Dustin Ryan Rhoades v. State ( 2015 )


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  •                                     In The
    Court of Appeals
    Seventh District of Texas at Amarillo
    No. 07-13-00319-CR
    DUSTIN RYAN RHOADES, APPELLANT
    V.
    THE STATE OF TEXAS, APPELLEE
    On Appeal from the 320th District Court
    Potter County, Texas
    Trial Court No. 65,540-D, Honorable Don R. Emerson, Presiding
    September 15, 2015
    MEMORANDUM OPINION
    Before QUINN, C.J., and CAMPBELL and PIRTLE, JJ.
    A jury convicted appellant Dustin Ryan Rhodes of murder and assessed
    punishment, enhanced, at forty years’ confinement in prison.1 The trial court imposed
    sentence accordingly. Appellant challenges his conviction through four issues. Three
    seek rendition of a judgment of acquittal and the fourth, a new trial. We will affirm the
    judgment of the trial court.
    1
    See TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. § 19.02(b) (West 2011) (murder); § 12.42(c)(1)
    (West Supp. 2014) (enhancing minimum term of confinement for first degree felony to
    fifteen years).
    Background
    Around midnight on June 7, 2012, Deans Anderson was found shot to death just
    inside his Amarillo apartment. Another resident of the complex had called 911 after he
    heard a gunshot and watched a man and woman run to a red minivan. The man carried
    a “small black pistol.” From Anderson’s cellphone a police detective obtained
    information that led officers, through an undercover investigation, to Cree-Anna Shamell
    Dawn, a participant in an escort service. Dawn had accompanied appellant to the door
    of Anderson’s apartment on the night of his death.           She identified appellant as
    Anderson’s shooter.
    Questioned by police, appellant gave a voluntary written statement. According to
    his statement, appellant had been acquainted with Dawn for a short time. On June 7,
    she called appellant to tell him a man attempted to rape her and took her money. She
    enlisted appellant’s help to recover the money.        Using a minivan belonging to his
    girlfriend Kristie Ortiz, appellant drove Dawn to the apartment complex and followed her
    to Anderson’s apartment.       Appellant held his .357 revolver in his hand.    Anderson
    opened the apartment door after Dawn knocked. Anderson spoke to Dawn. Appellant
    then stepped up to the door, pointed the gun at Anderson and demanded he give Dawn
    the money and empty his pockets. The men exchanged words and Anderson stepped
    toward appellant. The statement continued, “I twisted and pulled the trigger. I didn’t
    mean to. The shot hit the man in the face. I was sorry and wanted so bad to help him.”
    Appellant and Dawn ran to the minivan and left the complex. A few days later, his
    statement said, appellant sold the gun to an unidentified man along a north Amarillo
    street.
    2
    Appellant was charged by indictment with Anderson’s murder.               Appellant’s
    written statement was admitted into evidence at trial. Ortiz testified, telling the jury that
    a few days after the occurrence appellant told her he pulled the gun on Anderson to
    scare him and Dawn “pulled his arm away to quit, and then the gun went off.” Ortiz
    acknowledged she did not recount this version of the occurrence in a June 12 written
    statement to police.
    A pathologist testified to his autopsy of Anderson’s body, and expressed the
    opinion the cause of death was a gunshot wound to the head.
    Appellant did not testify. He was convicted and sentenced as noted.
    Analysis
    By his first, third, and fourth issues appellant seeks rendition of a judgment of
    acquittal. He requests reversal and remand in his second issue. We will first consider
    appellant’s three rendition issues.
    Sufficiency of the Evidence
    In his first issue, appellant asserts the evidence was insufficient to prove he
    intentionally or knowingly murdered Anderson because the firearm discharged as a
    result of an “involuntary reflex.”
    We evaluate the sufficiency of evidence supporting criminal convictions under the
    standard set forth in Jackson v. Virginia, 
    443 U.S. 307
    , 319, 
    99 S. Ct. 2781
    , 
    61 L. Ed. 2d 560
    (1979); Brooks v. State, 
    323 S.W.3d 893
    , 894-95 (Tex. Crim. App. 2010). That
    standard requires that we view all evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict and
    3
    determine whether any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of
    the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. Salinas v. State, 
    163 S.W.3d 734
    , 737 (Tex.
    Crim. App. 2005). As fact finder, the jury is the sole judge of the credibility of the
    witnesses and may choose to believe all, some, or none of the testimony the parties
    presented. Lancon v. State, 
    253 S.W.3d 699
    , 707 (Tex. Crim. App. 2008); Chambers v.
