Ronald Crawford v. State of Texas

Appellant Ronald Crawford has moved for rehearing and en banc consideration. We grant rehearing, withdraw our opinion and judgment of March 31, and issue the following in their stead. We dismiss as moot Crawford’s motion for en banc consideration. Our disposition of the case remains unchanged.

Following a bench trial, the trial court found Crawford guilty of the third-degree felony offense of evading arrest or detention in a vehicle with a prior conviction for the same offense. See TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. § 38.04 (West Supp. 2010). The trial court assessed punishment at three years’ imprisonment, probated for a period of three years, and a $1000 fine. Following his conviction, Crawford discharged his trial counsel and retained new counsel, who moved for a new trial based on a claim of ineffective assistance of trial counsel. The trial court denied the motion. On appeal, Crawford contends that his conviction should be reversed, claiming that (1) the evidence is legally insufficient to support his conviction, and (2) trial counsel violated his constitutional right to effective assistance by failing to (a) file a pretrial motion to suppress evidence resulting from his detention or (b) call Crawford’s brother, a material witness, to testify on his behalf. We hold that the evidence is sufficient to support Crawford’s conviction and that Crawford fails to satisfy his burden to prove trial counsel was ineffective. We therefore affirm.