Lead Opinion
OPINION
delivered the opinion of the Court
Appellant, Austin Loving, was convicted of three counts of indecency with a child by contact and two counts of indecency with a child by exposure involving two sisters. See Tex. Penal Code § 21.11(a)(1), (a)(2). He was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment for each of the indecency-by-contact counts and ten years’ imprisonment, probated for ten years, on the indecency-by-exposure counts. The Austin Court of Appeals vacated one of Appellant’s convictions for indecency by exposure on double-jeopardy grounds, and it affirmed the remainder of his convictions. Loving v. State, Nos. 03-11-00074-CR, 03-11-00075-CR,
I. BACKGROUND
Appellant, a nineteen-year-old man, was accused of indecent behavior with two sisters. The victims, ages eight and nine, were invited to play video games in Appellant’s bedroom at his mother’s apartment. While the sisters were playing video games, Aрpellant went to a computer near the living room and opened a pornographic website on the computer. The girls came out of the bedroom and saw the pornography on the computer. While the girls were present, Appellant went to the couch in the living room, exposed his genitals, and began masturbating. The girls then left the living room to play more video games. After the sisters reentered the living room, and while Appellant was still masturbating, he touched the youngest girl. After he finished masturbating, he touched the older girl and asked her to touch his penis, but she testified that she “рunched it” instead.
In a consolidated trial, Appellant was convicted on three counts of indecency with a child by contact and two counts of indecency with a child by exposure. One contact and one exposure conviction were for his actions regarding the younger sister. The other three convictions were for his indecent behavior with the older sister. The issues presented in this case address only Appellant’s convictions for indecency with a child by exposure for exposing his genitals to the older sister and indecency with a child by contact for causing thе older sister to touch his genitals. We do not address any of Appellant’s other convictions.
The court of appeals affirmed the convictions relating to the younger girl and the contact count alleging Appellant touched the older girl’s breast. As to the other counts, the appellate court vacated Appellant’s conviction for exposure of his genitals, and it affirmed the contact conviction for causing her to touch his penis. The court held that Appellant’s exposure conviction violated double-jeopardy principles because it was factually subsumed by the contact offense. Loving,
1. Did the Legislature intend to allow separate punishments for indecency with a child by exposure and contact committed against the same victim when the exposure precedes the contact?
2. Was the exposure in this case subsumed by the sexual contact?
II. Arguments of the Parties
A. State’s Argument
The State argues that the court of appeals reached the wrong result because it incorrectly concluded that indecency by exposure in this case is a lesser-included offense of indecency with a child by contact and is factually subsumed. The State also contends that when a proper double-jeopardy analysis is performed, indecency with a child by exposure and contact do not have the same elements under Block-burger, and thе offenses are not the same under the cognate-pleadings approach adopted in Hall v. State,
The State also argues that if two offenses are not the same under Block burger, it is presumed that the Legislature intended to allow multiple punishments, absent a clear manifestation of intent to the contrary. See Gonzales v. State,
Addressing the gravamen-of-the-offense factor in Ervin, the State asserts that the focus of the indecency with a child statute is the prohibited conduct, which shows that the Legislature intended for the State to be able to punish a criminal defendant multiple times. To support its argument, the State cites three related cases. See Gonzales,
Finally, the State argues that indecency with a child is not a continuum case under this Court’s decisions in Weinn v. State,
B. Appellant’s Arguments
Appellant argues that the Legislature did not clearly intend for multiple punishments to be imposed for acts of indecency with a child by exposure and contact when the acts were committed against the same victim at the same time. He asserts that under the cognate-pleadings approach, the elements of indecency with a child by exposure and contact are functionally the same because “[s]ubsumed within bоth methods [of sexual contact] is either direct genital contact or genital contact through clothing.” Appellant’s Brief on Discretionary Review at 8, Loving v. State, No. PD-1334-12 (Tex.Crim.App. Mar. 4, 2013); see McKithan v. State,
Appellant also argues that, notwithstanding the gravamen of the statute, under an analysis of the other Ervin factors described by this Court, the two offenses in question are substantially the same for double-jeopardy purposes. Ex parte Ervin,
III. The Law
Both parties’ arguments are predicated on the assumption that the proper analysis includes the application of the Blockburger test and the cognate-pleadings approach. However, we employ that analysis only when the charged conduct involves multiple offenses in different statutory provisions that are the result of a single course of conduct. See Vick,
When Appellant was charged with committing these crimes,
§21.11. Indecency with a Child
(a) A person commits an offense if, with a child younger than 17 years, whether the child is of the same or opposite sex, the person:
(1) engages in sexual contact with the child or causes the child to engage in sexual contact; or
(2) with intent to arouse or gratify the sexual desire of any person:
(A) exposes the person’s anus or any part of the person’s genitals, knowing the child is present; or
(B) causes the child to expose the child’s anus or any part of the child’s genitals.
(d) An offense under Subsection (a)(1) is a felony of the second degree and an offense under Subsection (a)(2) is a felony of the third degree.
Tex. Penal Code § 21.11.
The Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment prohibits the punishment of an accused in a second trial when the accused has already been convicted or acquitted of that crime, and it forbids punishing an accused more than once for the same offense in a single prosecution. See U.S. Const. amend. V; Gonzales,
However, because two subsections of a single statute are at issue in this case, we must first “ascertain whether [the] alleged conduct violates two distinct statutory provisions within one statute.” Vick,
Absent an express statement defining the allowable unit of prosecution, the gravamen of an offense best describes the allowable unit of prosecution. Gonzales,
IV. Analysis
We first address whether indecency with a child by exposure and contact are separate and distinct offenses. See Pizzo,
The penetration offense alleged in the first indictment clearly required a separate and distinct act (involving appellee’s sexual organ with the child’s female sexual organ) from the act alleged in the second indictment (which involved appel-lee’s mouth with the child’s sexual organ). In this case the second indictment alleged that appellee caused the child’s sexual organ to contact his mouth. That conduct constituted a separate and distinct statutory offense from the allegedpenetration of the child’s sexual organ by appellee’s sexual organ, despite the fact both are violations of a single statute.
