Segovia v. State

543 S.W.3d 497

Pedro Antonio SEGOVIA, Appellant

v.The STATE of Texas, Appellee

NO. 14-16-00758-CR

Court of Appeals of Texas, Houston (14th Dist.).

Opinion filed March 8, 2018.

Oscar Favela, Houston, TX, for Appellant.

Bridget Holloway, Houston, TX, for Appellee.

Panel consists of Justices Jamison, Busby, and Donovan.

OPINION

John Donovan, Justice

A jury convicted appellant Pedro Antonio Segovia of interference with public duties, a Class B misdemeanor. The trial court sentenced appellant to confinement for 180 days and assessed a $250 fine. Appellant’s sentence was suspended and he was placed on community supervision for two years. Appellant timely brought this appeal. We affirm.

SUFFICIENCY OF THE EVIDENCE

Appellant’s first and second issues contend there was insufficient evidence to support his conviction. A person commits the offense of interference with public duties if, with criminal negligence, he interrupts, disrupts, impedes, or otherwise interferes with a peace officer while the peace officer is performing a duty or exercising authority imposed or granted by law. Tex. Penal Code § 38.15(a)(1). The information specified that appellant disregarded verbal commands of an officer by driving through a prohibited area. Because a charging instrument is required to allege with reasonable certainty the act or acts relied upon to constitute criminal negligence when criminal negligence is an element of any offense, the State was required to prove appellant, with criminal negligence, interfered with a peace officer when he disregarded the officer’s commands by driving through a prohibited area. See Tex. Code Crim. Proc. art. 21.15 ; Carney v. State , 31 S.W.3d 392, 396 (Tex. App.—Austin 2000, no pet.) ; see also Malik v. State, 953 S.W.2d 234, 240 (Tex. Crim. App. 1997) (holding sufficiency of the evidence is measured by the elements of the offense as defined by the hypothetically correct jury charge). Appellant claims the State failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he acted with criminal negligence or drove through a prohibited area.

The Evidence

Deputy Mena and Deputy Frederick of the Harris County Sherriff’s Department testified on behalf of the State. They were directing traffic at a church in Harris County, Texas, and were standing in a busy four-way intersection when appellant approached. Using verbal and hand signals, as well as a whistle, Mena instructed appellant to stop. The verbal commands were in English and Spanish. Frederick also directed appellant to stop by holding up his hand and blowing his whistle. Appellant initially stopped but then continued to drive into the intersection toward Mena while Mena’s back was toward appellant’s car. Both deputies testified appellant disregarded their verbal and hand signal commands to stop. Appellant proceeded toward the middle of the intersection and attempted to turn right in a direction blocked off by traffic cones. According to Frederick’s testimony, appellant could only turn left because traffic cones were blocking any turn to the right. Defense counsel asked Frederick, "would you consider the area from the corner to the right entrance the prohibited area ..." Frederick responded, "It’s not a prohibited area. Just he’s not allowed to turn right at that intersection."

Mena was on the passenger side of the car and Frederick was on the driver’s side. Frederick reached inside appellant’s car and put the gear shift in park. Appellant attempted to push Frederick away, shifted the car back into drive and tried to continue through the intersection. The deputies removed appellant from the car and handcuffed him and stopped the car.

Mena testified 400-600 cars exit that parking lot after church service, another nearby church also ends services at approximately the same time, and pedestrians use the sidewalk. Mena testified that appellant was leaving the other church service. The purpose of the deputies being on the road and directing traffic was to increase safety for both drivers and pedestrians. Mena testified that appellant’s actions impeded and disrupted the deputies' ability to direct traffic. Mena further testified that appellant almost caused several accidents and "could have caused a major accident with serious bodily injury." Both deputies testified appellant’s actions made it dangerous for them and the public, and actually resulted in their loss of control of traffic.

Appellant testified that he entered the intersection with the intention of turning right to go home but the officer would not let him make a right turn. According to appellant, if he turned right his home was about two minutes away but if he turned left it would take ten to twelve minutes. Appellant testified that he stopped the car when Mena held out his hand and told him to stop. Appellant denied moving the car forward after that and denied that his vehicle was ever in the middle of the intersection.

