Johnson v. State

• Decision Date: 28 May 2020
• Docket Number: NO. 01-18-00897-CR,01-18-00897-CR
• Citation: 606 S.W.3d 386
• Parties: Jamaile Burnett JOHNSON, Appellant v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

606 S.W.3d 386

Jamaile Burnett JOHNSON, Appellant

v.The STATE of Texas, Appellee

NO. 01-18-00897-CR

Court of Appeals of Texas, Houston (1st Dist.).

Opinion issued May 28, 2020

Discretionary Review Granted October 21, 2020

Julie Countiss, Justice

A jury found appellant, Jamaile Burnett Johnson, guilty of the felony offense of theft of property with a value of more than $2,500 but less than $30,000.¹ After finding true the allegations in two enhancement paragraphs that appellant had twice been previously convicted of felony offenses, the jury assessed his punishment at confinement for eleven years. In three issues, appellant contends that the evidence is legally insufficient to support his conviction, his trial counsel provided him with ineffective assistance of counsel, and the trial court erred in admitting certain evidence.

We reverse and remand.

Background

Veronica Lopez, the complainant, testified that on November 28, 2016, she, along with her husband, Jorge Gonzalez, went to a tire store. Gonzalez drove a brown Chevrolet truck with a stripe and darkened windows. The truck was a family car in Gonzalez's name.

Upon arrival at the tire store, Gonzalez parked the truck in the back of the store's parking lot and got out. The complainant remained inside the truck in the front passenger seat with the truck's engine still running. As the complainant sat in the truck looking at her cellular telephone, she saw appellant riding toward the truck on a bicycle. Appellant opened the unlocked door of the truck and got inside. He had a screwdriver in his hand, but he did not point it directly at the complainant, and the complainant did not see the screwdriver when appellant first entered the truck. Appellant did not hit the complainant with the screwdriver, stab her with the screwdriver, or point it at her face. Instead, the complainant saw the screwdriver in appellant's hand when his hand was on the gearshift.

The complainant asked appellant if he worked at the tire store, and he told her that he did not. He then asked her if she wanted to go for a ride or if she was "ready for a ride." The complainant felt scared and feared for her life. She yelled and got out of the truck by opening her door and hanging onto it, while appellant accelerated the truck backward and forward. The complainant landed on her feet and was not harmed. According to the complainant, it would have been apparent to appellant that she was upset.

After the complainant exited the truck, the complainant's husband, Gonzalez, threw a wrench at it, which broke the truck's windshield. He also called for emergency assistance. And appellant drove out of the tire store's parking lot. The truck was returned to the complainant later the same day. Several weeks later, the complainant and Gonzalez found a screwdriver in the truck, which they threw away.

Gonzalez testified that he is married to the complainant, and on November 28, 2016, he drove his truck, with the complainant, to a Truck Zone store where he had left his "dumper" for its tires to be replaced. Upon arrival, Gonzalez got out of the truck and went inside the store for about four or five minutes while the complainant remained in the truck. At the time, the truck was still running. While Gonzalez was inside the store, "[t]he tire man yelled ... that something was happening outside because [the complainant] was screaming." Gonzalez went back to his truck and saw an unknown person driving his truck backward and forward, while the complainant hung onto the door of the truck. Gonzalez grabbed "a piece of iron" and threw it at the windshield. The complainant got out of the truck, and the person driving the truck drove off in a hurry. Gonzalez got his truck back later that day.

Gonzalez stated that his truck was a 2002 Chevrolet 1500 "[c]ab and a half" and it was used by his family. Gonzalez did not get a clear look at the person driving his truck, and he did not see the screwdriver at the Truck Zone store. He later found a screwdriver in the truck and threw it away.

Galena Park Police Department ("GPPD") Officer J. Torres testified that on November 28, 2016, he was on patrol when he was dispatched to a Truck Zone store in Harris County, Texas. Upon his arrival, the complainant ran toward him screaming that "she had been the victim of a robbery" and her truck had been taken. The complainant told Torres that the truck was a brown Chevrolet truck with a stripe. Torres gave dispatch a description of the truck and the direction in which it was traveling. Other law enforcement officers located the truck and stopped it. There was only one person in the truck, and he was arrested by the officers.

