Opinion
No. 11-03-00097-CR.
May 6, 2004. DO NOT PUBLISH. Tex.R.App.P. 47.2(B).
Appeal from Collin County.
Opinion
The jury convicted James Herbert Fletcher a/k/a James Fletcher of theft, and the trial court assessed his punishment at two years confinement in a state jail facility. We affirm. Ground of Error Appellant argues that the evidence was "both legally and factually insufficient" to support his conviction of theft. There is only one ground of error. The Indictment Appellant was indicted for a "state jail felony." The indictment charged that the value of the property stolen was less than $1,500, that appellant had been convicted of theft in 1997, and that appellant had been convicted of theft in 1991. See TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. § 31.03(e)(4)(D) (Vernon Supp. 2004). The indictment also charged that the current offense was committed in Collin County on October 10, 2001, when appellant "did then and there intentionally and knowingly appropriate . . . a drill . . . without the effective consent of Kimberly Grego." Testimony of Kimberly Grego The State's first witness, Kimberly Grego, testified that she was employed by Payless Cashways on October 10, 2001. That company was involved in bankruptcy proceedings, and it was in the process of liquidating its assets. Grego was the office manager in Plano, and she also worked on the sales floor. Grego identified appellant as the man who was walking out of the store that day when the alarm went off. A portion of her testimony reads as shown:
Q: Tell me the reason you came into contact with [appellant]?
A: I was working at the front of the store on the register, and our alarm system on the entrance door sounded, and when I turned to my left, he was walking, exiting the building through the entrance door, and the alarm went off, and he was carrying a power tool, a drill in his, it was in a case. He was carrying it through the door and went through the . . . entrance door. And I proceeded to turn to my right and went through the exit door and was following him through the parking lot, and asking him to return to the store. (Emphasis added)Grego testified that she got a "good look" at appellant's face and that one of the other Payless managers heard her yell and came to her assistance. They got a description of appellant and his vehicle, including the license number, before he drove away. Grego said that appellant got in his car "very quickly," that appellant accelerated "really fast," and that appellant "almost hit" the other manager as appellant was leaving. Grego went back into the store and called the police. Grego said that the item which appellant took from the store was a Makita cordless drill which had a value of about $250. When the police officers came to the store, Grego and the other manager told the officers what had happened and gave them a physical description of the man who had taken the item from the store. The police came back within the hour, and Grego got in the squad car and went with the police to see if the man who was driving a car which the police stopped was the same man that she had followed from the store to the parking lot. The police had stopped a vehicle with the same license number that she had given to the dispatcher, and the driver matched the description which she and the other Payless employee had given to the police. Grego identified that driver as the man she had followed from the store. During cross-examination, Grego agreed that she could not see what was "in that case"; however, she said that it was a "sealed case" and that she knew it was a "Makita." The Other Witnesses The other "eye witness" was Jimmy Daughters. Daughters testified that he was employed by Payless Cashways on October 10, 2001; that the company had filed for bankruptcy; and that he was helping the company close its store in Plano. Grego was running the register next to him, and he heard her say to a person who was walking out the door: "[S]ir, you need to pay for that." Daughters followed them to the parking lot, and he wrote down the license number on the station wagon that appellant drove from the parking lot. Daughters said that appellant started the car and "revved the engine." When the tires "squealed," Daughters "jumped back out of the way" as appellant drove the station wagon out of the parking lot. Then, Daughters and Grego went back inside the building and called the police. The only other witnesses which the jury heard were Officer Kevin Paul Kirkconnell and Officer Jonathan Wayne Giddings. Both officers were employed by the Police Department of the City of Plano. They testified about their investigation of the offense and about appellant's apprehension, identification, and arrest. Neither of them saw appellant take the property from the store.
Appellant's wife testified during the punishment phase of trial, but her testimony does not affect the ground of error which has been briefed.