Guerra v. State

MICHAEL JAMES GUERRA, Appellant v. THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee

NO. 01-15-00650-CR

Court of Appeals For The First District of Texas

October 25, 2016

On Appeal from the 185th District Court Harris County, Texas

Trial Court Case No. 1447236

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Appellant, Michael James Guerra, was found guilty by a jury of the offense of aggravated sexual assault of a child.¹ The jury assessed Appellant's punishmentat 50 years in prison. Appellant raises two issues on appeal. He contends that he received ineffective assistance of counsel at trial. Appellant also asserts that the trial court erred by refusing to admit redacted portions of the complainant's medical records into evidence.

We affirm.

Background

The complainant in this case, M.C., was born in 2001. Appellant is M.C.'s maternal uncle.

M.C.'s mother ("Mother") and father separated shortly after she was born. By the time she was seven or eight years old, M.C.'s father stopped communicating with her. In 2005, Mother married another man, but they divorced in 2010. After that, Mother rented a house and Mother's brother, Appellant, moved in with Mother and M.C. Appellant and M.C. became very close, and M.C. considered Appellant to be a father figure.

In 2013, Mother and M.C. moved to an apartment. Appellant moved in with his mother, who is M.C.'s grandmother ("Grandmother").

M.C. would often stay with Grandmother for a weekend or for longer periods of time in the summer. In August 2014, M.C., who was then 13 years old, went to spend a couple of weeks at Grandmother's house. Appellant was still living there. He was 33 years old.

On Sunday, August 17, 2014, Grandmother called Mother, requesting Mother to pick up M.C., even though they had planned for M.C. to stay longer. Grandmother sounded very upset on the phone. She indicated to Mother that she thought inappropriate things had been occurring between M.C. and Appellant.

Mother picked M.C. up from Grandmother's house. On the way home, M.C. repeatedly denied anything had happened between her and Appellant. Eventually, she broke down crying and disclosed to Mother that she and Appellant had sex the night before on the patio and had sex a total of eight times in the last couple of weeks.

When they arrived home, Mother called Grandmother, and Grandmother went to Mother's apartment. There, M.C. told Grandmother that she and Appellant had had sex. Grandmother contacted Appellant, who denied the allegation.

Grandmother decided that she did not believe M.C.'s claim. She asked Mother not to contact the police, stating the allegations should be handled within the family. Mother waited two weeks and then contacted the authorities to report the sexual abuse.

On September 8, 2014, Mother took M.C. to the Children's Assessment Center. There, M.C. spoke with forensic interviewer, C. Gonzalez. While there, M.C. also underwent a physical examination by Dr. M. Donaruma, a medical doctor.

Appellant was indicted for the first-degree felony offense of aggravated sexual-assault of a child. The case was tried to a jury in July 2015. Among the State's witnesses were Mother; the forensic interviewer, C. Gonzalez; Dr. Donaruma; M.C.; and a psychologist who testified as an expert on the effects of sexual abuse.

Mother testified that Grandmother called her on Sunday, August 17, 2014, to pick up M.C. Grandmother sounded upset and told Mother that she thought something sexual was happening between Appellant and M.C. because she had found blood on the patio that morning before she went to church. Grandmother told her that, when she had asked M.C. about the blood, M.C. had gotten defensive and told Grandmother that she had cut herself.

Mother said she initially found Grandmother's allegation that her brother had done anything inappropriate difficult to believe. Nonetheless, she went to pick up M.C. from Grandmother's house. When Mother arrived at the house, she stated that Grandmother and Appellant were not there. M.C. was there alone.

On the way home, Mother told M.C. that, if anyone had touched her inappropriately, she would not be in trouble and could tell her. At first, M.C. was adamant that nothing had happened. When Mother asked her about the blood on the patio, she testified that M.C. became defensive and mentioned to Mother that she had her period. Mother stated that she was skeptical because she knew thatM.C. had had her period for five days at that point and "after five days of being on your period, you're not going to bleed large droplets through your shorts onto the patio floor." Mother again assured M.C. that she would not be in trouble if something had happened. M.C. told Mother that she would not tell, even if something had happened, because she did not want to take Appellant away from his children. Mother said she continued to reassure M.C. that she would not be in trouble and told M.C. that she needed to tell her if something had happened. As Mother continued to reassure her, M.C. broke down and started to cry in a very emotional manner.

