Mario Hernandez v. the State of Texas, 02-19-00424-CR

In the early morning of July 15, 2017, multiple thefts occurred in northwest Fort Worth; an initial victim saw three Hispanic men and a red hoodless SUV from which a shot was fired.
At ~5:00 a.m., 82-year-old Bobbie Davis was accosted in his garage by two masked men with flashlights and pistols; they jabbed him with the guns, took $150, and fled; a 9 mm shell casing was recovered in front of his house.
Police stopped a burgundy hoodless SUV matching descriptions and found four Hispanic occupants: Mario Hernandez (rear passenger), Ryan Delgado, Enrique Perez (owner/driver), and Jose Garcia; Hernandez briefly escaped custody before being reapprehended.
Three guns were recovered from the SUV (9 mm, .40 cal, and a BB gun); forensic testing matched the recovered 9 mm to the casing; only Hernandez’s fingerprints were on the 9 mm magazine.
Hernandez was indicted for aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon; a jury convicted him, found a repeat-offender enhancement true, and assessed 40 years’ confinement and a $10,000 fine.
The trial court’s written judgment omitted Hernandez’s initial “not guilty” plea and listed an incorrect sentencing date; the State requested correction on appeal.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument (State)	Defendant's Argument (Hernandez)	Held
Sufficiency of the evidence that Hernandez was a principal actor in Davis’s aggravated robbery	Circumstantial evidence and reasonable inferences support identity: matching vehicle, timing, clothing elimination of other occupants, 9 mm casing matched gun in SUV, only Hernandez’s prints on 9 mm magazine, and flight	No direct eyewitness ID of Hernandez; witnesses did not identify him; clothing/mask discrepancies; fingerprints not on trigger/grip; possible alternative actors or passenger swaps	Evidence, viewed cumulatively in light most favorable to verdict, was sufficient to prove Hernandez was a principal actor; point overruled
Clerical errors in written judgment (plea and sentencing date)	Judgment should be modified to reflect Hernandez pleaded “Not Guilty” and correct sentence date (11/11/2019)	No successful challenge to modification asserted on appeal	Court modified the judgment to add "Not Guilty" plea and correct the sentencing date; affirmed as modified

Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (standard for sufficiency of the evidence in criminal cases)
Queeman v. State, 520 S.W.3d 616 (Tex. Crim. App.) (deference to jury credibility and sufficiency review)
Jenkins v. State, 493 S.W.3d 583 (Tex. Crim. App.) (circumstantial evidence equals direct evidence in probative force)
Tate v. State, 500 S.W.3d 410 (Tex. Crim. App.) (rejecting alternative-reasonable-hypothesis requirement)
Temple v. State, 390 S.W.3d 341 (Tex. Crim. App.) (cumulative force of circumstantial evidence for identification)
Wise v. State, 364 S.W.3d 900 (Tex. Crim. App.) (State not required to disprove all reasonable alternative hypotheses)
Gardner v. State, 306 S.W.3d 274 (Tex. Crim. App.) (identity may be proved by circumstantial evidence and reasonable inferences)
French v. State, 830 S.W.2d 607 (Tex. Crim. App.) (appellate courts may modify judgments to make them speak the truth)
Ex parte Madding, 70 S.W.3d 131 (Tex. Crim. App.) (oral pronouncement controls when it varies from written judgment)