Dennis Brooks, Jr. v. The State of Texas--Appeal from 209th District Court of Harris County (Majority Opinion )

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State: Texas

Court: Texas Northern District Court

Docket No: 14-10-00990-CR

Case Date: 11/29/2011

Plaintiff: Dennis Brooks, Jr.

Defendant: The State of Texas--Appeal from 209th District Court of Harris County (Majority Opinion )

Preview:Affirmed and Opinion filed November 29, 2011.

In The

Fourteenth Court of Appeals
NO. 14-10-00990-CR DENNIS BROOKS, JR., Appellant V. THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee On Appeal from the 209th District Court Harris County, Texas Trial Court Cause No. 1183560

OPINION
Appellant Dennis Brooks, Jr. was indicted for sexual assault of a child. A jury convicted appellant as charged in the indictment, and the trial court assessed an enhanced sentence of life imprisonment. We affirm. BACKGROUND Appellant first met the complainant when she was eight years old and appellant was dating the complainant`s mother. Appellant frequently visited the complainant`s home and eventually moved in with and married the complainant`s mother. During the summer of the complainant`s sixth grade school year, appellant began engaging in sexual

activity with the complainant, which intensified until 2005 when the complainant was fifteen years old. The complainant told her mother about the abuse approximately a week after the complainant`s last encounter with appellant, and the complainant`s mother informed law enforcement officials. Appellant was indicted for intentionally and knowingly causing his sexual organ to contact the sexual organ of the complainant, who was younger than 17 years old at the time, on or about December 23, 2005. The State`s evidence primarily consisted of testimony from the complainant, the complainant`s mother, the doctor who conducted the complainant`s medical examination after her outcry, a child sexual abuse expert, and Anthony McGuire--an inmate who was incarcerated in the Harris County jail with appellant as appellant awaited trial. McGuire testified that he and appellant were kept in a separate area for sex offenders within the Harris County jail and that appellant told him about his victim and that, you know, he slept with her a few times. He was infatuated with her and everything like that. McGuire testified: He said that, you know they had oral sex and then just the regular sex, you know, that you would have with a person. . . . He said he [performed oral sex on] her. . . . He mentioned something about she got in trouble at school, he had to go back and pick her up. They had like a little something going in the car at that time. . . . He said [sexual acts occurred] a few times at the apartment or wherever they were staying at, but that`s all he said. The jury found appellant guilty as charged in the indictment. During the

punishment phase of the trial, appellant pleaded true to an enhancement paragraph regarding a 1992 Kansas conviction for aggravated sexual battery. Based on this prior conviction, the trial court assessed an enhanced sentence of automatic life imprisonment pursuant to Texas Penal Code section 12.42(c)(2). See TEX. PENAL CODE ANN.

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