M.C. disclosed that she and Appellant had sex a total of eight times during her stay at Grandmother's house. She told Mother that she and Appellant had sex on the patio the previous night. Mother testified that M.C. told her that Appellant had "called her out onto the back patio. [M.C.] went out there. She said that he turned her around so that her back was against him and pulled her shorts down and bent her over the weight bench and had sex with her." M.C. had indicated that the blood on the patio had resulted from that sexual act.

M.C. said that, in addition to the patio, they had sex in the room where she slept and in Appellant's bedroom. Mother further stated that M.C. told her that it had hurt every time she and Appellant had sex. She testified that "[M.C.] said that he would force himself on her, she would try to push him off but she would justrelax and let him do it because she knew that he was much stronger than her and that it would probably just hurt her more to fight him." M.C. said Appellant told her that it "felt right" with her and did not "feel wrong." M.C. also told Mother that she and Appellant had performed oral sex on one another.

Mother further testified that M.C. had "fully intended to keep it a secret." She continued, "[W]hen she told me, she still didn't want to get him in trouble. She didn't want me to contact the authorities and she told me that if I did, she would tell them that I was lying because she didn't want to get him in trouble."

Mother stated that they called Grandmother, who came to their home. M.C. told Grandmother about the sexual abuse. Grandmother then called Appellant, who denied the allegations. Grandmother chose to believe Appellant and not to believe M.C. Mother testified that Grandmother asked her not to report the allegations to the authorities. Mother then waited two weeks to report M.C.'s abuse claims.

The State called M.C. to testify at trial. M.C. stated that, after she lost contact with her natural father, she had considered Appellant to be a father figure because he had always been there for her. She said the first time she noticed Appellant behaving inappropriately toward her was when she was 10 or 11 years old. She and Appellant were watching television together, and Appellant had been drinking. Appellant started to rub back and forth on the inside of M.C.'s thigh withhis hand. M.C. said that, at the time, she thought it was wrong and got up and moved away from Appellant. M.C. indicated that nothing happened again with Appellant until she stayed at Grandmother's in August 2014.

M.C. testified that, the night before she made her outcry, she and Appellant had been watching television in the living room. Grandmother was asleep in her bedroom, and Appellant's two daughters, who were also visiting, were asleep in another room.

While they watched a movie, Appellant put his finger in her vagina. M.C. tried to resist but, because Appellant was stronger, she could not stop him. M.C. testified that Appellant then told her to go outside onto the patio. There, he took off her shorts and her underwear, and he pulled down his shorts. She testified that Appellant "turned me around and made me bend over on this bench thing" and then "[h]e put his penis into my vagina." M.C. stated that it hurt when Appellant did this. She further testified that she told Appellant, "Stop. This isn't right," but Appellant would not stop.

M.C. also testified that one week earlier, on a Sunday morning, Appellant came into her bedroom while Grandmother was at church. Appellant got into bed with M.C. and had vaginal intercourse with her twice that morning. She said that Appellant told her that "it didn't feel wrong."

M.C. further testified that there were other instances when she and Appellant had sex during her stay with Grandmother. She said that sometimes they would have sex in her bed and sometimes in his bedroom. In addition to intercourse, M.C. stated that Appellant made her perform oral sex on him "a lot of times."

During her testimony, M.C. indicated that she felt the abuse had been her fault. She stated, "I could have said no, I could have told somebody, I could have prevented it, but I let it happen."

The forensic interviewer, C. Gonzalez, testified that she spoke with M.C. at the Children's Assessment Center on September 8, 2014. Gonzalez stated that M.C. disclosed that she had been sexually abused by Appellant on multiple days. Gonzalez testified that M.C. was "very detailed" in her description of the sexual abuse. Gonzalez stated that M.C. was consistent in her statements throughout the interview. M.C. was also able to provide "narrative details for each incident," which "[is] significant because it establishes credibility."

Gonzalez also confirmed that M.C. described "sensory details," such as what she saw, smelled, and felt during the sexual abuse. For example, M.C. recalled that Appellant smelled of alcohol. Gonzalez testified that sensory details are ...