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Morales v. State

The trial court's overall jury charge substantially covered the principles contained in the defendant's requested charge on "parties to a crime."

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Following a jury trial, Cesar Morales appeals his conviction for aggravated assault, arguing that the court erred in failing to give two jury instructions. We hold that the overall jury charge substantially covered the principles of one requested jury instruction and that Morales’s failure to submit a written request for a charge on a lesser-included crime waives that issue. Accordingly, we affirm. Construed in favor of the verdict, Short v. State ,1 the evidence shows that while riding in a vehicle, Morales, who belonged to a gang, spotted a member of a rival gang walking nearby and pointed him out to Morales’s fellow gang members in the vehicle. The vehicle stopped, and Morales and a fellow gang member ran after the rival until Morales hit the rival with a rock and then held him down while Morales’s fellow gang member stabbed him with a knife.

Morales was indicted on one count of aggravated assault for his part in the knife stabbing. At trial, Morales submitted a written jury charge on “parties to a crime” and during the charge conference orally requested a charge on the lesser-included offense of simple assault. The court declined to give the charge on the lesser offense and gave the pattern instructions on “parties to a crime” and “mere presence.” Morales reserved his exceptions to the charge, and the jury found him guilty of aggravated assault. Following the denial of his motion for new trial, Morales appeals.

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