    State, 
    805 S.W.2d 459
    , 461 (Tex. Crim. App. 1991); Williams v. State, 
    290 S.W.3d 407
    ,
    412 (Tex. App.—Amarillo 2009, no pet.).
    The State’s indictment charged appellant with murder under two theories, that he
    intentionally and knowingly caused Anderson’s death by shooting him with a firearm;
    and that he committed or attempted to commit a felony, deadly conduct, and in the
    course of it committed or attempted to commit an act clearly dangerous to human life,
    pointing a firearm at or in Anderson’s direction, that caused Anderson’s death. See
    TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. § 19.02(b)(1), (b)(3) (West 2011).
    Under Penal Code section 19.02(b)(1), a person commits murder if he
    intentionally or knowingly causes the death of an individual. TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. §
    19.02(b)(1). Section 19.02(b)(3) is the “felony murder” provision. TEX. PENAL CODE
    ANN. § 19.02(b)(3). Essentially, felony murder is, “an unintentional murder committed in
    the course of committing a felony.” Rodriguez v. State, 
    454 S.W.3d 503
    , 508 (Tex.
    Crim. App. 2014) (citing Fuentes v. State, 
    991 S.W.2d 267
    , 272 (Tex. Crim. App.
    1999)). Specifically, felony murder is committed where a person “commits or attempts
    to commit a felony, other than manslaughter, and in the course of and in furtherance of
    the commission or attempt . . . he commits or attempts to commit an act clearly
    dangerous to human life that causes the death of an individual.” 
    Id. (quoting Penal
    4
    Code section 19.02(b)(3)).     A person commits the offense of deadly conduct if he
    “knowingly discharges a firearm at or in the direction of . . . one or more individuals.”
    TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. § 22.05(b) (West 2011). Deadly conduct may serve as the
    underlying felony for proof of felony murder. Washington v. State, 
    417 S.W.3d 713
    , 721
    (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2013, pet. refused); Miles v. State, 
    259 S.W.3d 240
    ,
    247 (Tex. App.—Texarkana 2008, pet. refused).
    A person acts intentionally with respect to a result of his conduct when “it is his
    conscious objective or desire to engage in the conduct or cause the result.” TEX. PENAL
    CODE ANN. § 6.03(a) (West 2011). A person acts knowingly with respect to a result of
    his conduct when “he is aware that his conduct is reasonably certain to cause the
    result.” TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. § 6.03(b).
    The court’s charge authorized conviction under either of the State’s theories of
    guilt, and from our review of the record we find the evidence sufficient to permit
    conviction under either theory. By appellant’s statement, he pointed the .357 revolver at
    Anderson and told him to give Dawn the money and empty his pockets.                  When
    Anderson stepped toward him, appellant “twisted and pulled the trigger.” In its role as
    trier of fact, the jury was entitled to accept appellant’s statement at face value. From his
    conduct of pointing the revolver at Anderson at close range and pulling the trigger, and
    despite appellant’s assertion he did not “mean to,” the jury was further entitled to infer
    appellant intended the natural and usual consequence of such an action, the death of
    Anderson. Guevara v. State, 
    152 S.W.3d 45
    , 50 (Tex. Crim. App. 2004) (“Intent may
    also be inferred from circumstantial evidence such as acts, words, and the conduct” of
    the accused).      The jury also could have concluded appellant’s actions were
    5
    accompanied by the knowledge that they were reasonably certain to cause Anderson’s
    death, even if appellant did not intend it. Either mental state authorizes conviction for
    murder.
    The jury was equally entitled to disbelieve Ortiz’s version which included
    appellant’s statement the gun discharged when Dawn pulled his arm away. Ortiz made
    no mention of Dawn pulling appellant’s arm in her written statement given some eight
    days after the shooting. Rather, she first mentioned this version in January 2013 during
    a conversation with the prosecutor and an investigator.
    Appellant’s written statement also provided evidence permitting a rational jury to
    conclude beyond reasonable doubt that appellant knowingly discharged a firearm at or
    in Anderson’s direction, that doing so was clearly dangerous to human life and that it
    caused Anderson’s death. See TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. § 22.05(b).
    Because, viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict, the record contains
    evidence from which jurors rationally could have found all elements of the offense of
    murder, the evidence is sufficient. Appellant’s first issue is overruled.