Standard of Review

When reviewing the sufficiency of the evidence, we view all of the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict and determine, based on that evidence and any reasonable inferences from it, whether any rational trier of fact could have found the elements of the offense beyond a reasonable doubt. Gear v. State, 340 S.W.3d 743, 746 (Tex. Crim. App. 2011) ; see also Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 318–19, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979). The jury is the exclusive judge of the credibility of the witnesses and the weight to be given to the evidence. See Isassi v. State, 330 S.W.3d 633, 638 (Tex. Crim. App. 2010). Further, we defer to the jury’s responsibility to fairly resolve conflicts in testimony, weigh the evidence, and to draw reasonable inferences from basic facts to ultimate facts. Id. This standard applies to both circumstantial and direct evidence. Id. We do not engage in a second evaluation of the weight and credibility of the evidence, but only ensure the jury reached a rational decision. Muniz v. State, 851 S.W.2d 238, 246 (Tex. Crim. App. 1993).

Criminal Negligence

Appellant first claims there is legally insufficient evidence that he acted with criminal negligence. Criminal negligence is defined as follows:

A person acts with criminal negligence, or is criminally negligent, with respect to circumstances surrounding his conduct or the result of his conduct when he ought to be aware of a substantial and unjustifiable risk that the circumstances exist or the result will occur. The risk must be of such a nature and degree that the failure to perceive it constitutes a gross deviation from the standard of care that an ordinary person would exercise under all the circumstances as viewed from the actor’s standpoint.

Tex. Penal Code § 6.03(d). The State was not required to prove appellant was aware of a substantial and unjustifiable risk but that appellant ought to have been aware of a substantial and unjustifiable risk that his conduct would interfere with an officer’s exercise of authority. Lopez v. State , 630 S.W.2d 936, 940 (Tex. Crim. App. 1982). A person is criminally negligent if he should have been aware of the risk surrounding his conduct but failed to perceive it. Ford v. State , 14 S.W.3d 382, 387 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2000, no pet.).

The evidence set forth above reflects the jury heard evidence that Mena and Frederick were standing in the middle of a busy intersection when appellant disregarded multiple commands to stop, proceeded to the middle of the intersection, and attempted to turn right even though that lane of traffic was blocked off by cones. Further, the jury heard testimony that appellant nearly caused several accidents. From the evidence presented, a rational trier of fact could have found beyond a reasonable doubt that appellant should have been aware that there was a substantial and unjustifiable risk that his actions interrupted, disrupted, impeded, or otherwise interfered with the officers as they tried to direct traffic and that his failure to perceive that risk constituted a gross deviation from the standard of care an ordinary person would have exercised under like circumstances. See Duncantell v. State , 230 S.W.3d 835, 842 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2007, pet. ref'd) ; Gear, 340 S.W.3d at 746. Appellant’s first issue is overruled.

Driving Through a Prohibited Area

Next, appellant asserts there is legally insufficient evidence that he drove through a prohibited area. Appellant contends the "prohibited area" was only the area blocked off by the traffic cones, which he did not enter, and did not include the intersection.

"Prohibited area" is not defined by statute and was not defined in the jury charge. Accordingly, the jury was free to assign to the term its common and ordinary meaning. Vernon v. State, 841 S.W.2d 407, 409 (Tex. Crim. App. 1992). A prohibited area is an area into which entry is restricted or forbidden. See Prohibited Area, English Oxford, https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/prohibited_area (last visited Feb. 8, 2018). As applicable here "area" is defined as a particular extent of surface, such as a geographic region. See Area , MERRIAM–WEBSTER, http//www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/area (last visited Feb. 28, 2018). "Restricted" in this case is to specifically exclude others See Restricted , MERRIAM–WEBSTER, http//www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/restricted (last visited Feb. 28, 2018). "Forbidden" means not permitted or allowed. Forbidden , MERRIAM–WEBSTER, http//www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/forbidden (last visited Feb. 28, 2018). Thus a prohibited area is a geographic region where excluded persons are not permitted or allowed entry.

According to their testimony, both officers signaled appellant to stop and Mena told him to stop, in English and Spanish. Thus, the jury heard evidence that appellant drove into the middle of the intersection against the directives of two deputies attempting to forbid his entry into that intersection. Frederick’s testimony that it was not a "prohibited area"...