Vandalism to Police Car Tires Case In Texas

In Phillips v. State, 672 S.W.2d 885, 887 (Tex. App.--Dallas 1984), the defendant had been convicted of committing criminal mischief to property, police automobile tires, involving a pecuniary loss of more than $ 20 and less than $ 200. See Phillips, 672 S.W.2d at 886; TEX. PEN. CODE ANN. 28.03 (Vernon 1994 & Supp. 1999). On appeal, Phillips challenged the legal sufficiency of the evidence to prove value. For reasons not important to this discussion, we held that in proving value through the owner, the State had to prove fair market value as opposed to replacement value. See Phillips, 672 S.W.2d at 887. On direct examination, the owner of the tires expressly testified that fair market value was $ 75 per tire. See id. On cross-examination, however, the owner testified that he based his opinion solely on what he had paid to replace the tires. See id. We accepted this elaboration, brought out on cross-examination, as conclusive of the fact that the owner's opinion as to value was based, not on fair market value, but on replacement cost, and therefore reversed the conviction and entered a judgement of acquittal. See Phillips, 672 S.W.2d at 887.