Lorenzo Aguilar v. State

Citation: Not availableDocket: 08-09-00296-CR

Court: Court of Appeals of Texas; August 26, 2011; Texas; State Appellate Court

Original Court Document: View Document

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Lorenzo Aguilar was charged with driving while intoxicated (DWI) and, after pleading not guilty, was convicted by a jury. The trial court imposed a $500 fine and a 180-day jail sentence, which was suspended in favor of one year of community supervision. The case arose from an incident on December 14, 2007, when Officer Miguel Carzoli observed Aguilar's vehicle fail to stop at a stop sign. After stopping Aguilar, Officer Carzoli detected the smell of alcohol on his breath and noted slurred speech. He conducted three Standard Field Sobriety Tests (SFSTs): 

1. **Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus (HGN)**: Aguilar exhibited all six indicators of impairment.
2. **Walk-and-Turn**: Aguilar showed two out of eight clues, indicating failure.
3. **One-Leg Stand**: Aguilar displayed two out of four clues, also indicating failure.

Based on these observations, Officer Carzoli determined Aguilar was intoxicated, arrested him, and read him his rights. Aguilar declined to provide a breath sample. During the trial, defense counsel raised an objection regarding a poster outside the courtroom showing a woman injured by a drunk driver, which he claimed jurors had seen, potentially affecting their impartiality. The appellate court ultimately affirmed the trial court's decision.

Defense counsel, Mr. Ortiz, expressed concerns to the court regarding a prejudicial anti-DWI poster visible to jurors as they entered and exited the courtroom. He argued that the poster, which contained information not in evidence, could influence the jury's decision-making process, potentially leading to a wrongful guilty verdict. Ortiz requested a mistrial based on this exposure. The trial court denied the motion, and after the guilty verdict, Ortiz filed a motion for a new trial, claiming that the jury's exposure to the poster compromised his client's right to a fair trial. During the hearing, Ortiz noted that he saw jurors passing the poster after lunch and argued that their exposure to it could impact their deliberations, although he did not present any witnesses or juror affidavits to support this claim. The trial court again denied the motion for a new trial, leading to an appeal. The appellate review cited that a mistrial is an extreme remedy for highly prejudicial errors and that the court's determination should consider the case's specific facts. The review of the trial court’s ruling on the mistrial motion follows an abuse of discretion standard, with the appellate court upholding the decision if it falls within a reasonable zone of disagreement.

The accused in criminal prosecutions is guaranteed the right to a fair trial by an impartial jury, as established by the Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and the Texas Constitution. This right is fundamental to the justice system. In a motion for a new trial, the Appellant claimed that jurors were potentially prejudiced by viewing a graphic poster of a DWI accident victim outside the courtroom. The poster, described as depicting severe disfigurement, was located on a bulletin board approximately twenty feet away from the jury's vicinity. The Appellant argued that the poster's presence was inherently prejudicial.

Precedents from other cases, such as Hartman v. State and Torres v. State, were referenced, where similar arguments regarding the influence of anti-DWI posters were rejected by the courts due to a lack of evidence showing any impact on jurors. In Hartman, the court noted that the defense failed to demonstrate that the posters had any effect on the jury, and in Torres, the court similarly found no evidence of juror influence from the posters. An analogous case, Camarillo v. State, also concluded that the defendant could not show improper influence from courthouse displays.

The Appellant contended that the poster's graphic nature was so prejudicial that injury should be presumed, without needing to prove actual juror influence. However, the court disagreed, stating that without evidence demonstrating the poster's actual effect on jurors, prejudice cannot be presumed. This aligns with the rationale that mere presence of potentially inflammatory material does not automatically compromise a fair trial.

The court in Stewart v. State ruled that the designation "Drug Impact Court," visible to jurors, did not infringe on the defendant's right to a fair trial, as there was no substantial evidence indicating that this designation compromised the impartiality of the jury. Similarly, in Rogers v. State, the presence of the term did not violate due process, despite the defendant's claims of prejudicial implications. The court found the record insufficient to demonstrate actual or inherent prejudice resulting from the designation. 

In regard to the sufficiency of the evidence supporting the conviction for driving while intoxicated, the court noted that the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals established that only the Jackson v. Virginia legal sufficiency standard applies. This standard requires an appellate court to evaluate the evidence favorably towards the verdict to ascertain if the jury had a rational basis for finding the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. The sufficiency of evidence is determined by the collective weight of incriminating circumstances, with the jury's determinations of witness credibility being paramount. The legal definition of driving while intoxicated includes being impaired due to alcohol or having a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08 or higher. Since the defendant refused a breath test, the State needed to prove that he lacked normal use of mental or physical faculties due to alcohol consumption while operating his vehicle.

Evidence of intoxication can be established through various indicators, including slurred speech, bloodshot eyes, the odor of alcohol, unsteady balance, and a staggered gait. During the trial, only Officer Carzoli provided testimony, which was deemed sufficient to support the intoxication element despite being uncorroborated. Previous cases, such as Valles v. State and Annis v. State, illustrate that officer observations of behavior, such as erratic driving, difficulty in performing tasks, and physical signs of intoxication, can substantiate a conviction for driving while intoxicated. The appellant argued that Officer Carzoli's limited recollection and inconsistencies between his trial and suppression hearing testimonies weakened the evidence. However, the jury, as the sole arbiter of credibility, resolved these inconsistencies in favor of the guilty verdict. Given the evidence presented, viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict, the jury was justified in finding the appellant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. The court overruled the appellant’s issue and affirmed the trial court's ruling.