In re E.B.S.

IN RE E.B.S., A CHILD

NO. 01-18-00005-CV

Court of Appeals For The First District of Texas

February 19, 2019

On Appeal from the County Court at Law No. 1 Galveston County, Texas

Trial Court Case No. 17-JV-0093

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Appellant, E.B.S., a juvenile, appeals from an order adjudicating her delinquent for committing the offense of threatening to exhibit or use a firearm on school property.¹ After a disposition hearing, the trial court placed appellant onjuvenile probation for twelve months. In her sole issue, appellant challenges the legal sufficiency of the evidence to support the jury's finding that she committed the offense.

We affirm.

Background

In its first amended petition, the State alleged that appellant engaged in delinquent conduct as follows:

[O]n or about the 6th day of March, 2017 in Galveston County, Texas, [E.B.S.] did then and there, in a manner intended to cause alarm to [M.B.] and/or [V.K.] and/or [T.O.] and/or [J.D.], intentionally threaten to exhibit and/or use a firearm at Dickinson High School, a public school, against the peace and dignity of the State, such alleged conduct constituting a Third Degree Felony pursuant to 37.125 of the Texas Education Code.

At the time of the conduct at issue, appellant was fifteen years old.

At the adjudication hearing, complainant M.B. testified that she and appellant were classmates in their ninth-grade English class at Dickinson High School ("DHS"). M.B. testified that, on March 6, 2017, she, appellant, and complainant T.O. went to the school library together. While they were walking back to class, appellant told M.B. and T.O. that she was "going to shoot up the school." M.B.testified that she was not worried about it until appellant also said that she had access to a gun. M.B. told appellant that she was "crazy for doing something like that because she could go to jail for it." Appellant replied that "that was the point" and laughed. M.B. noted that appellant's laughter was not "the joking type." M.B. testified that she was alarmed and feared for her life. She was concerned that appellant was "going to shoot up the school" and would shoot her or her friends.

M.B. further testified that, when she, appellant, and T.O. arrived back in class, appellant sat down, asked how to spell certain students' names, which included complainant J.D., and wrote something in a book. Appellant told M.B. that she would let her know when she was "going to shoot the school" and added that it would occur during her Spanish class because students in that class had been rude to her. M.B. did not report the matter to school officials because she was afraid that appellant would discover that she had told. Rather, M.B. reported appellant's statements to her mother by text. M.B. also told another classmate, complainant V.K., who was J.D.'s best friend, to warn J.D. that appellant had listed her as someone whom she would shoot. After class, M.B. also went to find J.D.

T.O., who was also a student in appellant's English class, testified that, on March 6, 2017, while she, appellant, and M.B. were walking back to class from the library, appellant was humming a song that appellant said was "about shooting the school up." At first, T.O. thought that appellant was joking. However, T.O. feltnervous and feared for her life after appellant stated that, if given the chance, she would shoot certain people, including J.D. She noted that she was the most afraid that she had ever been. When T.O. and M.B. asked appellant whether she would kill them, she replied that she would not because she liked them. When another student opened the door to their classroom, however, appellant said, "Yes, him I would kill."

T.O. further testified that, once she, appellant, and M.B. returned to class, appellant said that, on the day that the shooting was to take place, T.O. would hear appellant running down the hallway, hear the "sound of the gun going against the locker," and hear appellant saying, "I'm coming for you." T.O. believed that appellant intended to alarm her, and she feared for her safety and for that of the other students. T.O. decided that, after class, she would report the matter to school officials. However, before she got to the office, another student had reported it.

V.K., who was also a student in appellant's English class, testified that when appellant, M.B., and T.O. returned from the library on March 6, 2017, appellant stated that she was "going to shoot up the school" and that she did not care whether she went to jail. V.K. noted that she had known appellant since elementary school, knew her well enough to discern when she was joking and when not, and V.K. believed that appellant was not joking and intended to scare her. Immediately after class, V.K. told J.D. about appellant's threat. Although V.K. went to the principal's office because she was scared, she did not report the matter.