    Motion to Quash Paragraph Two of the Indictment
    By his third issue, appellant argues the trial court erred in refusing to quash
    paragraph two of the indictment. As we understand appellant’s argument here, he
    contends paragraph two of the indictment did not properly allege felony murder because
    as worded it alleged only the misdemeanor level of deadly conduct.
    The second paragraph of the indictment read:
    6
    AND THE GRAND JURORS do further present in and to the Court that . . .
    DUSTIN RYAN RHOADES, the defendant, on or about the 7th day of
    June, 2012 did then and there intentionally or knowingly commit or attempt
    to commit an act clearly dangerous to human life, to-wit: pointing a firearm
    at or in the direction of Deans Anderson, that caused the death of Deans
    Anderson, and the Defendant was then and there in the course of
    intentionally or knowingly committing a felony, to-wit: Deadly Conduct, and
    said death of Deans Anderson was caused while the Defendant was in the
    course of and in furtherance of the commission or attempt of said felony.
    In his pretrial motion to quash appellant asserted, “As alleged, Deadly Conduct is
    an act Reckless in its level of culpability, and is therefore a lesser included offense of
    Manslaughter, and cannot therefore be charged as Murder against Defendant Dustin
    Ryan Rhoades.” After a brief hearing on the morning of trial, the motion was denied.
    The sufficiency of a charging instrument presents a question of law. Smith v.
    State, 
    309 S.W.3d 10
    , 13 (Tex. Crim. App. 2010). An appellate court reviews a trial
    judge’s ruling on a motion to quash a charging instrument de novo. 
    Id. at 14.
    As applicable here, a person commits the offense of murder if he commits a
    felony, other than manslaughter, and in the course of and in furtherance of the
    commission he commits an act clearly dangerous to human life that causes the death of
    an individual. See TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. § 19.02(b).
    Penal Code section 22.05 contains misdemeanor and felony categories of the
    offense of deadly conduct. See TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. § 22.05. First, the offense is
    committed if a person “recklessly engages in conduct that places another in imminent
    danger of serious bodily injury.” TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. § 22.05(a). This is a Class A
    misdemeanor.     TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. § 22.05(e).       Second, a person commits the
    offense of deadly conduct if he “knowingly discharges a firearm at or in the direction
    7
    of . . . one or more individuals.” TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. § 22.05(b). This is a third-
    degree felony. TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. § 22.05(e). Thus the felony category of deadly
    conduct is committed only by knowingly discharging a firearm.
    Section 22.05(c) states that “recklessness and danger are presumed if the actor
    knowingly pointed a firearm at or in the direction of another . . . .” TEX. PENAL CODE ANN.
    § 22.05(c). Those concepts, recklessness and danger, have application only to the
    misdemeanor category of deadly conduct. See TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. § 22.05(a). But
    paragraph two of the indictment alleged that appellant pointed a firearm at or in the
    direction of Anderson.
    Perhaps because, and as the State concedes, paragraph two of the indictment
    “could have been more artfully drawn,” appellant confuses the elements of the required
    underlying felony with the “act clearly dangerous to human life” requirement contained
    in the felony murder provision of section 19.02(b)(3). It was to satisfy that requirement
    that paragraph two contains the allegation appellant pointed a firearm.
    It now appears “well established under Texas law that deadly conduct can be the
    underlying felony for felony murder.” 
    Washington, 417 S.W.3d at 721
    (citing 
    Miles, 259 S.W.3d at 247
    ; Yandell v. State, 
    46 S.W.3d 357
    , 361 (Tex. App.—Austin 2001, pet.
    refused); Rodriguez v. State, 
    953 S.W.2d 342
    , 354 (Tex. App.—Austin 1997, pet.
    refused), cited with approval in Lawson v. State, 
    64 S.W.3d 396
    , 401 (Tex. Crim. App.
    2001) (Cochran, J., concurring)). The culpable mental state for felony deadly conduct is
    knowingly, which precludes the offense from being a lesser-included offense of
    manslaughter which requires only the less culpable mental state of recklessness. See
    8
    
    Washington, 417 S.W.3d at 721
    -22 (citing 
    Yandell, 46 S.W.3d at 361
    ). Finally, the
    underlying felony necessary for proving the offense of felony murder, so long as it is not
    manslaughter, may also serve as the act clearly dangerous to human life that causes
    the death of an individual. See Johnson v. State, 
    4 S.W.3d 254
    , 258 (Tex. Crim. App.
