Hodges v. State

Summary

This document is Charles Lee Hodges’s Second Corrected Petition for Discretionary Review filed in the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in cause number PD-0258-15. The petition challenges the Eleventh Court of Appeals’ application of the egregious-harm standard to the trial court’s failure to inform the jury of the State’s election of the specific incident supporting an indecency-with-a-child conviction.

Holdings

1. When an indictment alleges one sexual assault but the evidence shows multiple acts, the State must elect the specific incident supporting conviction upon a timely defense request, and the defendant is entitled to an instruction limiting the jury's consideration to that elected act. Because Hodges did not object to the charge, the error was reviewed for egregious harm; the omission did not deprive him of a fair and impartial trial.
2. Hodges forfeited his argument that the testimony violated Texas Rule of Evidence 608 because his objections in the trial court did not preserve that specific ground.
3. Any error in admitting the challenged hearsay testimony was harmless under Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure 44.2(b) because it did not have a substantial or injurious effect or influence on the jury's verdict.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the trial court's failure to instruct the jury on the State's election of the specific incident supporting the conviction caused egregious harm when Hodges did not object to the charge.
2. Whether the trial court abused its discretion by admitting opinion testimony concerning the complainant's character for truthfulness.
3. Whether the trial court abused its discretion by admitting testimony about statements allegedly made by the complainant, and, if so, whether the error affected a substantial right.

Disposition

affirmed