Opinion
No. 05-06-01585-CR
Opinion issued May 28, 2008. DO NOT PUBLISH. TEX. R. APP. P. 47.
On Appeal from the Criminal District Court No. 3 Dallas County, Texas, Trial Court Cause No. F05-72701-J.
Before Justices MORRIS, FITZGERALD, and LANG.
OPINION
In this appeal, Marvin Allen challenges his conviction for sexual assault. In two points of error, he complains the evidence against him is factually insufficient and he was denied his constitutional right to a speedy trial. Concluding appellant's arguments are without merit, we affirm the trial court's judgment.
Factual Background
At the time of the sexual assault in this case, both appellant and the complainant were homeless crack addicts. The complainant testified that she had previously had consensual sexual intercourse with appellant when they were smoking crack together. On this occasion, however, appellant lured her to a remote area promising crack with "no strings attached." He smoked crack in front of the complainant but did not give her any. He later pushed her down and forced her to engage in sexual intercourse with him. After the offense, she returned to some of her homeless friends. One friend testified that when the complainant returned to her group, she was crying and looked disheveled. She immediately told the group appellant had sexually assaulted her. She made the decision to call the police even though she knew it would hurt her reputation in her homeless community. After speaking to police and paramedics, the complainant submitted to a rape examination. DNA evidence collected during the exam showed the presence of appellant's DNA in the complainant's underwear and on her vaginal swab. The complainant testified that she immediately told police and paramedics she was a crack addict and an alcoholic so they could be sure she was not fabricating her charges. She recalled that the day of the sexual assault she had not had crack in a while because she was actually feeling hungry. She admitted that she blacked out for several hours before the sexual assault. A paramedic testified that she had told him she had used crack, alcohol, and marijuana within an hour of the offense, but the complainant did not recall this. She admitted her memory was "not all that great" after years of continuous drug and alcohol abuse. After her rape exam, the complainant stayed for a few days at a Salvation Army facility, then she returned to the streets as a crack addict. She remained on the streets for approximately one month before she went into rehabilitation for her addiction. The complainant is no longer addicted to crack and had been working out of state in a rehabilitation center for fifteen months at the time of trial. The complainant admitted that when she was an addict, she had consented to have sex in exchange for drugs. She testified that if, on the day of the offense, appellant had told her he would give her some crack if she would have sex with him, she would have agreed. She claimed the sexual assault by appellant was different because she had not consented to it. When asked whether she had benefitted from coming back to Dallas for the trial, she testified,It's actually just brought more grief into my life. I'm not pleased about having to sit here and go over these things and to admit to these people what kind of person I was and the life I lived. It doesn't please me to think of that man sitting in prison. . . . I'm not here because I want revenge on him. His life is a shambles, just like mine was, and I'm not happy about that.The complainant also admitted that during her drug-addicted past, her car was stolen while she was inside a crack house. When she contacted police about the car, she claimed she had been carjacked. The complainant testified that she told the police about a carjacking because she felt they would pay more attention to a carjacking than a theft of a vehicle outside of a drug house. Once the car was recovered, she admitted to police she had not been carjacked. When appellant was arrested for the sexual assault of the complainant, he told police he and the complainant had engaged in consensual sex in exchange for crack. He claimed that when he ran out of crack, the complainant threatened him that if he did not get more, she was going to call the police and tell them he raped her. According to appellant, he was tired and did not think she would really do it, so he went to sleep.