    1999) (disavowing the “overly broad statement in Garrett v. State, 
    573 S.W.2d 543
    , 546
    (Tex. Crim. App. [Panel Op.] 1978), that in order to support a conviction under the
    felony murder provision, ‘[t]here must be a showing of felonious criminal conduct other
    than the assault causing the homicide’” and holding the only limitation by merger on the
    offense of felony murder is a conviction “will not lie when the underlying felony is
    manslaughter or a lesser included offense of manslaughter”). We find no error by the
    trial court in denying appellant’s motion to quash. Appellant’s third issue is overruled.
    Standing
    Appellant argues in his fourth issue that police learned his identity, and as a
    result later obtained his written statement, through the means of unlawful activity, a
    violation of the prostitution statute.2 Therefore, he urges, the trial court erred by failing
    to suppress identification evidence and his written statement.
    As noted, police discovered a recent contact on Anderson’s cellphone. Following
    up, they linked the call to a person working in an “escort service” under the alias
    “Chocolate Cherry.”     Officers set up an undercover prostitution investigation of this
    person and arranged a meeting with her. During a hearing outside the presence of the
    jury, a detective testified at the meeting an offer of sex for money was made and
    2
    See TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. § 43.02 (West Supp. 2014) (offense of prostitution).
    9
    accepted. As a result, Chocolate Cherry was arrested. She was then identified as
    Dawn.       Further investigation based on information Dawn provided led to a second
    interview, in which Dawn told the detective she and appellant were at the door of
    Anderson’s apartment, appellant held a gun in his hand, he pointed the gun at
    Anderson, and she ran while appellant remained at the door with the gun. As she ran
    she heard a gunshot. Appellant thus asserts his identification as a suspect resulted
    from the initial undercover conversation with Dawn, in which an officer participated in
    the agreement for sex for money.3
    Code of Criminal Procedure article 38.23(a) states, “No evidence obtained by an
    officer or other person in violation of any provisions of the Constitution or laws of the
    State of Texas, or of the Constitution or laws of the United States of America, shall be
    admitted in evidence against the accused on the trial of any criminal case.” TEX. CODE
    CRIM. PROC. ANN. art. 38.23(a) (West 2005). Article 38.23 protects “a suspect’s privacy,
    property, and liberty rights against overzealous law enforcement.” Wilson v. State, 
    311 S.W.3d 452
    , 459 (Tex. Crim. App. 2010). It is substantive in nature, providing a remedy
    for a violation of those rights. 
    Id. But a
    defendant has no standing to complain about
    evidence seized in violation of Texas law unless the defendant’s rights were invaded by
    the seizure. Chavez v. State, 
    9 S.W.3d 817
    , 819 (Tex. Crim. App. 2000) (citing Fuller v.
    State, 
    829 S.W.2d 191
    , 201-02 (Tex. Crim. App. 1992), overruled on other grounds by
    3
    Some penal statutes contain exceptions allowing law enforcement agents to
    engage in conduct that otherwise would be criminal. See, e.g., TEX. HEALTH & SAFETY
    CODE ANN. § 481.062(a)(4) (West 2010); Wilson v. State, 
    311 S.W.3d 452
    , 463 (Tex.
    Crim. App. 2010) (“The Texas Legislature specifically exempted police officers who are
    acting in their official capacity from liability for the penal offense of possession of a
    controlled substance”). Appellant points out the prostitution statute contains no similar
    exception.
    10
    Riley v. State, 
    889 S.W.2d 290
    (Tex. Crim. App. 1994)). We find appellant has no
    standing to complain that the officer violated the prostitution statute.
    Fuller is instructive here. While detained in the county jail the defendant in Fuller
    made an audio recording and gave it to a fellow prisoner, 
    Hall. 829 S.W.2d at 201
    .
    Another prisoner took the recording from Hall and delivered it to jail authorities. 
    Id. The trial
    court admitted the recording into evidence at the punishment phase of the
    defendant’s capital murder trial to show his lack of remorse. 
    Id. The defendant
    argued
    the recording should have been suppressed under article 38.23(a) because it was
    illegally taken from Hall. 
    Id. The State
    countered that the defendant had no standing to
    contest the evidence. The court agreed, concluding the defendant lacked standing “to
    challenge such illegality in the context of a criminal prosecution.”        
    Id. at 202.
      It
    explained that despite its broad language, article 38.23(a) does not “confer automatic
    third party standing upon all persons accused of crimes, such that they may complain
    about the receipt of evidence which was obtained by violation of the rights of others, no
    matter how remote in interest from themselves.” 
