placed the screen in Pierce's front yard before Pierce interrupted him as he was attempting to enter Pierce's habitation. Solis, 589 S.W.2d at 445–47. Solis was charged with, and convicted of, attempted burglary of Alfred's habitation by attempting to enter Alfred's habitation with the intent to commit theft. Id.

This Court decided that the evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to the trial court's judgment, was insufficient to establish beyond a reasonable doubt the element of Solis's criminal intent to commit theft in Alfred's habitation. Id. This Court stated:

The only circumstance relevant to proof of appellant's criminal intent is his removal of [Alfred's] screen. We agree with the State that this circumstance would have been more incriminating if appellant had been interrupted at the scene immediately after the removal of the screen. However, the State's own witnesses indicate that appellant, after removing the Alfred screen, did nothing further there, although he had not been interrupted or observed, and although a purse was in plain view only a few feet from the window. Instead, appellant took the [Alfred] screen to the Pierce home, placed it on the lawn near the Pierce front window, and attempted to enter the Pierce house before being interrupted by Mrs. Pierce. Appellant is charged with attempting burglary with intent to steal from the Alfred home, not the Pierce residence. We conclude that, although the circumstances show that appellant probably intended to enter the Alfred house with intent to commit theft, his behavior after removal of the screen was sufficiently...