Latta v. State
| Decision Date | 09 September 2021 |
| Docket Number | 07-20-00184-CR |
| Court | Texas Court of Appeals |
| Parties | JARED LATTA, APPELLANT v. THE STATE OF TEXAS, APPELLEE |
Do not publish.
On Appeal from the 424th District CourtLlano County, Texas Trial Court No. CR7558; Honorable Evan Stubbs, Presiding
Before PIRTLE and PARKER and DOSS, JJ.
It has been said that sometimes the biggest problems have the simplest solutions. This case presents the reverse corollary to that proposition. Appellant, Jared Latta, appeals from his Class A misdemeanor offense conviction, by a petit jury, of the criminal offense of official oppression[1] and the resulting court-imposed sentence of twelve months confinement in county jail, probated for a period of eighteen months. Appellant challenges his conviction through seven issues. We will affirm.[2]
Appellant was charged via a single-count, three-paragraph grand jury indictment with the offense of official oppression. The State proceeded to trial only on Paragraph II, abandoning Paragraphs I and III. Paragraph II of the indictment asserted that Appellant, on or about the 2nd day of May, 2017, did "then and there, knowing his conduct was unlawful intentionally deny or impede Cory Nutt in the exercise or enjoyment of a right, namely, his right not to be deprived of his liberty without due course of law, by detaining, seizing and arresting Cory Nutt, and the Defendant was then and there acting under color of his employment as a public servant namely, a Llano Police Officer."
By agreement of the parties, venue was transferred to Burnet County from Llano County and the matter was tried before a jury. At trial, evidence was presented to show that Nutt was arrested from his RV park residence, without a warrant, for the Class C misdemeanor offense of public intoxication.[3] An officer is authorized under article 14.01(b) of the Code of Criminal Procedure to arrest a person for public intoxication without a warrant if the offense was committed in his presence or within his view. Tex. Code Crim. Proc. Ann. art. 14.01(b) (West 2015). A public place includes any place to which the public or a substantial group of the public has access. Tex. Penal Code Ann. § 1.07(40) (West 2020).
Evidence presented at trial showed that on the day of his arrest, Nutt returned from work, grilled dinner, and ate with his next-door neighbor, Alex Britton. Nutt and Britton drank a few beers after which Nutt went back to his trailer. Shortly thereafter, Nutt walked back to Britton's trailer to look for his cell phone. As the two men were talking at Britton's door, they heard an engine rev and tires spin out on the gravel road. The men saw their neighbor from several spaces down, Grant Harden, driving his pickup through the RV park. Nutt and Britton knew Harden was a Llano police officer. Nutt told Harden to slow down. Harden stopped and backed up, and he and Nutt engaged in a heated exchange through Harden's open vehicle window. Nutt continued talking with Britton. Harden said he would "be back later," got on his phone, and left. Harden called a Llano County dispatcher and asked her to run Nutt's license plate. At trial, the dispatcher testified she heard someone yelling and cussing in the background during that call.
According to Nutt's testimony, after the dispute with Harden, he went back to his trailer, found his phone, cleaned up his dishes, called his wife about 9:40, and then went to sleep in his clothes. He did not have shoes on. Harden later returned to the RV park and called the dispatcher for Nutt's license information. At 11:09 p.m., Harden called out over the police radio, asking Appellant or another officer to respond to the RV park. Harden said he had a "public intox." Approximately one minute later, the dispatcher called Harden and asked if he was "out with this Cory subject." Harden responded, "He's intoxicated and he went back in his RV, I'm going to sit here for another unit."[4] When the dispatcher asked for clarification on the identity of the subject, Harden said, "first name Cory is all that I know."
Appellant, Officer Aimee Shannon, and Llano Police Chief Kevin Ratliff responded to the RV park. The four police officers knocked on Nutt's door and he answered, wearing clothes and socks but no shoes. Officer Shannon's body camera recorded approximately the final fourteen minutes of the confrontation between Nutt and the other officers.[5]Harden and Nutt argued about the circumstances of their earlier confrontation with Harden saying he saw Nutt intoxicated outside his trailer and had informed Nutt he was under arrest for public intoxication. Nutt disagreed, saying that never happened and that he was inside asleep when the officers arrived. Nutt testified he woke to the sound of loud knocking or beating on his trailer door. He opened the door and an officer pulled the door from his grasp and latched it open.[6] Nutt stood at the doorway of his trailer, refused to exit the trailer, and denied consent for the officers to enter.
According to the transcript and audio of the confrontation between the officers and Nutt, Harden said Nutt went inside his trailer and shut the door. He further said, Nutt "ran inside [the trailer] and slammed the door, but he's so intoxicated he couldn't even lock it." When the officer confronted Nutt at his trailer door, Harden made several statements indicating that Nutt's failure to comply with the demands could cost him his job and Officer Shannon claimed Nutt's failure to comply might lead to additional charges. After an intense exchange, Nutt provided to Officer Shannon his identification when she requested it.
At approximately ten and a half minutes into the recorded portion of the interaction between Nutt and the three officers, Officer Shannon can be seen pointing a taser at Nutt. Nutt remained inside the doorway of his trailer and Officers Shannon and Harden told him he would be tased if he did not comply with their demands. Chief Ratliff walked past the other two officers, moved behind Nutt, put a hand on Nutt's back, instructed him to step out of the trailer, and directed him out the door and down the steps. Nutt characterized this as "pushing" him, but not forcefully. Nutt stated, "I don't want to walk outside" to which Appellant replied, "You're not-come on out, or . . . you're not going to like the way I do it." Once Nutt was outside, Appellant handcuffed him. While Nutt requested that he be handcuffed in front of his body, Appellant refused, telling him that he "lost that opportunity earlier" when he "didn't do what we asked." Nutt was then transported to the jail.[7] One witness, an attorney for the Law Enforcement Defense Division of the Attorney General's office, testified Appellant appeared to use a pain compliance technique on Nutt while handcuffing him. Another witness characterized Nutt's arrest as unlawful because he was arrested for public intoxication out of his residence without a warrant in violation of applicable law. The public intoxication charge filed against Nutt was subsequently dismissed.
Through his first issue, Appellant contends the trial court erred in forming, seating, and swearing in a twelve-person jury in violation of article V, section 13 of the Texas Constitution and article 33.01(b) of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure. The State responds that Appellant has waived this issue for appellate review because he did not object to the jury as seated. Further, the State argues, even assuming error Appellant was not harmed because by increasing the size of the jury to twelve, the trial court afforded Appellant procedural protections exceeding those required by the Texas Constitution. And, since the effect of seating twelve jurors was to significantly increase the State's burden, it did not affect Appellant's substantial rights and did not contribute to his conviction.
Article 4.05 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure provides that district courts have original jurisdiction in criminal cases of all misdemeanors involving official misconduct. Tex. Code Crim. Proc. Ann. art. 4.05 (West 2015). Article V, section 13 of the Texas Constitution provides, "Grand and petit juries in the District Courts shall be composed of twelve persons, except that petit juries in a criminal case below the grade of felony shall be composed of six persons[.]" Tex. Const. art. V, § 13.
Article 33.01 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure provides as follows:
Tex Code Crim. Proc. Ann. art. 33.01 (West 2006).
Prior to voir dire, the court and the parties discussed jury formation. The following discussion took place on the record:
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