Schrotel v. State, 10-24-00188-CR, April 16, 2026.
On appeal from County Court at Law No. 3 of McLennan County, Texas
Synopsis
The Tenth Court of Appeals held the evidence legally sufficient to support a misdemeanor family-violence assault conviction where the complainant described multiple acts causing pain, and the responding officer observed contemporaneous distress and a heel-shaped mark on her leg. For appellate purposes, credibility attacks and contradictions in the accused’s testimony did not matter because Jackson v. Virginia requires deference to the jury’s resolution of conflicting evidence.
Relevance to Family Law
For Texas family-law litigators, this is a useful crossover opinion because it reinforces how little corroboration may be needed when one party alleges domestic abuse. In divorce, SAPCR, and modification litigation, a factfinder may credit one spouse’s account of assaultive conduct despite direct denial by the other spouse, particularly where there is even modest corroboration through demeanor evidence, a photograph, a responding officer’s observations, or a contemporaneous outcry. That matters not only to protective-order practice, but also to conservatorship restrictions, possession limits, supervised access, exclusive-use claims, disproportional property arguments, and attorney’s-fee narratives tied to family violence.
Case Summary
Fact Summary
The complainant, Jackie, testified that she and the appellant were married and had a child together. According to her account, an argument on September 2, 2022 escalated into a physical altercation. She said he struck her with an exercise ball while she was on the ground, followed her into a bedroom and put his hand on her throat, pursued her again and pushed her down in the entryway so that her knees hit the floor, and then kicked and stomped on her leg. Her testimony was tied carefully to the bodily-injury element because she described pain from each act.
The State also offered testimony from the responding Waco police officer. The officer described Jackie as visibly frazzled, upset, nervous, and intermittently crying when police arrived. Although the officer did not initially see injuries in the dark hallway, she later observed redness on Jackie’s leg that looked like a semicircle or the heel of a foot, and she photographed the injury. On cross-examination, the officer acknowledged that Jackie had described being kicked and had not specifically used the word “stomped.”
The appellant testified in his own defense. He acknowledged the marital conflict and the argument, but denied hitting Jackie with the exercise ball, pushing her, kicking her, stomping her, or having any history of violence. He further suggested that Jackie was “baiting” him and intended to use the accusation as leverage in a divorce. The sufficiency challenge on appeal was built around that theme: Jackie was allegedly unreliable, and the jury should not have believed her over him.
Issues Decided
- Whether the evidence was legally sufficient to support the conviction for assault causing bodily injury against a family member.
- Whether contradictions between the complainant’s testimony, the officer’s testimony, and the appellant’s testimony rendered the evidence insufficient as a matter of law.
- The opinion also addressed a separate voir dire challenge-for-cause issue, but the family-law crossover significance is centered on the sufficiency holding.
Rules Applied
The court relied on the familiar criminal sufficiency framework:
- Under Jackson v. Virginia, the reviewing court asks whether, viewing all evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements beyond a reasonable doubt.
- Appellate courts must defer to the jury’s role in resolving conflicts in testimony, assessing credibility, and drawing reasonable inferences.
- A reviewing court may not re-weigh evidence or substitute its judgment for that of the factfinder.
- Sufficiency review considers the cumulative force of all the evidence rather than isolating pieces of proof through a “divide and conquer” approach.
- Direct and circumstantial evidence are equally probative.
The substantive offense rules came from the Penal Code:
- Texas Penal Code § 22.01: a person commits assault if he intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly causes bodily injury to another, including the person’s spouse.
- Texas Penal Code § 1.07(a)(8): “bodily injury” includes physical pain, illness, or any impairment of physical condition.
- Texas Penal Code § 6.03: definitions of intentional, knowing, and reckless mental states.
The court also referenced Malik v. State and its progeny for the hypothetically correct jury charge framework, measuring sufficiency against the offense as authorized by the indictment.
Application
The court’s analysis was straightforward and strategically important. The appellant argued that the complainant was not credible and that his contrary testimony, coupled with inconsistencies in the State’s proof, prevented a rational finding of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. The court rejected that framing because it asked the appellate court to do what sufficiency review forbids: re-try credibility.
Instead, the court took the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict and looked at the cumulative force of the proof. Jackie’s testimony alone supplied evidence of each statutory element. She described conduct that, if believed, showed intentional, knowing, or reckless acts directed at a spouse and resulting in pain. The officer’s testimony, while not mirroring every word Jackie used, materially corroborated the episode. The officer found Jackie upset and crying, took a contemporaneous statement, observed a heel-like red mark on her leg, and photographed the injury. That corroboration was modest, but it was enough to support the jury’s acceptance of Jackie’s version over the appellant’s denial.
The court treated the discrepancies exactly as most Texas appellate courts do in violence cases: as classic jury questions. Whether the officer remembered “kick” rather than “stomp,” whether the accused denied all force, and whether the complainant’s account contained points of tension were all matters for the jurors. Once the jury resolved those conflicts in favor of conviction, the appellate court would not disturb that determination.
Holding
On the sufficiency issue, the court held that the evidence was legally sufficient to support the conviction for assault causing bodily injury against a family member. The complainant’s testimony that the appellant hit her with an exercise ball, put a hand on her throat, pushed her to the ground, and kicked and stomped on her leg, each causing pain, constituted direct evidence of bodily injury and the requisite culpable mental state. The officer’s observations of the complainant’s distressed condition and the heel-shaped mark on her leg added corroborative force. Under Jackson, that was enough for a rational jury to find the elements beyond a reasonable doubt.
