TOM GRAY, Chief Justice.
Adam Gutierrez was charged with and convicted of robbing Juan and Jose DelaRosa and using a deadly weapon to commit that offense. See TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. § 29.03(a)(2) (West 2011). He was sentenced to life in prison for each count. Because the trial court did not abuse its discretion in granting the State's motion for continuance and did not err in including each conduct element in the definitions of the required mental states, the trial court's judgments are affirmed.
In his first issue, Gutierrez contends the trial court abused its discretion in granting the State's motion for continuance.
At a pretrial hearing on January 11, 2013, the State presented its written and sworn motion for continuance. In the motion, the State presented three reasons for the need for the continuance: 1) a DNA comparison between Gutierrez, the victims, and the known sample taken from a t-shirt believed to be worn by Gutierrez needed to be done which may result in exculpatory evidence; 2) a cell phone dropped at the scene where the suspect in the robberies, Gutierrez, was hiding needed to be analyzed; and 3) one of the victims received correspondence from someone at the jail which was being investigated as a threat by Gutierrez which might result in more charges being brought against Gutierrez. As to the first reason, the State further explained that the t-shirt was swabbed for DNA by "crime scene techs;" that the DNA was submitted by Detective Manuel Chavez to the DPS lab on June 5, 2012; that a DNA report was generated by DPS on December 12, 2012 and sent to Det. Chavez; and that the DNA report was received by email by the District Attorney's Office on January 2, 2013. Because the DNA profile was consistent with at least three individuals, the State explained, a comparison would need to be done of Gutierrez's DNA, the two victims' DNA, and the known profile. The State acknowledged that the comparison evidence may be exculpatory because it may exclude Gutierrez as someone who had contact with the t-shirt and may implicate someone else.
At the hearing, the State explained that if it could obtain a buccal swab that day from Gutierrez, the lab would complete the analysis within 60 to 90 days.
Detective Chavez testified that the offense occurred on October 7, 2011, that Gutierrez was arrested on October 27, 2011, and that Gutierrez had been in jail ever since then. Chavez explained that Gutierrez already had a DNA specimen on file. But, when the report on the DNA recovered from the t-shirt showed that that specimen was not eligible for "CODIS," Chavez needed a new DNA sample from Gutierrez. No one explained the meaning of "CODIS."
After Chavez's testimony, counsel for Gutierrez informed the court that should it grant the continuance, Gutierrez would consent to the buccal swab being taken. Counsel then argued that the State had had the evidence since the day of Gutierrez's arrest, that the court had been told several times that the parties were waiting on the DNA results, and that the State had "passed before." He also argued that Gutierrez wanted a trial date and wanted "this thing to be fast-tracked so we can get this matter tried."
The trial court expressed its exasperation with the situation:
(Emphasis added).
A criminal action may be continued on the written motion of the State or of the defendant, upon sufficient cause shown. TEX.CODE CRIM. PROC. ANN. art. 29.03 (West 2011). The granting or denial of a motion for continuance is within the sound discretion of the trial court. Heiselbetz v. State, 906 S.W.2d 500, 511 (Tex.Crim.App.1995). Thus, reversal of a judgment is justified only when it is shown the trial court has abused its discretion. Hernandez v. State, 643 S.W.2d 397, 399 (Tex.Crim.App.1982).
Gutierrez appears to argue that the State was required to show due diligence when requesting a continuance and because it did not, the trial court abused its discretion in granting the motion. However, the cases Gutierrez relies upon require a showing of due diligence when a party is complaining about the trial court's denial of a motion for continuance, not when a party is complaining about the trial court granting a motion for continuance. See Gonzales v. State, 304 S.W.3d 838 (Tex. Crim.App.2010); Wright v. State, 28 S.W.3d 526 (Tex.Crim.App.2000). He has not cited this Court to a Texas case supporting his argument, and we decline to extend the holdings in Gonzales and Wright to the facts of this case.
The trial court mentioned 11 continuances in the underlying proceeding. The record, however, only informs us of what happened with two of them, and both were joint motions for continuance. Specifically, the record indicates that Gutierrez's case was set for arraignment on December
Although the trial court was understandably exasperated with the slow progress of the case, it appears from the record that the State was not the sole cause of the slow progression. Further, the trial court did not grant the State's motion because it needed more time; the motion was granted because of the possibility that the tests would reveal material exculpatory evidence. See Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963) (a due process violation occurs whenever material exculpatory evidence is withheld). Accordingly, the court did not abuse its discretion in granting the State's motion for continuance.
