SAN ANGELO, TX – Convicted cattle rustler Dusty Thompson lost the appeal of his felony conviction to the Texas Third Court of Appeals in April.
According to the opinion handed down by the Appeals Court, Thompson's attorneys had five issues on appeal stemming from his jury trial before 51st District Judge Carmen Dusek in Nov. of 2019.
"We will affirm the judgment of conviction." Justices wrote in the opinion filed by the Tom Green County District Clerk on April 19, 2021.
A Tom Green County jury found Thompson guilty of felony theft of cattle in October 2016. The jury sentenced Thompson to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine but the court suspended the sentence and placed him on community supervision probation for five years.
Thompson appealed his conviction to the Third Court of Appeals on several grounds: the evidence is insufficient to support his conviction, the State committed prosecutorial misconduct, the indictment is fatally defective, and there was reversible error in the jury charge.
On the first two issues, the appeals court said, "We are not persuaded by Thompson's arguments. We overrule Thompson's first and second issues."
On the accusation of prosecutorial misconduct, the appeals court said, "Thompson failed to raise either of these complaints in the court below. We overrule Thompson's third issue."
Thompson's attorneys also raised the issue that the indictment charging him with theft was defective. "We overrule Thompson's fourth issue." wrote the justices on the Court of Appeals.
On the fifth issue, the jury charge error, the Appeals Court held that Thompson took possession of all three cows at the same time and that he did not dispute that evidence. "We overrule Thompson's fifth issue." wrote the court.
Justices with the Third Court of Appeals concluded this way,"We affirm the district court's judgment and conviction."
The Appeals Court also ordered Thompson to, "...pay all costs relating to this appeal, both in this Court and in the court below (the trial court)."
As a convicted felon, Thompson is barred from holding a license as a tow truck operator. He is the owner of Southern Industrial Towing.
Dusty Thompson, 44, was indicted for cattle theft in Oct. 2016. He is accused of penning three stray cows on his property for over two weeks and telling a confidential informant he planned on butchering them.
As we reported in 2016, according to the arrest affidavit filed by the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association (TSCRA), Special Ranger Kenny Wadsworth explained Thompson engaged in illegal theft of the cattle from Oct. 1, 2016 through Oct. 27, 2016, which was the day before he was arrested.
On Oct. 25, TSCRA Special Ranger Wadsworth was contacted by Special Ranger Joe Roberts who stated he had received information from a confidential informant that Thompson had moved three black cows on to a pasture adjoining their place. The informant stated the cattle didn't belong to Thompson, and he had the cattle at his residence for over two weeks prior to moving them to his other place on US 277 South, which is the area of his business, Southern Industrial.
"[The] informant stated the cattle were branded with a "7" on the left hip, and had pink ear tags in the left ear," read the affidavit.
The informant then sent pictures of the cattle to Wadsworth via text showing the brands and ear tags.
The investigation uncovered that this was the case.
The victim/informant, who Wadsworth asked that we not publicly name for safety reasons, said he runs cattle on his leased ranch and all of them are branded. At the beginning of October, the informant had repaired the fence running along his property, but was not aware of any cattle getting out, nor was he notified by law enforcement of any cattle being loose.
As previously stated, Wadsworth met with the informant on Oct. 2, and learned that three black cows had traveled onto Thompson's property. At that point, Thompson penned the cattle behind his house, and kept them there for about two weeks.
"[The] informant stated they were approached by Thompson, who asked them to assist him with butchering the cattle," said the affidavit. "[The] informant stated Thompson also asked another neighbor for help butchering the cattle."
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