    Id. Thus under
    the facts of Fuller:
    The justiciable injury suffered as a direct and immediate result of the
    illegality of which [the defendant] here complains was not his own. The
    illegality, if any, was theft or conversion. The victim, if any, was [Hall].
    [She] may have a cognizable cause of action for conversion against
    someone. The State of Texas may have a basis to prosecute someone
    for the criminal offense committed against [Hall]. But no one may sue, nor
    may the State of Texas prosecute, anyone for an injury to the [defendant]
    arising from the illegality about which he now complains, since he suffered
    no injury actionable under our law as a result of it. No actionable wrong
    was visited upon [the defendant] as a result of the seizure. For this
    reason we hold that he is also without standing to challenge such illegality
    in the context of a criminal prosecution . . . 
    . 829 S.W.2d at 202
    .
    11
    In like manner, appellant does not explain how the undercover operation that
    resulted in Dawn’s arrest for prostitution invaded his rights with respect to the charge of
    murdering Anderson.       See Gower v. State, No. 02-10-00362-CR, 2011, Tex. App.
    LEXIS 8185, at *19-25 (Tex. App.—Fort Worth Oct. 13, 2011, no pet.) (mem. op., not
    designated for publication) (holding defendant lacked standing to complain under article
    38.23(a) of evidence obtained from deputy medical examiner, allegedly acting in
    violation of Code of Criminal Procedure article 49.25 (a Class B misdemeanor), when
    defendant failed to identify a violation of his own rights resulting from the alleged
    violation); Orr v. State, 
    306 S.W.3d 380
    , 400 (Tex. App.—Fort Worth 2010, no pet.)
    (holding defendant had no standing to complain that testimony of unlicensed fire
    investigator should have been struck under article 38.23(a) when defendant did not
    allege a violation of her rights related to the investigator’s alleged violation of law); State
    v. Tyson, 
    919 S.W.2d 900
    , 903 (Tex. App.—Eastland 1996, pet. refused) (finding
    defendant had no standing to complain under article 38.23 of evidence agents obtained
    through allegedly unlawful purchase of alcoholic beverages by cooperating minor as
    none of defendant’s rights were violated by the transaction); Stockton v. State, 
    756 S.W.2d 873
    , 874 (Tex. App.—Austin 1988, no pet.) (finding evidence obtained by an
    undercover narcotics officer enrolled in high school, allegedly in violation of the Texas
    Education Code, was not subject to exclusion under article 38.23); see also Andrews v.
    State, 
    164 Tex. Crim. 1
    , 3, 
    296 S.W.2d 275
    , 276 (1956) (overruling a defendant’s
    contention that testimony from a physician was inadmissible because the physician
    conducted a vaginal examination of a rape victim while not licensed to practice). Thus
    12
    appellant has no standing to complain, under article 38.23, of the admission of the
    challenged evidence. Appellant’s fourth issue is overruled.
    Failure to Instruct on Voluntariness
    By his second issue appellant complains the trial court erred by refusing to
    submit a requested instruction on voluntariness.      Appellant’s proposed instruction
    provided:
    You are instructed that a person commits an offense only if he voluntarily
    engages in conduct, including an act, omission, or possession. Conduct is
    not rendered involuntary merely because the person did not intend the
    results of his conduct.
    You are instructed that it is your duty to consider the evidence of all
    relevant facts and circumstances surrounding the alleged shooting of
    Deans Anderson and the previous relationship existing between the
    accused and the deceased, if any, including by way of any third party,
    together with all relevant facts and circumstances going to show the
    condition of the mind of defendant Dustin Ryan Rhoades at the time of the
    alleged shooting, and you should place yourselves in the position of
    defendant Dustin Ryan Rhoades at the time in question and view the
    circumstances from his viewpoint alone.
    Thus, if you believe from the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that on
    the occasion in question the defendant, Dustin Ryan Rhoades, did cause
    the death of Deans Anderson by shooting him with a gun, as alleged in the
    indictment, but you further believe from the evidence, or you have a
    reasonable doubt thereof, that the shooting was a result of an accidental
    discharge of the gun and was not the voluntary act or conduct of the
    defendant, you will acquit the defendant and say by your verdict “Not
    Guilty.”
    The court denied the requested instruction.
    “When a defensive theory is raised by evidence from any source and a charge is
    properly requested, it must be submitted to the jury.” Woodfox v. State, 
    742 S.W.2d 408
    , 409 (Tex. Crim. App. 1987) (quoting Gavia v. State, 
    488 S.W.2d 420
    , 421 (Tex.