Torres noted that the truck, before being taken, was parked "all the way in the back" of the Truck Zone store's parking lot behind a gate. He could not identify the person who took the truck.

The trial court admitted into evidence a surveillance videotaped recording from the Truck Zone store on November 28, 2016. On the recording, a person can be seen riding a bicycle on the street in front of the Truck Zone store. After passing the Truck Zone store, the person turns the bicycle around and rides into the Truck Zone store's parking lot toward the back. About a minute later, a tan truck with a stripe drives out of the Truck Zone store's parking lot.

Former GPPD Officer P. Orea testified that on November 28, 2016, while on patrol, he went to assist Officer Torres following a call for emergency assistance about a stolen truck at a Truck Zone store in Harris County, Texas. Orea did not go to the Truck Zone store, but instead he went to look for the truck with another law enforcement officer. GPPD Officer Martin, another law enforcement officer assisting in the search, ultimately found the truck on a nearby road. As Martin approached the truck, appellant drove off. After that, Orea followed behind Martin's patrol car as they drove behind the truck, which Orea described as a tan or beige pickup truck with a stripe. Orea and Martin pursed the truck for about forty-five minutes until appellant pulled over and stopped.

Eventually, Officer Martin got appellant out of the truck, and Officer Orea helped arrest him. Appellant was the only person found inside the truck, and no weapon was found by law enforcement officers. When asked whether he knew that appellant lived in the neighborhood where the truck had stopped during the chase, Orea responded that he did not.

The trial court admitted into evidence a videotaped recording from Officer Orea's body camera taken on November 28, 2016. The recording shows Orea following behind a tan truck with a stripe. Eventually, the truck is stopped, and a man is removed from the driver's seat of the truck. Orea testified, while viewing the videotaped recording at trial, that appellant was the man who was found driving the truck and he was arrested.

Lewis Armstead, appellant's step-father, testified that on November 28, 2016, Armstead went to his mother's house in Galena Park, Texas near the Truck Zone store. When he arrived, appellant was at the home of Armstead's mother, and Armstead spoke with appellant, who initially seemed "like a normal person at the time." At some point, while Armstead was at his mother's house, appellant went outside. Armstead later found appellant sitting in front of the house near a dead-end sign on the street. Appellant was "pulling up grass" and "rubbing it all on him." Armstead went to get his mother, who called to appellant, but appellant "looked like he was not there." Appellant would not answer Armstead's mother; he just looked at her. Armstead went back inside the house. Later, he came outside again and found that appellant had "got[ten] up and walked across the ditch in the mud and water, went on the railroad track, laid down on the track and started throwing rocks." Armstead kept calling appellant's name and asking if he was okay, but appellant did not respond and continued to look like he was not there. Armstead stated, "that's how ... he's been"; and while growing up, appellant had "schizophrenia

or something." According to Armstead, he and his mother called for emergency assistance that day because of appellant's behavior, but law enforcement officers did not take appellant to the hospital.

Armstead further testified that after the law enforcement officers had left Armstead's mother's house and after appellant had told Armstead that he was going to get his truck, appellant left. Appellant was gone for about twenty or twenty-five minutes and came back driving a truck. Armstead noted that while appellant did own a truck, the truck that he returned in was not appellant's truck. Appellant had originally ridden his bicycle to Armstead's mother's house.

According to Armstead, after appellant arrived back at Armstead's mother's house, appellant wanted Armstead to leave with him, but Armstead chose not to leave. Armstead testified that appellant "was not himself" or in his right mind with "what he was doing" that day.

Kenyon Johnson, appellant's brother, testified that he was present when appellant was arrested and that appellant appeared spacey, normal, calm, and non-combative. Kenyon also stated that appellant's truck was a Dodge extended cab.

Gwendolyn Johnson, appellant's mother, testified that appellant owned a truck, which appellant had in the Beaumont, Texas area at some point. She knew this because a law enforcement officer from the Anahuac Police Department had called her after he found appellant on the highway "licking the guardrail." Gwendolyn did not know how appellant got from the Beaumont area to Houston, but when she saw him, appellant appeared aggravated, which was not his normal demeanor. He was not clean, was not walking normally, and could not have a normal conversation with her. Gwendolyn told appellant that she did not have his truck, his brother did not have his truck, and his truck was not in Houston; but it appeared to Gwendolyn that appellant either did not...