Gregory T. Josefsberg v. The State of TexasAppeal from Co Crim Ct at Law No 9 of Harris County (Memorandum Opinion )

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State: Texas

Court: Texas Northern District Court

Docket No: 14-12-00613-CR

Case Date: 06/25/2013

Plaintiff: Gregory T. Josefsberg

Defendant: The State of TexasAppeal from Co Crim Ct at Law No 9 of Harris County (Memorandum Opinion )

Preview:Affirmed and Memorandum Opinion filed June 25, 2013.

In The

Fourteenth Court of Appeals
NO. 14-12-00613-CR GREGORY T. JOSEFSBERG, Appellant V. THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee On Appeal from the County Criminal Court at Law No. 9 Harris County, Texas Trial Court Cause No. 1816811 MEMORANDUM OPINION A jury convicted appellant, Gregory T. Josefsberg,1 of the misdemeanor offense of interference with public duties, and the trial court assessed punishment at 180 days' confinement in county jail, but suspended his sentence and placed him on community supervision for two years. Appellant challenges his conviction in six issues, arguing that the statute under which he was convicted is
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Appellant is an attorney who represented himself both at trial and on appeal.

unconstitutionally void for vagueness and that the evidence is insufficient to support his conviction. We affirm. BACKGROUND Appellant, a family law attorney, appeared for docket call at around 9:30 a.m. on March 20, 2012, in the 247th Civil District Court in Harris County, Judge Bonnie Hellums presiding. After answering the docket call, appellant left the courtroom and went outside into the hallway to speak with his client and wait to be called back into the courtroom for trial. His opposing counsel, Don Cahilly, was also outside the courtroom speaking to Cahilly's client. Two other attorneys, Eric McFerren and Katrina Griffith, were in the hallway that morning and testified at appellant's trial. There were numerous other people outside the courtroom in the hallway that morning; witnesses testified that there were anywhere from fifty to one hundred people in the hallway. That particular morning, Judge Hellums had forty to fifty cases on her docket, with around fifty to sixty people in her courtroom. It became noisy outside the courtroom and that noise interfered with Judge Hellums' ability to conduct business inside the courtroom. As was her usual practice, she sent her bailiff, Harris County Sheriff Office (HCSO) Deputy Mark Thierry, into the hallway outside her courtroom to ask people to move away from the courtroom doors and to keep their voices down. According to witnesses, Deputy Thierry came into the hallway and asked the people outside the courtroom, including appellant, to move down the hallway away from the courtroom doors.2 Other than appellant, everyone began moving away from the doors.
Judge Hellums testified that she directed Deputy Thierry to step into the hallway and move people away from the doorway. Thierry went into the hallway twice that morning to clear the courtroom doorway area, and the altercation between appellant and the deputy arose the second time the deputy went into the hallway. Deputy Thierry testified that Judge Hellums 2
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Deputy Thierry asked appellant to move away from the doorway to the courtroom; appellant responded that the deputy needed to ask nicely. Appellant refused to move away from the courtroom doors. Thierry told appellant that they could discuss this here or go down the hallway and discuss it. Appellant

continued to refuse to move away from the doorway and began to raise his voice. Deputy Thierry attempted to escort appellant away from the courtroom doorway and into the nearby clerk's office, but appellant refused to cooperate. According to various witnesses, appellant resisted Thierry by chest bumping him,3 planting his feet, trying to escape from the [d]eputy's grasp, and beginning to flail his arms around. Appellant also shouted for help and yelled, Call 911. Deputy Thierry explained that when he tried to move appellant away from the crowd to talk to him, appellant became combative. According to Thierry, he attempted to escort appellant around the corner from the courtroom to the clerk's office to restrain him. When Thierry opened the door to the clerk's office, appellant went limp and fell to the ground, pulling Thierry down on top of him. During the fall, Thierry was struck in the arm with what was later found to be an ink pen. After Thierry fell on top of appellant, Thierry was able to turn appellant onto his stomach and handcuff him. Appellant was arrested and charged by information with the offense of interference with public duties. The State alleged that appellant on or about MARCH 20, 2012, did then and there unlawfully with criminal negligence, namely PULLING . . . M. THIERRY TO THE FLOOR, interrupt, disrupt, impede and interfere with M. THIERRY, a
directed him to clear the hallway the first time, but that she did not instruct him to clear the hallway the second time. Deputy Thierry did not recall appellant chest bumping him but stated that appellant got too close to him. 3
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peace officer, while M. THIERRY was performing a duty and exercising authority imposed and granted by law. A jury found appellant guilty as charged, and the trial court sentenced him to 180 days' confinement in county jail. The trial court suspended his sentence and placed him on community supervision for two years. Appellant filed a motion for new trial, which was overruled by operation of law. This appeal followed. CONSTITUTIONALITY OF STATUTE In his first issue, appellant asserts that the statute under which he was convicted, Texas Penal Code section 38.15, is unconstitutionally vague. This statute provides, in pertinent part, A person commits an offense if the person with criminal negligence interrupts, disrupts, impedes, or otherwise interferes with . . . a peace officer while the peace officer is performing a duty or exercising authority imposed or granted by law. . . . Tex. Penal Code

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