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Hastings v. State

The words "prospective" and "witness" have ordinary, common meanings; therefore, it was not necessary to define these words for the jury.

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Appellant Robert Edward Hastings was convicted of the offense of threatening unlawful harm against a prospective witness. See Tex. Pen. Code Ann. � 36.06(a)(1)(A) (West Supp. 2002). The jury assessed appellant’s punishment at imprisonment for ten years and a fine of $10,000 and recommended that appellant be granted community supervision.

The trial court suspended imposition of the sentence and placed appellant on community supervision. On appeal, appellant complains about the legal insufficiency of the evidence and about the jury charge. We will affirm the judgment.

In his first point of error, appellant insists that the evidence is insufficient to support the jury’s verdict. In reviewing the legal sufficiency of the evidence, the relevant question is whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319 (1979); Patrick v. State, 906 S.W.2d 481, 486 (Tex. Crim. App. 1995); Aiken v. State, 36 S.W.3d 131, 132 (Tex. App.-Austin 2000, pet. ref’d). The standard of review is the same whether the evidence is direct or circumstantial, or both. See Kutzner v. State, 994 S.W.2d 180, 184 (Tex. Crim. App. 1999); Banda v. State, 890 S.W.2d 42, 50 (Tex. Crim. App. 1994).

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