In his second issue, Gutierrez argues that the trial court erred in overruling Gutierrez's challenge to the jury charge, specifically that the charge unnecessarily included result of conduct language in the definitions of the culpable mental states, resulting in "some harm."
Over Gutierrez's objection, the court's charge defined "intentionally" and "knowingly" according to Texas Penal Code Section 6.03. TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. § 6.03(a) and (b) (West 2011). Those definitions are as follows:
certain to cause the result. Id. Gutierrez argued to the trial court that the offense for which he was being tried was a "nature of conduct" offense; and thus, the references to "result of conduct" should be removed from the definitions. Gutierrez's objection was overruled.
On appeal, Gutierrez generally argues that we are not required to "parse" the individual conduct elements for the culpable mental state "because the act of aggravated robbery is criminalized because of [its] very nature." Appellant's brief, pg. 21 (citing Cook v. State, 884 S.W.2d 485, 487 (Tex.Crim.App.1994) (en banc)). We respectfully disagree. The Court of Criminal Appeals has made it
There are three "conduct elements" which may be involved in an offense: (1) the nature of the conduct; (2) the result of the conduct; and, (3) the circumstances surrounding the conduct. Cook v. State, 884 S.W.2d 485, 487 (Tex. Crim.App.1994). An offense may contain any one or more of these "conduct elements" which alone or in combination form the overall behavior which the Legislature has intended to criminalize, and it is these essential "conduct elements" to which a culpable mental state must apply. Id. Thus, the culpable mental state definitions in the charge must be tailored to the conduct elements of the offense. Id.; Patrick v. State, 906 S.W.2d 481, 492 (Tex.Crim. App.1995). Where the charged offense does not include a particular conduct element, it is error for the court's charge to contain a definition of the culpable mental state for that conduct element in the abstract portion of the charge. See Hughes v. State, 897 S.W.2d 285, 295-296 (Tex. Crim.App.1994). A trial court does not err, however, in defining the culpable mental states to nature, result, and circumstances surrounding conduct when all three of the conduct elements are contained within the offense. See Patrick v. State, 906 S.W.2d 481, 492 (Tex.Crim.App. 1995).
Aggravated robbery, as charged in this case, is committed when, in the course of committing theft, a person threatens or places another in fear of bodily injury or death and the person uses or exhibits a deadly weapon. TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. §§ 29.02(a)(2), 29.03(a)(2) (West 2011). The element "in the course of committing theft" refers to the circumstances surrounding the conduct, rather than the result. See Barnes v. State, 56 S.W.3d 221, 234 (Tex.App.-Fort Worth 2001, pet. ref'd); Bosier v. State, 771 S.W.2d 221, 225 (Tex. App.-Houston [1st Dist.] 1989, pet. ref'd). Because the form of robbery alleged is "aggravated" by the use of a deadly weapon, that element refers to the nature of conduct rather than the result of conduct because a weapon is "deadly" if it is "capable" of causing serious bodily injury in the manner of its use, without regard to whether the actual result is the infliction of serious bodily injury. Bosier, 771 S.W.2d at 225.
But the most crucial question in our analysis of this issue is whether the element that requires the victim to be threatened or placed in fear of imminent bodily injury or death is a nature of conduct element or a result of conduct element. There are two parts to, or clauses that form, this element: that the offender either (1) threatens another with imminent bodily injury or death, or (2) places another in fear of imminent bodily injury or death. See TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. § 29.03(a)(3) (West 2011). At least one court of appeals has held that this element, in its entirety, refers to a result of the defendant's conduct. See Garza v. State, 794 S.W.2d 497, 501 (Tex.App.-Corpus Christi 1990, pet. ref'd). Although the Garza court relied on an opinion in which the charged offense was aggravated robbery with bodily injury, see Bosier v. State, 771 S.W.2d 221 (Tex.App.-Houston [1st Dist.] 1989, pet. ref'd), we agree that the clause, "places in fear," refers to the result
Based on the evidence and charge as submitted, there is the potential the jury could base its verdict on a determination that the victim was placed in fear of bodily injury or death as a result of the actions of Gutierrez during the course of committing theft. We hold that the "places in fear of bodily injury or death" portion of the element of robbery is a result of conduct element. Accordingly, because the charge used language of all three conduct elements in its definitions of the culpable mental states and all three conduct elements are present in this case, the trial court did not err in overruling Gutierrez's objection.
Gutierrez's second issue is overruled.
Having overruled each issue on appeal, we affirm the judgments of the trial court.