James Palacio v. State, 03-14-00654-CR

James Palacio was convicted by a jury of aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury with a deadly weapon and family-violence enhancement; sentenced to 30 years.
Victim Nicole McKee was found unresponsive at Palacio’s home with extensive bruising and died; autopsy showed numerous bruises and ~22 rib fractures; cause of death: complications of blunt-force chest injuries.
Texts show Palacio threatened McKee to return to his home; she warned she expected to be beaten.
Palacio (6'4", ~198 lbs) admitted detaining McKee (5'2", ~145 lbs) for three days, bear-hugging her, falling on top of her multiple times, hearing rib movement, and that she complained of breathing trouble before he called 911.
Indictment alleged Palacio used a deadly weapon—identified as his hand, arm, body, or the ground—by using them in a manner capable of causing death or serious bodily injury.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Sufficiency of evidence that a deadly weapon was used	State: body parts or the ground can be deadly weapons if used in a manner capable of causing death or serious injury	Palacio: evidence was insufficient to prove use/exhibition of a deadly weapon	Court: sufficient evidence supports deadly-weapon finding based on injuries, threats, size disparity, admissions of force, and manner of use

Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (standard for reviewing sufficiency of the evidence)
Temple v. State, 390 S.W.3d 341 (Tex. Crim. App. 2013) (application of Jackson in Texas criminal appeals)
Isassi v. State, 330 S.W.3d 633 (Tex. Crim. App. 2010) (deference to factfinder on credibility)
King v. State, 29 S.W.3d 556 (Tex. Crim. App. 2000) (do not reweigh evidence on appeal)
Hooper v. State, 214 S.W.3d 9 (Tex. Crim. App. 2007) (jury decides witness credibility)
Thomas v. State, 444 S.W.3d 4 (Tex. Crim. App. 2014) (hypothetically correct jury charge for sufficiency review)
Malik v. State, 953 S.W.2d 234 (Tex. Crim. App. 1997) (definition of hypothetically correct jury charge)
Daugherty v. State, 387 S.W.3d 654 (Tex. Crim. App. 2013) (relation of indictment facts to legal elements)
Brister v. State, 449 S.W.3d 490 (Tex. Crim. App. 2014) (elements for deadly-weapon finding)
Drichas v. State, 175 S.W.3d 795 (Tex. Crim. App. 2005) (nontraditional objects can be deadly weapons depending on use)
Lane v. State, 151 S.W.3d 188 (Tex. Crim. App. 2004) (body parts may be deadly weapons based on manner of use)
Turner v. State, 664 S.W.2d 86 (Tex. Crim. App. 1983) (same)
Brown v. State, 716 S.W.2d 939 (Tex. Crim. App. 1986) (factors to assess whether an object is capable of causing serious injury)