Milton v. State

695 S.W.3d 689

Clifford MILTON, Appellant

v.The STATE of Texas, Appellee

NO. 01-22-00335-CR, NO. 01-22-00336-CR

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

Opinion issued April 16, 2024

Discretionary Review Granted August 21, 2024

On Appeal from the 337th District Court, Harris County, Texas, Trial Court Case Nos. 1612515 and 1612516

Kim K. Ogg, Houston, Bridget W. Holloway, for Appellee.

Angela L. Cameron, Aimee Bolletino, Houston, for Appellant.

Panel consists of Justices Goodman, Rivas-Molloy, and Guerra.

OPINION

Veronica Rivas-Molloy, Justice

Appellant Clifford Milton was indicted on two counts of trafficking of a child by prohibited conduct. In Cause Number 1612515, he was indicted for the offense of trafficking of a child by causing the complainant to become the victim of sexual assault, and in Cause Number 1612516, he was indicted for the offense of trafficking of a child by causing the complainant to become the victim of prostitution. The charges were enhanced with a prior felony conviction for the offense of theft. The jury found Milton guilty of both counts and the trial court sentenced Milton to twentyeight years in prison for each conviction.

In three issues, Milton argues (1) there was legally insufficient evidence to prove he committed the offense of trafficking a person in Cause Number 1612516 because he did not cause the complainant to commit prostitution, (2) the trial court abused its discretion in allowing the admission of extraneous offense testimony, and (3) the judgments should be modified to reflect (a) a finding on the enhancement paragraphs of "N/A" instead of "pleaded true" and "found true," and (b) to state the sentences are to run concurrently.

We affirm the trial court’s judgment as reformed.

Background

Milton was charged by indictment with two separate offenses. The first indictment, filed in Cause Number 1612515, alleges that on or about September 20, 2018, Milton "knowingly transported[ed] [Jane],¹ a person younger than 18 years of age" and caused Jane to become the victim of a sexual assault. See Tex Penal Code §§ 20A.02(7)(C), 22.011.² The second indictment, filed in Cause Number 1612516, alleges that on or about November 3, 2019, Milton "knowingly transported[ed] [Jane], a person younger than 18 years of age" and caused her to engage in prostitution. See Tex Penal Code §§ 20A.02(7)(H), 43.05(a)(2). The charges were enhanced with a prior felony conviction for the offense of theft. Milton pled not guilty to each charge. A jury convicted Milton of both offenses and the trial court sentenced him to twenty-eight years in prison for each count.

The Trial

The State presented eleven witnesses during the guilt-innocence phase of trial.

A. Father

Father has two children, Jane and her brother. Father testified that Jane was "very intelligent, quiet, like[d] to go out a lot, go to eat, go fishing, liked to go on vacation." Jane and Father were close and she had a "great relationship" with her brother.

In 2018, Jane ran away.³ She was fifteen years old. She left a letter stating she "honestly cannot live in this house no more. I just don’t like it." Jane wrote that by the time her family read the letter, she would be on her way to Austin or Dallas, and that if she got a job, she would send money to the family. Jane wrote that "going to school, getting screamed at and all this stress" wasn’t for her. She said she would "be okay" and would not "end up dead." She continued, "So let me propose my deal to you. I go to school, make money, and send you-all money, and live somewhere else. I promise I’ll be good. But if it doesn’t work out, I’ll come home and I’ll let you take me to juvie. That’s my deal. I know it’s kind of risky, but it’s worth a try."

When Father found Jane’s letter, he filed a police report and started looking for Jane on her social media. Father also talked to Jane’s friends and classmates, and he drove around every day. At first no one claimed to know anything about Jane’s whereabouts, but after a while, some kids gave Father "some information where she could be." Father went to places "where there [was] more prostitution because people gave [him] ideas where [Jane] could be; and they were not wrong." He testified that he "started looking for [Jane] in the areas where there was more prostitution because [he] had the feeling that .. she had been kidnapped or something." Father prepared a "missing" poster and his cousin found Jane’s photo on a website "where she was being sold as a prostitute."

