Eric Williams v. The State of Texas--Appeal from County Court at Law No 2 of McLennan County

IN THE

TENTH COURT OF APPEALS

No. 10-03-00132-CR

Eric Williams,

Appellant

v.

The State of  Texas,

Appellee

From the County Court at Law No. 2

McLennan County, Texas

Trial Court # 20020162-CR2

MEMORANDUM Opinion

Eric Lee Williams, in his car, chased his soon to be ex-wife, in her car. The chase started at her apartment complex and continued down public streets almost to the police station in downtown Waco. On Washington Avenue, close to the intersection of Fourth Street, Williams bumped the back-end of his wife s car which caused her to travel into the oncoming traffic lane. There were no other cars in that lane at the time. The jury found Williams guilty of deadly conduct. He was sentenced to 180 days in jail. We affirm.

In two issues, Williams contends that the evidence is legally and factually insufficient to support his conviction because there was no evidence or insufficient evidence to prove that Williams s wife was placed in imminent danger of serious bodily injury. Deadly conduct applies to those acts that fall short of injuring another. Tex. Penal Code Ann. 22.05 (Vernon 2003); Gallegos v. State, 548 S.W.2d 50, 50 (Tex. Crim. App. 1977). And causing someone to lose control of a vehicle enough to go into an oncoming lane of traffic, whether or not traffic is actually in that lane, is sufficient proof of imminent danger of serious bodily injury. See Millage v. State, No. 06-01-00160-CR, 2003 Tex.App. LEXIS 8644 (Tex. App. Texarkana Oct. 7, 2003, no pet.)(not designated for publication); Guzman v. State, Nos. 14-97-00942-CR & 14-97-00943-CR, 1999 Tex. App. LEXIS 5820 (Tex. App. Houston [14th Dist.] Aug. 5, 1999, pet. ref d)(not designated for publication). Cf Rodriguez v. State, 137 S.W.3d 758 (Tex. App. Houston [1st Dist.] 2004, no pet.)(endangering a child); Walker v. State, 95 S.W.3d 516 (Tex. App. Fort Worth 2002, pet. ref d)(endangering a child).

Viewing the evidence under the appropriate standards of review, we find the evidence both legally and factually sufficient to support the conviction. See Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S. Ct. 2781, 61 L. Ed. 2d 560 (1979) (federal legal sufficiency standard of review); Zuniga v. State, No. 539-02, 2004 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 668, at *20 (Tex. Crim. App. Apr. 21, 2004) (factual sufficiency standard of review). Williams s issues are overruled.

TOM GRAY

Chief Justice

Before Chief Justice Gray,

Justice Vance, and

Justice Reyna

Affirmed

Opinion delivered and filed September 29, 2004

Do not publish

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