David Michael Schumm v. State
481 S.W.3d 398
| Tex. App. | 2015Background
- In February 2014 the complainant testified Schumm took her cell phone while she tried to call 911 during a domestic dispute and then physically assaulted her (dragged her, pushed her face-first into a door jamb, put weight on her, and put his arm around her neck).
- Schumm denied assaultive conduct and denied touching the cell phone.
- Schumm was charged in county court with interfering with an emergency call; separately he was charged in district court with felony assault by impeding breathing and was later acquitted of that felony before the county trial.
- At the county trial the jury was allowed to hear that Schumm had been accused and tried for the felony assault, but the trial court excluded evidence of the district-court judgment of acquittal when Schumm sought to introduce it while testifying.
- Schumm argued on appeal that excluding the acquittal deprived him of due process and prevented him from presenting evidence that tended to show there was no reasonable basis for the complainant’s fear of imminent assault.
- The court of appeals held Schumm failed to preserve a constitutional due-process claim and alternatively ruled the trial court did not abuse its discretion in excluding the acquittal as irrelevant to the statutory element of an "emergency."
Issues
| Issue | Plaintiff's Argument | Defendant's Argument | Held |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whether excluding the district-court judgment of acquittal deprived Schumm of due process by preventing him from presenting his defense | Schumm: the acquittal is essential defense evidence showing reasonable doubt that an "emergency" existed when the 911 call was prevented | State: the acquittal is not admissible on relevance grounds; the felony acquittal did not resolve whether an emergency existed at the time of the call | Court: Schumm did not preserve a constitutional claim; alternatively, exclusion was not an abuse of discretion because the acquittal did not bear on the statutory "emergency" element |
Key Cases Cited
- Reyna v. State, 168 S.W.3d 173 (Tex. Crim. App. 2005) (failure to preserve appellate constitutional complaint when not raised at trial)