G&S 543 Sufficiency of the Evidence:: At approximately 2:00 a.m. on November 19, 2008, several officers with the Fort Worth Police Department approached a house in search of a fugitive they thought was inside of the house. When one of the officers stopped next to a truck parked in front of the house, Appellant shouted from the house, "I have a gun[;] get your ass away from my truck or I'll shoot you." The officers identified themselves and walked up to the front porch. A short time later, Appellant opened the front door, told the officers that the house was hers, and gave them permission to search the house. Appellant sat on a bed located just inside of the front door as the officers conducted their search. Officers arrested Appellant after they discovered that she was wanted for several outstanding traffic violations. They searched the immediate area where she had been sitting during the search of the house for the fugitive and located a loaded pistol directly underneath the mattress where she had been seated. At trial, Officer Ryan Stepp testified that an officer observed Appellant naked and without a weapon before she opened the front door to speak to the police officers. Stephen Minshew testified that he was the only person at the house that was not arrested on November 19, 2009, that the house belonged to an individual named"Dennis," and that five or six people stayed at the house. Minshew recalled that Appellant slept in the "living room," but he also testified that Appellant did not sleep in the bed next to the front door. On appeal, she claimed that the evidence to sustain the conviction was legally and factually insufficient.

Holding: (Identity)(Legal Sufficiency) A rational jury could have found beyond a reasonable doubt that Appellant possessed the gun that officers discovered underneath the mattress that Appellant sat on during the officers' search of the house and that was located only"inches" away from the front door of the house where Appellant yelled to the officers,"I have a gun[;] get your ass away from my truck or I'll shoot you." Accordingly, we hold that the evidence is legally sufficient to support Appellant's conviction. (Factual Sufficiency) It is undisputed that Appellant was the only female in the house; that she was at the front door when she yelled, "I have a gun[;] get your ass away from my truck or I'll shoot you"; that the bed and mattress where the readily accessible gun was found were located only "inches" away from the front door; and that she was sitting on the mattress underneath which the gun was found. Viewing all the evidence in a neutral light, favoring neither party, we conclude that the evidence supporting the conviction is not so weak that the jury's determination is clearly wrong and manifestly unjust, nor does the conflicting evidence so greatly outweigh the evidence supporting the conviction that the jury's determination is manifestly unjust.

Concurring / Dissenting Opinions: Justice Dauphinot delivered a dissenting opinion (found at the bottom of majority). She argued that the majority's conclusions are illogical because, "She did not possess a firearm when she was naked. She was naked when she was at the front door and yelled at the officers. Therefore, she did not possess a firearm when she was at the front door and yelled at the officers. * * * IfAppellant was seen naked at the front door, and no weapon was seen in her hands when she was naked, is the majority suggesting that the gun was someplace on her body?"

Sidebars:

(David Schulman)I have to agree with Judge Dauphinot. The testimony was that the lady didn't sleep in the bed on which she was seated. As she obviously didn't have the weapon on her person, the conviction cannot stand without some evidence that she knew the gun was under the mattress ... and there is no such evidence.

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