Vick,
Turning to this case, the gravamen of the indecency with a child statute is the prohibited conduct. Appellant concedes to this view, the plain language of the statute supports it, and so does our caselaw. See Harris,
This Court has previously addressed the indecency-with-a-child statute as it refers to sexual contact. See Pizzo,
Although the definition of sexual contact has changed,
When Pizzo, Vick, and Harris are read togethеr, we can draw two conclusions. First, the gravamen of the indecency-with-a-child statute is the nature of the prohibited conduct, regardless of whether the accused is charged with contact or exposure. Second, because the commission of each prohibited act determines how many convictions may be had for a particular course of conduct, Appellant’s conduct in this case violated the indecency-with-a-child statute two separate times.
V. CONCLUSION
We conclude that Appellant’s exposure conviction was not barred by double-jeopardy principles because the Legislature intended to allow separate punishments under these circumstances. We reverse the judgment of the court of appeals vacating Appellant’s conviction for indecency with a child by exposure in Count III of the indictment regarding the older sister, and we affirm its judgment as modified.
COCHRAN, J., filed a concurring opinion in which JOHNSON and ALCALA, JJ., joined.
Notes
. Those factors include (1) whether the provisions are contained within the same statutory section, (2) whether the offenses are phrased in the alternative, (3) whether the offenses are named similarly, (4) whether the offenses have common punishment ranges, (5) whether the offenses have a common focus (i.e., whether the "gravamen” of the offense is the same), (6) whether that common focus tends to indicate a single instance of conduct, (7) whether the elements that differ between the offenses can be considered the "same” under an imputed theory of liability which would result in the offenses being considered the same under Blockburger (i.e., a liberalized Blockburger standard utilizing imputed elements), and (8) whether there is legislative history containing an articulation of an intent to treat the offenses as the same or different for double-jeоpardy purposes. Ex parte Ervin,
. This analysis should be distinguished from a multiple-punishments case in which two separate statutes are at issue. In those cases, the Blockburger test and a modified version called the cognate-pleadings approach are applied to the offenses to determine if they should be treated the same for double-jeopardy offenses. See Vick,
. In the relevant indictment, Appellant was charged with committing these crimes on or about February 1, 2010. The indecency-with-a-child statute was last amended in 2009. Therefore, the current statute applies to Appellant’s actions.
. See Pizzo,
Concurrence Opinion
filed a concurring opinion in which JOHNSON and ALCALA, JJ., joined.
I join the majority opinion. I write separately to emphasize that appellant, who never asserted any double-jeopardy claim in the trial court, has failed to show that “the undisputеd facts make the double-jeopardy violation apparent from the record.”
The court of appeals held that “under the facts presented, the exposure offense involving the older girl was subsumed by the contact offense in which the older girl punched appellant’s exposed penis and that conviction for both offenses violated the prohibition оf double jeopardy.”
I agree with the majority that this record supports a finding that appellant committed one act of indecent exposure at the time that the two girls first walked into the room and saw him masturbating. And he may have committed a second act of indecent exposure when the girls came back into the room a second time to once again see him masturbating while he touched the younger sister’s breast. Had the incident stopped there, the evidence would support one indecent-exposure conviction for the girls’ first view, a possible second indecent-exposure conviction for exposing himself to both girls as he touched the younger sister’s breast, and a conviction for indecency by contact for the touching of the younger sister’s breast. That evidence supрorts three convictions, two for indecent exposure and one for indecency by contact.
But the incident did not stop there. After finishing his masturbation, appellant then touched the older sister’s vagina over her clothes. That evidence supports another conviction for indecency by contact. Finally, he asked her to touch his exposed penis. That is a request for a completely separate and new criminal act of indecency by contact. It is an act that is to be performed by a person other than the defendant; thus, appellant’s aсt of indecent exposure cannot logically be “subsumed” into the older sister’s separate and independent act.
A person who commits more than one sexual act against the same person may be convicted and punished for each separate act, even if those acts were committed in close temporal proximity.
Appellant might have had a valid claim that double-jeopardy principles barred two convictions for indecent exposure if he committed only a single act of exposing himself,
. Bigon v. State,
. Loving v. State, Nos. 03-11-00074-CR, 03-11-00075-CR,
. See, e.g., Martin v. State,
. Vick v. State,
. Patterson v. State,
. Id.
. Id.
. Id. at 91-92. We explained that:
[t]he offenses enumerated by the legislature cover a range of deviant sexual conduct, beginning with exposure and continuing though sexual contact to penetration and including incest and child prostitution. The scheme encompasses escalation of abuse; no matter where in the range theperpetrator stops, the offense is complete at that point. That is not to say that every offense in the range can in all cases be prosecuted as a separate offense. While it is clear from the plain language оf the various statutes that the legislature intended harsh penalties for sexual abuse of children, there is nothing in the language to suggest that it intended to authorize "stop-action” prosecution. Just as a conviction for a completed offense bars prosecution for an attempt to commit the same offense, a conviction for an offense set out in § 3.03 bars conviction for conduct that, on the facts of the case, is demonstrably part of the commission of the greater offense.
. See Harris v. State,