    13
    Crim. App. 1972)). A trial court must submit an instruction on every defensive issue
    raised by the evidence, “regardless of whether the evidence is strong, feeble,
    unimpeached, or contradicted, and even when the trial court thinks that the testimony is
    not worthy of belief.” Rogers v. State, 
    105 S.W.3d 630
    , 637 (Tex. Crim. App. 2003)
    (concerning voluntariness of conduct as defensive issue). The evidence must support a
    rational jury finding on each element of the defense. Shaw v. State, 
    243 S.W.3d 647
    ,
    658 (Tex. Crim. App. 2007).
    “A person commits an offense only if he voluntarily engages in conduct, including
    an act, an omission, or possession.” TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. § 6.01(a) (West 2011).
    “Voluntariness,” as applied by section 6.01(a), refers only to one’s own physical body
    movements. 
    Rogers, 105 S.W.3d at 638
    (citing Rashann Maurice Brown v. State, 
    89 S.W.3d 630
    , 633 (Tex. Crim. App. 2002)).         “If those physical movements are the
    nonvolitional result of someone else’s act, are set in motion by some independent non-
    human force, are caused by a physical reflex or convulsion, or are the product of
    unconsciousness, hypnosis or other nonvolitional impetus, that movement is not
    voluntary.” 
    Id. (citing Tex.
    Penal Code § 6.01, Practice Commentary).
    [B]efore criminal responsibility may be imposed, the actor’s conduct must
    “include[ ] either a voluntary act or an omission when the defendant was
    capable of action.” The operative word under Section 6.01(a), for present
    purposes, is “include.” Both the Model Penal Code comments and the
    Practice Commentary to the 1974 Texas Penal Code stress that the
    “voluntary act” requirement does not necessarily go to the ultimate act
    (e.g., pulling the trigger), but only that criminal responsibility for the harm
    must “include an act” that is voluntary (e.g., pulling the gun, pointing the
    gun, or cocking the hammer).
    Farmer v. State, 
    411 S.W.3d 901
    , 905-06 (Tex. Crim. App. 2013) (quoting 
    Rogers, 105 S.W.3d at 638
    ).
    14
    Here, according to appellant, he armed himself with a .357 revolver which he
    carried in his hand as he and Dawn approached Anderson’s apartment door. Appellant
    stepped up to the door with his gun pointed at Anderson and demanded money. Based
    on appellant’s own version of the occurrence he voluntarily engaged in an act leading to
    the shooting of Anderson. That is, he carried his loaded revolver and pointed it at
    Anderson. No evidence suggests those actions were involuntary. “All that is necessary
    to satisfy Section 6.01(a) of the Texas Penal Code is that the commission of the offense
    included a voluntary act.” 
    Farmer, 411 S.W.3d at 907
    (emphasis in original). Therefore,
    the trial court did not err by refusing appellant’s request for a voluntariness instruction.
    See George v. State, 
    681 S.W.2d 43
    (Tex. Crim. App. 1984) (finding a person
    “voluntarily engages in conduct when the conduct includes, inter alia, a voluntary act
    and its accompanying mental state. That such conduct also includes an involuntary act
    does not necessarily render engaging in that conduct involuntary” (footnote omitted,
    emphasis in original)); Conroy v. State, 
    843 S.W.2d 67
    , 72 (Tex. App.—Houston [1st
    Dist.] 1992, no pet.) (“Even assuming that the discharge of the weapon was unintended,
    the intentional pointing of a weapon is a voluntary act and the resulting death is
    imputable to the [defendant]”); Arroyo v. State, No. C14-92-00540-CR, 1994 Tex. App.
    LEXIS 459, at *11 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] Mar. 10, 1994, no pet.) (not
    designated for publication) (explaining instruction on voluntariness not required if
    defendant engaged in single voluntary act and required mental state even though
    involuntary act may also have constituted part of overall act). Cf. 
    Farmer, 411 S.W.3d at 906
    (“Thus, a voluntary act that comprised a portion of the commission of the offense
    15
    is sufficient to satisfy the requirement of Section 6.01(a), even if that voluntary act was
    accidental or the consequences of that act were unintended”).
    Appellant’s second issue is overruled.
    Conclusion
    Having overruled each of appellant’s issues, we affirm the judgment of the trial
    court.
    James T. Campbell
    Justice
    Do not publish.
    Pirtle, J., concurring.
    16