The opinion also overruled the appellant’s challenge-for-cause complaint, although the excerpted portion of the opinion provided here does not contain the full analysis. From a family-law standpoint, the operative takeaway is the sufficiency holding: an abuse finding can survive appellate review where the complainant’s testimony is partially corroborated by demeanor and minor physical evidence, even in the face of direct contradiction by the opposing party.
Practical Application
Family-law lawyers should read this case as a reminder that abuse narratives do not have to come packaged with extensive medical records, third-party eyewitnesses, or perfectly consistent retellings to carry the day. In a temporary-orders hearing, protective-order proceeding, jury trial, or bench trial involving conservatorship and possession, a trial court may credit a party’s detailed testimony about pain-causing conduct if there is some objective reinforcement: a 911 call, bodycam, photographs, officer observations, text messages, a same-day outcry, or evidence of visible emotional distress.
For petitioners, Schrotel supports building a layered proof presentation rather than obsessing over perfect corroboration. The strongest practice move is to present a coherent chronology, tie each act to physical pain or impairment, and pair the client’s account with contemporaneous observations from law enforcement, relatives, neighbors, teachers, counselors, or digital evidence. For respondents, the case is a warning that simple denial is rarely enough on appeal and often not enough at trial. If the theory is fabrication for divorce leverage, counsel must develop affirmative impeachment with specifics: timeline impossibilities, prior inconsistent statements, omitted details in contemporaneous reports, motive evidence, digital-location proof, unaltered communications, and disciplined cross-examination aimed at material—not semantic—discrepancies.
The opinion also has implications for property disputes and fee claims. Allegations of family violence often influence exclusive occupancy, access to the marital residence, temporary injunctions, and arguments for disproportionate division under Murff-type fault considerations. Even where no criminal conviction exists, the evidentiary logic here previews how a trial judge may view competing testimony in a family case: a single witness plus modest corroboration can be enough if the testimony is specific and the surrounding circumstances make it plausible.
Checklists
Building a Family-Violence Record for Temporary Orders or Trial
- Obtain the 911 call, CAD report, bodycam, dashcam, and incident report immediately.
- Secure photographs of all visible injuries, even if they appear minor.
- Tie each alleged act to pain, impairment, or another concrete bodily effect.
- Identify every contemporaneous outcry witness, including parents, siblings, friends, and neighbors.
- Preserve texts, emails, voicemails, social-media messages, and location data from the date of the event.
- Prepare the client to testify in a chronological, sensory, fact-specific manner.
- Anticipate and explain any discrepancy between the initial report and later testimony.
- Use demeanor evidence carefully through officers, medical personnel, or neutral witnesses.
Prosecuting or Presenting Abuse Allegations in Divorce or SAPCR
- Plead family violence with enough specificity to support conservatorship restrictions and possession limitations.
- Connect the abuse evidence to the child-focused relief requested.
- Develop corroboration beyond the client’s testimony whenever possible, even if slight.
- Offer medical or counseling records only after confirming admissibility and strategic value.
- Frame the chronology around escalation, outcry, response, and visible aftermath.
- Use photographs and officer testimony to support credibility without overstating the proof.
- Request findings where appropriate to preserve the family-violence determination.
Defending Against Abuse Allegations
- Do not rely solely on categorical denial.
- Audit the complainant’s prior statements for true inconsistencies on material facts.
- Compare hearing testimony to police reports, affidavits, applications, and discovery responses.
- Develop objective rebuttal evidence, including phone records, GPS data, ring-camera footage, and metadata.
- Test whether the alleged injuries match the mechanism described.
- Cross-examine on omitted details only if the omission is significant and understandable to the factfinder.
- Avoid overplaying minor wording differences such as “kick” versus “stomp” unless the distinction affects an element.
- Present motive evidence with caution and corroboration; unsupported “she wanted leverage in the divorce” themes often fail.
Preserving Error and Positioning an Appeal
- Make clear, specific evidentiary objections and obtain rulings.
- Request offers of proof where evidence is excluded.
- Preserve complaints about jury selection, charge error, and sufficiency with precision.
- Remember that appellate courts defer heavily to credibility determinations.
- Frame appellate arguments around legal gaps, not mere witness-believability disputes.
- If challenging sufficiency, identify a missing element rather than inviting re-weighing of testimony.
Citation
Schrotel v. State, No. 10-24-00188-CR, 2026 WL ___ (Tex. App.—Waco Apr. 16, 2026, no pet. h.) (mem. op.).
Full Opinion
Family Law Crossover
This opinion can be weaponized in divorce and custody litigation in two directions. For the party alleging abuse, it is a strong citation for the proposition that factfinders may credit a spouse’s testimony despite direct contradiction and despite only limited corroboration, so long as the surrounding evidence includes some objective support such as distress, a visible mark, photographs, or a prompt report to police. That supports requests for protective orders, exclusive use of the residence, supervised possession, geographic restrictions, and findings that family violence has occurred.
For the accused party, the opinion is a cautionary roadmap of what not to do. If the defense theory is that the allegation was manufactured for strategic advantage in the divorce, counsel needs a developed evidentiary record proving that point; otherwise, the case will likely become a credibility contest the trial court is free to resolve against your client. In practical terms, Schrotel reinforces that family-law trials involving abuse allegations are won or lost in evidentiary assembly and witness preparation, not in the hope that appellate courts will revisit credibility.
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