Father found some of Jane’s social media posts. Some of them were ads that included her "prices" and the pictures in some ads led Father to one of the hotels where Jane was staying. Father recognized a furniture store in some of the ads and found a nearby "America’s Best Value Hotel" where the photos in the ad were taken. He went to the hotel and called the police to meet him there but when they arrived, Jane was not at the hotel.

Father continued to look for Jane at various hotels and created an account on a dating app called "SKOUT" to look for her. One of his cousins found Jane’s ad on an escort website named "Erotic Monkey." The ad said "Escort, massage," and above that, it said "Houston escort, 18-24, Latina." The ad provided a phone number and described Jane’s body. Father’s nephew called the listed phone number to set up a date with Jane, and Father went to a Motel 6 where the date was scheduled. Father called the police from the Motel 6 and the police arrived. They knocked on the motel door, but the room was quiet. They called out for Jane, but there was no response. The police did not have a warrant and did not break the door down. Father stayed for another thirty minutes and then went home. He believed Jane was in the room, so he returned to the hotel the next day. By the time Father returned, whoever had been in the motel room was gone.

Father testified that Jane’s ads referred to her by another name and age. One said she was nineteen and used the name "Alaina" and another said, "Houston escort, 18-24." Jane was still fifteen at the time. The first ad said, "hmu for serious inquiries only."⁴ The photos in the ad looked like selfies. Father did not know who uploaded the photos or what phone they were uploaded from. The phone number on the second ad was the number Father’s nephew called, but Father did not know who answered the phone, whose phone was called, or where the phone was answered.

A week to ten days after Father looked for Jane at the motel, Jane was recovered. One of the detectives called Father to let him know. Jane was taken to Texas Children’s Hospital and Father and other family members met her there. Jane looked skinny and as if she had not slept in a long time. When Jane saw her Father, "She [ran] to me and she hugged me and cried and squeezed me, and I did the same thing." Father testified, "She was happy to see us for sure." Jane hugged her mother and brother and was taken to the hospital to be examined.

Father testified that since Jane returned home, she has not run away again. He stated, "She wanted to do everything right this time and she knew what she did was wrong. I think she became more mature. She wanted to study more. She wanted to be more involved with everybody[.]"

B. David Riggs

Sergeant David Riggs of the Houston Police Department’s ("HPD") Human Trafficking Division was assigned to Jane’s missing person case, which was identified as possibly having a human trafficking aspect. He identified several websites, including Erotic Monkey, that are known for publishing escort advertisements. He testified about an ad with Jane’s photo that referred to nineteen-year-old "Alaina" and contained the language "hmu for serious inquiries only." Sergeant Riggs testified that the language "hit me up for serious inquiries only" is consistent with language he has seen in escort adds. He said the ad was "propositioning for something" and that the photo was consistent with what he has seen in escort advertisements. It contained "terms [ ] that would indicate that they’re advertising for sex."

Sergeant Riggs testified that juvenile human trafficking victims usually come from broken homes, or CPS custody, but in some cases, they are girls from good homes who "feel like they might need more freedom or they need to get out of the house or something like that." He testified the most prevalent way of attracting victims is through social media, which "plays a very big role." Traffickers attract victims either by "asking to date them" or by "sending them pictures of going to parties or videos of going to parties and having money and nice cars and trying to persuade them that way." He testified there are several techniques traffickers use to keep the victims from returning home, such as using force, pretending to fall in love with the victim, getting the victim addicted to drugs, threatening to kill someone close to the victim, or isolating the victim, taking her cell phone and telling her that her family does not want her back.

Sergeant Riggs testified that when investigating human trafficking, HPD and other law enforcement agencies use a search engine called "Traffic Jam" to search for ads using certain phone numbers, or by using facial recognition to find victims. Traffic Jam is a tool that helps generate leads and develop trafficking cases.

Using a phone number he located through Traffic Jam, Sergeant Riggs located multiple ads involving a girl he later learned was Jane. When he ran the search, he did not know what Jane looked like but was simply searching a phone number. That phone number led to another phone number and additional ads. Phone records were introduced into evidence that indicated Milton had one of the phone numbers that turned up on Traffic Jam. The phone number listed on at least two ads with Jane’s photo belonged to Milton in October and November 2018. Sergeant Riggs also used a search engine called Whooster as a "lead-generating" tool. Whooster was...