Smith v. State
| Docket Number | 01-22-00471-CR |
| Decision Date | 29 June 2023 |
| Parties | JAMES DERON SMITH, SR., Appellant v. THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee |
| Court | Texas Court of Appeals |
Do not publish. Tex.R.App.P. 47.2(b).
On Appeal from the 56th District Court Galveston County, Texas Trial Court Case No. 19-CR-1367
Panel consists of Justices Goodman, Landau, and Rivas-Molloy.
A jury found Appellant James Deron Smith, Sr. guilty of Aggravated Assault Causing Serious Bodily Injury, a second-degree felony, and sentenced him to fifteen years' confinement in the Institutional Division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
In his sole issue, Appellant argues "the trial court committed jury charge error by filing a jury charge in this cause that contained handwritten markings on it, specifically: certain sentences were underlined, and certain phrases were circled and there was a handwritten bracket placed in the margin." Appellant argues he was harmed as a result of the jury charge error because his contention that he was acting in self-defense "was diminished by the[] markings on the charge."
We affirm.
Appellant James Deron Smith, Sr. ("Smith") and the complainant, Maurice Williams ("Williams"), were inmates in the Galveston County Jail. Smith and Williams were in the same jail pod, awaiting disposition of their respective criminal charges. Their bunks were side by side and they played cards most days.
On October 20, 2018, Smith was playing poker with Williams and several other inmates.[1] At around midnight, Williams accused Smith of cheating. Williams and Smith exchanged words at the game table. Williams proceeded to his bunk. Smith remained at the table for a short period and then returned to his bunk. At that point, a fight ensued. Smith's and Williams' versions of events differ as to who started the fight and whether Smith struck Williams in self- defense. Williams sustained significant injuries, including the loss of sight in one eye and a broken nose.
Smith was charged with Aggravated Assault Causing Serious Bodily Injury. He pleaded not guilty.
The following witnesses testified for the State at trial: Lieutenant Scott Finlaw, Detective Smitty Hill, Lieutenant Shawn Lozica, Williams, and Deputy Eusebio Alvarez.
Lieutenant Scott Finlaw with the Galveston County Sheriffs Office ("Lieutenant Finlaw") testified that he supervises forty to forty-eight staff members at the Galveston County Jail. Those staff members collectively supervise up to 1,150 inmates. The inmates are housed in "pods." Each pod has bunks, bathrooms, and showers.
On October 20, 2018, Smith and Williams were assigned to the same pod. Lieutenant Finlaw was working as a jail supervisor that night when he responded to a report of an "inmate fight" in Smith's and Williams' pod. He arrived at the pod to find Williams and Smith "in an altercation." Williams appeared to have "significant" injuries and was taken to the jail's medical facility. Smith arrived at the medical facility soon after. He had some injuries on his hand. Lieutenant Finlaw testified that during his twelve years at the jail, he has responded to "hundreds" of inmate fights, and Williams' injuries were the most severe he has seen.
Lieutenant Finlaw testified that another deputy at the jail handed him a bloody eyeglass lens found near the bunk area in Smith's and Williams' pod after the fight. Lieutenant Finlaw gave the lens to another deputy who was going to the hospital with Williams because Lieutenant Finlaw "wanted to show them if the injury had come from that." The deputy transported the lens to the hospital and then returned it to Lieutenant Finlaw, who kept the lens for approximately a month and then discarded it. On cross-examination, Lieutenant Finlaw agreed the lens should have been preserved and photographed at the scene. He testified that no cameras had captured the fight, and he did not write a report after the fight.
Lieutenant Finlaw interviewed Smith, who told him Williams started the fight. Lieutenant Finlaw believes Smith may have said his glasses were knocked off during the fight. Lieutenant Finlaw did not interview Williams. He treated the episode as an "inmate fight." He testified that charges were not filed immediately after the fight because he had to go through the administration.
Lieutenant Finlaw testified that gambling is prohibited in the jail. If inmates get caught fighting, they go to lockdown or a segregation cell.
