In the Matter of A. J. G.
| Decision Date | 01 April 2004 |
| Docket Number | No. 13-03-166-CV.,13-03-166-CV. |
| Citation | 131 S.W.3d 687 |
| Parties | IN THE MATTER OF A. J. G., A JUVENILE |
| Court | Texas Supreme Court |
On appeal from the 92nd District Court of Hidalgo County, Texas.
Before Justices YAÑEZ, RODRIGUEZ, and GARZA.
Appellant, A.J.G., appeals from the judgment of the trial court in a juvenile proceeding. In twenty-five separate issues, appellant contends: (1) the trial court abused its discretion in denying appellant's motion for a new trial; (2) the jury acted arbitrarily and without reference to guiding principles in reaching its verdict; (3) the trial court committed reversible error in allowing the prosecution's closing argument to the jury; (4) there was legally and factually insufficient evidence to demonstrate the grand jury's exercise of due diligence in fashioning the charge; and (5) there was legally and factually insufficient evidence to support the jury verdict. We affirm.
On February 24, 2002, appellant, a 15-year-old girl, gave birth to a son while in the shower of a bathroom in her parent's home. She had concealed her pregnancy from her family and teachers. Her mother became concerned about the amount of time her daughter had been in the bathroom and forced her way in, where she discovered blood on the walls and floor and her daughter kneeling in the shower. An ambulance was called. Appellant's mother testified that she did not know where the blood had come from, and appellant never indicated to her mother that she had just given birth. The paramedics upon arrival noted that there was a full-term placenta on the floor of the shower, suggesting that appellant may have had a miscarriage, but appellant denied it.
Appellant was taken to a local hospital, where she continued to deny having just given birth. Her mother accompanied her, while her father, who had remained at home, began cleaning up the bloody bathroom. When her mother was told by hospital personnel that appellant had just given birth, she called appellant's father and told him to look for a baby. While talking to his daughter's nurse on the phone, appellant's father found the infant inside a bundle of towels on the top shelf of a linen closet in the bathroom. He called again for an ambulance as the baby was injured and not moving or breathing. The paramedics found that the baby was deeply cut from his mouth to behind the jaw, and they were unable to revive him. At trial, the medical examiner testified that the baby had been born alive but had bled to death due to an extensive incised cut on his mouth inflicted by a sharp object of some kind that had severed major blood vessels. He testified that a razor blade could have inflicted this injury.
Police investigators checked the towels and other items appellant's father had removed from the bathroom while cleaning, including a bloody disposable razor blade, and analyzed the blood splatter in the bathroom. Blood on the bathroom walls and in the shower belonged to the baby, but the blood on the razor blade came from a female.
At trial, appellant testified that she knew she was in labor the day the baby was born. She reported giving birth in the shower with the water running and then attempting to cut the baby's umbilical cord using the razor blade, which she had difficulty accomplishing. She reported being afraid that her parents would hear her. After she cut the cord, she wrapped the baby in some towels and put him in the closet. She testified that she did not know how the baby's cheek was cut and that she failed to tell anyone the baby's location because she was scared.
The grand jury petition charged appellant with engaging in delinquent conduct and separated the charge into the following four alternative sub-issues: with or without specifically identifying the razor blade as the murder weapon; and either with intent to kill or with intent to cause serious bodily injury. After a trial, the jury found appellant guilty of engaging in delinquent conduct by intentionally or knowingly, with intent to cause serious bodily harm, committing an act clearly dangerous to human life, i.e., killing her infant son by cutting him with a sharp object "to the Grand Jurors unknown" while under the age of eighteen. Appellant was sentenced to five years juvenile commitment with a possible transfer to the Institutional Division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. This appeal ensued.
The Texas Family Code places juvenile delinquency proceedings in civil courts but requires their adjudication be based on the standard of proof used in criminal cases. TEX. FAM. CODE. ANN. §§ 51.17, 54.03(f) (Vernon Supp. 2003). Also, the Texas Supreme Court has held that juvenile delinquency proceedings are "quasi-criminal" in nature and therefore criminal rules of procedure must be looked to for guidance. In re B.L.D. and B.R.D., 113 S.W.3d 340, 351 (Tex. 2003). Thus, we apply the standards of review applicable to criminal cases to each of appellant's claims.
In six issues, appellant contends that the trial court abused its discretion by denying her motion for a new trial, thereby depriving appellant of her constitutional due process rights.
Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure 38.1, which establishes the required elements of appellant's brief, notes that a brief "must contain a clear and concise argument for the contentions made, with appropriate citations to authorities and to the record." TEX. R. APP. P. 38.1(h); see Dail v. Couch, 99 S.W.3d 390, 392-93 (Tex. App.—Corpus Christi 2003, no pet.). If an appellant contends that there has been an abuse of discretion by the trial court, the appellant must demonstrate how the trial court has acted unreasonably or arbitrarily, by misapplying the law or by acting without reference to guiding rules and principles. Dail, 99 S.W.3d at 391 (citing Downer v. Aquamarine Operators, Inc., 701 S.W.2d 238, 241-42 (Tex. 1985)).
Appellant here failed to include a succinct and clear argument with appropriate citations to authorities as to how the trial court's failure to grant a new trial constituted an abuse of discretion. Instead, appellant implied throughout her brief that because the jury verdict was allegedly reached in error (as she argues more specifically in other issues), the trial court's subsequent refusal to grant the motion for new trial must have been an abuse of discretion. This argument was never made explicit, and there was no specific discussion or citation to previous case-law on the abuse of discretion standard.
We conclude below that we will not sustain any of appellant's other issues raised on appeal. As appellant has violated Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure 38.1 by failing to make additional arguments regarding this alleged abuse of discretion, we hold appellant has waived her challenge to the trial court's denial of her motion for a new trial. See TEX. R. APP. P. 38.1.
By one issue, appellant argues that the jury acted arbitrarily and without reference to guiding rules and principles in finding that appellant engaged in delinquent conduct by committing the offense of murder.
The language appellant employs to present this issue, i.e., "arbitrarily and without reference to guiding rules and principles," reflects the legal standard used to determine whether a trial court, not a jury, has engaged in an abuse of discretion. Dail, 99 S.W.3d at 391. Juries are not held to an abuse of discretion standard and do not have to consider guiding rules of legal authority when making their factual findings. Instead, jury verdicts are only set aside if they are so contrary to the overwhelming weight of the evidence as to be clearly wrong and unjust. Cain v. State, 958 S.W.2d 404, 407 (Tex. Crim. App. 1997); Contreras v. State, 54 S.W.3d 898, 903 (Tex. App.—Corpus Christi 2001, no pet.). Jury verdicts are entitled to great deference and may only be overturned on appeal if they are found to lack any rational relationship to the evidence presented. Cain, 958 S.W.2d at 407; Muniz v. State, 851 S.W.2d 238, 246 (Tex. Crim. App. 1993).
We will review the jury verdict below for factual and legal sufficiency, which ensures that the verdict will be set aside if found to be manifestly unjust or clearly erroneous. However, we will not review here the jury verdict under an abuse of discretion standard, as appellant suggests, as that is the incorrect standard of review. Accordingly, appellant's issue is overruled.
By one issue, appellant argues that the trial court committed reversible error when it allowed the prosecutor to tell the jury during closing arguments,
Arguments by counsel that inflame the prejudices of the jury or ask that the jury convict or punish based on public sentiment or community outrage are considered a violation of the constitutional guarantees to a fair trial. Cortez v. State, 683 S.W.2d 419, 420-21 (Tex. Crim. App. 1984). Remarks to the jury must fall within one of four categories in order to be considered proper: (1) summation of the evidence; (2) reasonable deductions from the evidence; (3) an answer to the arguments of opposing counsel; or (4) a plea for law enforcement. Cannady v. State, 11 S.W.3d 205, 213 (Tex. Crim. App. 2000); see In the Matter of S.E.R., No. 13-97-911-CV, 1999 Tex. App. LEXIS 8481, at *21 (Corpus Christi Nov. 10, 1999, no pet.) (not designated for publication) (applying the standard of review for evaluating improper jury arguments in adult criminal trials to juvenile adjudication proceedings). An argument, even if couched in terms of a call for law enforcement, is improperly presented to the jury if it induces jurors to reach a particular verdict based upon the demands, desires...
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In re A.J.G.
... 131 S.W.3d 687 ... In the Matter of A.J.G., A Juvenile ... No. 13-03-166-CV ... Court of Appeals of Texas, Corpus Christi-Edinburg ... April 1, 2004 ... [131 S.W.3d 690] ... Joseph A. Connors, III, Attorney At Law, McAllen, for Appellant ... Amy Howell Alaniz, Asst. District Atty., ... ...