Victor Rolando Corpus v. the State of Texas

Summary

The Texas Eleventh Court of Appeals affirmed the judgments convicting Victor Rolando Corpus of continuous sexual abuse of a child and indecency with a child by contact. The court held that Corpus waived appellate review of the denial of his motion for continuance because the motion was oral and unsworn. The court alternatively held that the trial court did not abuse its discretion and that Corpus failed to show harm from the denial of a continuance to obtain medical records.

Holdings

1. A motion for continuance must be written and sworn to preserve appellate review of the trial court's denial; an unsworn oral motion forfeits the complaint on appeal.
2. Even if the complaint had been preserved, the trial court did not abuse its discretion by denying the continuance because the missing records were not shown to be an unexpected occurrence that reasonable diligence could not have anticipated, and the appellant was not shown to be so surprised that a fair trial could not be had.
3. The appellant failed to demonstrate harm because the record did not show that the hospital records were ever located or that they contained information beneficial to the defense.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the appellant preserved for appellate review a challenge to the denial of a motion for continuance when the motion was oral and unsworn.
2. Whether, assuming the complaint was preserved, the trial court abused its discretion by denying a continuance to obtain missing hospital records.
3. Whether the appellant demonstrated harm from the denial of the continuance.

Disposition

affirmed