Detective Smitty Hill ("Detective Hill") with the Galveston County Sheriffs Office testified that he was brought into the investigation in February 2019, about four months after the fight. He was brought in to help with paperwork to facilitate the filing of charges. Detective Hill determined that before filing charges, additional investigation was required, including interviews of the victim, witnesses, and the offender.
Detective Hill interviewed jail supervisors and obtained their reports to ascertain what happened. He tried to interview three witnesses who were in the jail pod that night, but two had been released and the third declined to participate. Detective Hill and his supervisor, Lieutenant Shawn Lozica ("Lieutenant Lozica"), also interviewed several jail deputies who were on duty the night of the fight. After gathering medical records, interviewing Williams, and attempting to interview Smith, Detective Hill and Lieutenant Lozica believed they had probable cause to file a warrant. Based on the statement from Deputy Eusebia Alvarez ("Deputy Alvarez"), who witnessed the fight, Detective Hill determined Smith assaulted Williams.
Detective Hill testified the investigation should have been handled by a detective, not in-house by the jail, because it was a "major crime," which is how the Sheriffs Office classifies an aggravated assault. He felt little to no investigation had been conducted when charges originally "were being filed," and he felt it was better to have "as complete of an investigation as possible . . . before filing charges." Detective Hill recalled that someone tried to get the videotape of the fight, but it was no longer in existence because several months had passed between the day of the incident and his involvement.
Detective Hill testified that there was no information reflecting Williams had started the fight. His investigation indicated instead that Smith had been the aggressor. Detective Hill testified that Smith's eyeglasses were damaged and that the glasses had been slapped off his face. The glasses were recovered in a puddle of blood in the pod. Detective Hill believed the glasses were used as a weapon, but he acknowledged that this was speculation on his part.
Lieutenant Lozica works in the Galveston County Sheriffs Organized Crime Task Force, where he supervises thirty-eight detectives in various units. The Task Force investigates narcotics, violent crimes, gang members, and assists with other investigations as necessary. Lieutenant Lozica became involved with the investigation of the fight when Detective Hill called and advised him that another lieutenant wanted to file a warrant for aggravated assault for an incident at the jail. Detective Hill needed help filing the warrant and Lieutenant Lozica told him they needed to gather more information first. The jail had already called the district attorney and charges had been approved. Lieutenant Lozica sat in on some interviews and interviewed Lieutenant Finlaw. He also oversaw Detective Hill's portion of the investigation.
Lieutenant Lozica testified Lieutenant Finlaw made some mistakes in the investigation, including collecting and throwing away the recovered eyeglass lens and not downloading the video of the pod captured during the fight. Lieutenant Lozica's and Detective Hill's investigation was conducted four months after Lieutenant Finlaw's investigation, and they did not have all of the information that Lieutenant Finlaw had at his disposal. Notwithstanding, Lieutenant Lozica agreed with Lieutenant Finlaw's conclusion that charges should be filed.
During their investigation, Lieutenant Lozica and Detective Hill learned that on the night of the fight, there was a poker game and an argument ensued over who won. A fight then broke out in the bunk area in Williams' and Smith's jail pod. Lieutenant Lozica's written report states that Lieutenant Finlaw advised that Williams slapped the glasses off of Smith's face. Lieutenant Lozica testified that it was possible Smith was slapped in the face and his glasses were hit, removed, or knocked off his face. Lieutenant Finlaw told Lieutenant Lozica that the video of the pod from that night had not captured the fight. Lieutenant Finlaw did not indicate who started the fight.
After concluding his investigation, Lieutenant Lozica came to the same conclusion-that charges against Smith should be filed-but he conceded his investigation lacked the videotape, the eyeglass lens, and access to the inmates.
Williams testified that he was in the Galveston County Jail for fourteen months. He passed the time by playing chess, poker, and cards. The deputies did not stop them from playing poker even though it was against the rules. At least twenty of the pod members would join in a poker game at various times. They used food from the commissary as currency, usually playing winner-take-all.
Williams and Smith had a lot of interaction once Smith was transferred into Williams' pod. Their bunks were side by side. They never had issues before the incident on October 20, 2018. They played cards nearly every day.
The night of the poker game, five inmates were playing....
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