Alexas Faragoza v. The State of Texas

Summary

The Texas Court of Appeals for the First District affirmed a thirteen-year sentence for recklessly causing serious bodily injury to a child. The court held that the evidence was sufficient to support the jury’s finding that the appellant used or exhibited a motor vehicle as a deadly weapon, even under a beyond-a-reasonable-doubt standard. The court also concluded that the appellant’s guilty plea foreclosed arguments disputing the causal connection between her reckless driving and the child’s injuries.

Holdings

1. The evidence was sufficient for a rational factfinder to conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that Faragoza used a motor vehicle as a deadly weapon during the commission of the felony.
2. Because Faragoza pleaded guilty to an indictment alleging that her reckless operation of the vehicle caused the child's injuries, her argument that something other than that conduct caused the injuries was foreclosed.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the evidence was sufficient to support the jury's affirmative finding that Faragoza used or exhibited a motor vehicle as a deadly weapon during the commission of the felony.
2. Whether Faragoza's guilty plea foreclosed her argument that reckless driving before the collision was temporally disconnected from the child's injuries or that some cause other than her reckless driving caused the injuries.

Disposition

affirmed