Rudolph Clemente Munoz, Jr. v. The State of Texas--Appeal from 213th District Court of Tarrant County (majority)
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NO. 07-12-0173-CR
IN THE COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE SEVENTH DISTRICT OF TEXAS
AT AMARILLO
PANEL B
FEBRUARY 1, 2013
RUDOLPH CLEMENTE MUNOZ, JR.,
Appellant
v.
THE STATE OF TEXAS,
Appellee
_____________________________
FROM THE 213TH DISTRICT COURT OF TARRANT COUNTY;
NO. 1250855R; HONORABLE LOUIS E. STURNS, PRESIDING
Memorandum Opinion
Before QUINN, C.J., and CAMPBELL and HANCOCK, JJ.
Rudolph Clemente Munoz, Jr., pled guilty to aggravated assault on a family
member and, after a punishment hearing, was sentenced to thirty years imprisonment.
He argues on appeal that 1) his sentence was cruel and unusual, and 2) the evidence
was insufficient to establish that his victim suffered serious bodily injury. We affirm the
judgment.
Issue 1 – Cruel and Unusual Punishment
Appellant argues that his punishment of thirty years confinement is cruel and
unusual punishment. However, he did not raise the complaint below; thus, it was and is
waived. Curry v. State, 910 S.W.2d 490, 497 (Tex. Crim. App. 1995); Ham v. State, 355
S.W.3d 819, 825 (Tex. App.–Amarillo 2011, pet. ref’d); Kim v. State, 283 S.W.3d 473,
475 (Tex. App.–Fort Worth 2009, pet. ref’d). The issue is overruled.
Issue 2 – Serious Bodily Injury
Next, appellant questions the sufficiency of the evidence underlying the
conclusion that his victim suffered serious bodily injury. We overrule the issue.
The record contains a judicial confession signed by appellant and accompanying
his guilty plea. Therein, he admitted to committing “each and every act alleged” in the
indictment and that all facts alleged in the indictment “are true and correct.”
Furthermore, appellant was accused, via the indictment, of having “cause[d] serious
bodily injury to Jennifer Garcia . . .” among other things.
His admitting that the
allegations in the indictment were true via his judicial confession alone is sufficient to
sustain a conviction. Dinnery v. State, 592 S.W.2d 343, 353 (Tex. Crim. App. 1980).
To the confession, though, we add the evidence that appellant lured Garcia to a
location under the pretense that he had been injured in a robbery and needed her to
take their two sons. When she arrived, he told her the children would not be going with
her and instead sliced her throat with a razor blade. The wound was described as a
laceration from the angle of her jaw, below the earlobe running across the length of her
neck to the other end of her jawbone and was “very deep.” It also involved “copious
bleeding,” and the internal structures of her neck, such as her trachea and her internal
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muscles, were exposed. Garcia testified that veins in her neck were severed as well as
her thyroid gland. Though she underwent surgery to repair the damage, she still suffers
pain from the injury and lacks movement in her neck. This too is sufficient to satisfy the
allegation regarding serious bodily injury.
Accordingly, the judgment is affirmed.
Brian Quinn
Chief Justice
Do not publish.
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