A jury found appellant Abraham Garcia guilty of two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. The district court assessed punishment for each count, enhanced by a previous felony conviction, at imprisonment for life. Appellant contends the evidence is legally and factually insufficient to sustain the convictions, and that the court erred by refusing to submit instructions on lesser included offenses. We will affirm.
Appellant, intoxicated and driving a stolen truck, attempted to flee from the police. A chase ensued in which appellant reached speeds exceeding 100 miles-per-hour. As he approached an overpass at Interstate 35, he lost control of the truck, drove down a grassy embankment and through a guard rail, and entered the lanes of oncoming interstate highway traffic. Appellant collided with a tractor-trailer, injuring the driver and her passenger.
The two counts of the indictment alleged that appellant intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly caused bodily injury to the complainants by causing the truck he was driving to collide with the complainants’ vehicle, and that he used his truck as a deadly weapon during the commission of the assaults. 1 See Tex. Pen.Code Ann. §§ 22.01(a)(1) (West Supp.2002), .02(a)(2) (West 1994). Appellant does not dispute that he was shown to have recklessly caused bodily injury to the complainants, but he urges in point of error one that the State failed to prove that his truck was a deadly weapon.
In determining appellant’s legal sufficiency challenge, the question is whether, after viewing all the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict, any rational trier of fact could have found beyond a reasonable doubt that the truck was a deadly weapon.
See Jackson v. Virginia,
A deadly weapon can be “anything that in the manner of its
use or intended use
is capable of causing death or serious bodily injury.” Tex. Pen.Code Ann. § 1.07(a)(17)(B) (West 1994) (emphasis added). Citing opinions applying the “intended use” aspect of this definition, appellant argues that the State failed to prove that he intended to injure the complainants with his truck.
See McCain v. State,
An intent to achieve a specific purpose is not necessary to support a finding that an object was a deadly weapon in the manner of its use.
Walker v. State,
In point of error two, appellant contends the district court should have instructed the jury on the lesser included offenses of assault and deadly conduct. A defendant is entitled to the submission of a lesser offense if (1) that offense is included within the proof necessary to establish the charged offense and (2) there is some evidence that would permit the jury to rationally find that the defendant is guilty only of the lesser offense.
Solomon v. State,
To be entitled to an instruction on simple assault, it was necessary that there be some evidence that would rationally warrant the jury in finding that appellant did not use his truck as a deadly weapon. It is not enough that the jury might simply disbelieve crucial evidence; there must be some evidence that the truck was not a deadly weapon in the manner of its use.
See Solomon,
As to the lesser offense of deadly conduct, appellant argues that “the jury could have believed that he recklessly placed the [complainants] in imminent danger of serious bodily injury without deciding if he used the vehicle [as a deadly weapon].” See Tex. Pen.Code Ann. § 22.05(a) (West 1994). But such a finding would not be rational. Appellant could not have placed the complainants in imminent danger of serious bodily injury without using his truck in a manner capable of causing serious bodily injury, that is, as a deadly weapon. Given the undisputed evidence that the complainants suffered bodily injuries, the jury could not have rationally found that appellant was guilty only of deadly conduct. Point of error two is without merit.
The district court issued separate judgments of conviction for each count. The judgments are affirmed.
Notes
. Although it was stolen, we will refer to the truck appellant was driving as "his truck.”