J.D., who was a student in appellant's ninth-grade Spanish class, testified that she had known appellant since the sixth grade. J.D. and her friends sometimes had disagreements with appellant. On March 6, 2017, V.K. told J.D. about appellant's threat to bring a gun to school and to use it on her. J.D. took the comments seriously, felt that appellant intended to scare her, and felt that her life was in danger. She reported appellant's comments to school officials.

DHS assistant principal, Joseph Trahan, testified that, on March 6, 2017, he received a phone call from a concerned parent about a gun threat on campus. Trahan obtained statements from M.B., T.O., V.K., and J.D., who each reported similar facts regarding a threat to the campus involving a gun and a "possible hit list.," i.e., the list that appellant had made in class. After Trahan contacted law enforcement, he called appellant to his office, where he searched her bag for weapons and a female assistant principal searched appellant's person. No weapons were found. Appellant gave Trahan the following statement, which the trial court admitted into evidence:

What I said I me[a]nt as a joke. I had no intention of harming anyone. What I said is that I would help but it was a joke. I said I would help if anyone had the idea but it was a joke. I don't want to harm anyone. I don't like violence. I said I would help if anyone had the idea to shoot up the school.

Trahan asked appellant for the reported "hit list," and she pulled a spiral notebook from her bag and showed it to him. In the notebook, which the trial court admitted into evidence, she had written the following note:

F-Freddy's coming to get ya.

U-You are screwed.

N-Nowhere you can hide at all!

From the Fazbear Arcade

People I hate:

1. [J.D.]

2. [D.G.]

3. [J.M.]

Trahan noted that the names of the students on the list matched those given by complainants as students whom appellant had threatened to shoot.

Trahan further testified that, based on his investigation, he believed that appellant had made threats to bring a firearm to school and use it, and that she did so with a serious intent to alarm people. Trahan noted that, after his investigation, appellant's mother notified him that appellant had been subjected to bullying at school. Trahan testified that he, along with other school officials, fully investigated the matter and determined that "[n]o bullying had occurred." Trahan imposed, as a disciplinary measure against appellant, three days' suspension and 30 days' placement at the district's alternative campus. He further referred the matter to law enforcement officials.

Appellant testified that, while walking back to class from the library with M.B. and T.O. on March 6, 2017, she was humming a song, which she identified as "Psychosocial," by Slipknot. She testified that when M.B. and T.O. asked her a question about shooting students, she just named a list of people, including J.D., whowere in her Spanish class. Appellant explained that these people were "messing with" her, talked about her and her friends, and caused a lot of trouble. She denied having said that she would bring a gun to school and shoot people. With respect to her written statement to Trahan, she explained that M.B. and T.O. had brought up shooting students at the school and she, thinking that they were joking, had agreed to help. Appellant testified that she wrote the names in her notebook during a game with friends long ago. She testified that she had never had access to a gun.

During cross-examination, appellant admitted having said that she would "shoot up the school" and the specific people she had named. She testified, however, that she made up the threats because she did not like the kids who had picked on her. She meant it as a joke and never meant to scare anyone.

After the hearing, the jury found "true" that appellant had engaged in delinquent conduct as alleged. And, the trial court adjudicated appellant delinquent. After a disposition hearing, the trial court placed appellant on juvenile probation for twelve months. Appellant moved for a new trial, which the trial court denied.

Sufficiency of the Evidence

In her sole issue, appellant argues that the evidence is legally insufficient to support the jury's finding that she intended to alarm the complainants by her threats to bring a gun to school and to shoot students.

Nature of the Proceedings and Standard of Review

"The Legislature enacted the Juvenile Justice Code as a separate system for the prosecution, adjudication, sentencing, and detention of juvenile offenders to protect the public and provide for the wholesome moral, mental, and physical development of delinquent children." In re Hall, 286 S.W.3d 925, 927 (Tex. 2009); TEX. FAM. CODE ANN. § 51.01(1), (2), (3). The Code covers the proceedings in all cases involving a child's delinquent conduct. TEX. FAM. CODE ANN. § 51.04(a). Juvenile courts generally have exclusive original jurisdiction over proceedings involving a child's delinquent conduct by a person who was a child at the time that the person engaged in the conduct....