Marshall Mashburn II v. State ( 2008 )

COURT OF APPEALS
SECOND DISTRICT OF TEXAS
FORT WORTH
NO. 2-07-256-CR
MARSHALL MASHBURN II APPELLANT
V.
THE STATE OF TEXAS STATE
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FROM THE 16TH DISTRICT COURT OF DENTON COUNTY
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OPINION
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Appellant Marshall Mashburn II brings seven points challenging his
conviction and life sentence for murder. We affirm.
Background 1
In January 1999, a man doing construction work found a femur and what
he described as a long-handled red knife at a site he was clearing in Lewisville,
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… Because appellant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence upon
which he was convicted, a more detailed description of the facts is included
later in the opinion.
Texas near Interstate 35 and Highway 407. After he contacted the police
about his discovery, Dr. Dana Austin, a forensic anthropologist with the Tarrant
County Medical Examiner’s Office, and her team searched the area and found
more remains. They recovered about a third of a human skeleton; a large piece
from the back of the head was intact, but the rest was in pieces. Some of the
bones had been broken by the heavy equipment that had pushed them. Dr.
Austin determined that the remains were from a white or Hispanic male
between the ages of sixteen and twenty-three. Dr. Austin’s team also found
a Fila athletic shoe, a handle and blade from a machete, a Dallas Cowboys
football jersey, the waistband from a pair of what were probably boxer shorts,
and the remains of a pair of jeans or shorts.
In January 2006, Lewisville police contacted Dr. Austin to determine if
the remains were those of Santino Schraer, who had been missing since 1997.
Orthodontic records and DNA testing showed that the remains were Schraer’s.
Detective Richard Anders of the Lewisville Police Department was part of
the team that found Schraer’s remains. He began investigating Schraer’s
disappearance after receiving a phone call from Schraer’s mother in January
2006. After the remains found in 1999 were identified as Schraer’s, Detective
Anders discovered that Schraer had been a suspect in a 1997 sexual assault of
a twelve-year-old girl that had occurred at a motel party in Lewisville. The date
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of the police report in that case was September 12, 1997, around the time
Schraer disappeared. From the report’s list of the names of persons at the
party, Detective Anders located Randy Horton, who claimed to be present with
several persons, including appellant, when Schraer was killed. As a result of
Horton’s information, the State charged appellant with Schraer’s murder by an
indictment dated September 21, 2006. Appellant was arrested in Love County,
Oklahoma on September 28, 2006.
The indictment alleges that appellant murdered Schraer by intentionally
or knowingly causing Schraer’s death by striking him with a pipe or with an
unknown object. It also alleges that appellant committed the offense of felony
murder—by committing an act clearly dangerous to human life by striking
Schraer with a pipe or an unknown object, with the intent to cause serious
bodily injury. On April 19, 2007, the State filed a motion to amend the
indictment, which the trial court granted on May 3, 2007. The trial court
ordered that the felony murder counts of the indictment be amended to allege
that appellant intended to cause serious bodily injury to Schraer.
After a four-day trial in June 2007, a jury found appellant guilty of murder
“as alleged in the indictment,” and sentenced him to confinement for life.
Appellant timely filed this appeal.
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Points on Appeal
In his first point, appellant contends that he was denied the right to
effective counsel during the thirty-day period after his sentencing for filing a
motion for new trial and that this appeal should be abated to allow him time to
file an out-of-time motion for new trial. In his second and third points, appellant
claims that the evidence is legally and factually insufficient to support his
conviction. Appellant’s fourth and fifth points challenge the trial court’s refusal
to submit lesser-included offense instructions on aggravated assault and
manslaughter. In his sixth point, appellant contends that the trial court erred
by failing to instruct the jury that accomplice testimony must be corroborated
and by failing to define an accomplice. Finally, in his seventh point, appellant
complains about the trial court’s refusal to instruct the jury on sudden passion
at punishment.
Right to Counsel At Critical Stage of Proceeding
In his first point, appellant claims that he was deprived of his right to
counsel during the thirty-day period for filing a motion for new trial.
The trial court sentenced appellant on June 21, 2007. Thereafter,
appellant’s trial counsel filed a notice of appeal and motion for new trial.
Although both are filemarked July 9, 2007, the certificate of service on the
notice of appeal states that a copy was mailed to the State on June 25, 2007,
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and the certificate of presentment states that appellant’s trial counsel hand
delivered the motion for new trial to the trial court on June 25, 2007.
On July 6, 2007, appellant sent a handwritten letter to the trial court
asking for a transcript of the case so that he could proceed with an appeal.
Accordingly, on July 9, 2007, the trial court appointed counsel for appeal. The
trial court also denied the motion for new trial that same day without holding
a hearing. On July 16, 2007, the notice of appointment of appellate counsel
was faxed back to the clerk with a note that the appointed counsel was not at
the fax number where the clerk had sent the notice. Thereafter, on July 18,
2007, the trial court appointed current appellate counsel.
Appellant claims that he is entitled to an abatement of this case so that
he can file another motion for new trial because the record shows that he was
without counsel from at least June 21 to July 9. According to appellant, the
motion for new trial filed by trial counsel is inadequate because it was not
sworn, contains no affidavits, and sets forth only general arguments in support
of a new trial, such as that a new trial should be granted in the interest of
justice. Thus, appellant contends that the motion presented nothing for review
and was filed solely to extend the appellate deadlines.
A defendant is entitled to counsel during the period for filing a motion for
new trial. Cooks v. State, 240 S.W.3d 906, 911 (Tex. Crim. App. 2007);
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Funk v. State, 188 S.W.3d 229, 231 (Tex. App.—Fort Worth 2006, no pet.).
Trial counsel, whether retained or appointed, has the duty to consult with and
to advise his client fully concerning the meaning and effect of the trial court’s
judgment, the right to appeal from that judgment, and the necessity of giving
notice of appeal and taking other steps to pursue an appeal, as well as the duty
to express his professional judgment as to possible grounds for appeal and their
merit, and delineate the advantages and disadvantages of appeal. Oldham v.
State, 977 S.W.2d 354, 360–61 (Tex. Crim. App. 1998) (op. on reh’g), cert.
denied, 525 U.S. 1181 (1999); Funk, 188 S.W.3d at 231. Accordingly, when
trial counsel does not withdraw and is not replaced by new counsel after
sentencing, a rebuttable presumption exists that trial counsel continued to
represent the defendant during the time for filing a motion for new trial. Smith
v. State, 17 S.W.3d 660, 662 (Tex. Crim. App. 2000); Oldham, 977 S.W.2d
at 363; Funk, 188 S.W.3d at 231–32.
Here, the record shows that trial counsel took steps to preserve
appellant’s right to appeal by filing a timely notice of appeal and motion for new
trial and presenting the motion for new trial to the judge for a ruling. Thus, the
record shows that appellant was represented by counsel until at least June 25,
2007. However, the record shows that although appellate counsel was
appointed for appellant July 9, 2007, appellant did not receive the benefit of
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that counsel until the second attorney was appointed on July 18, 2007, three
days before the deadline for filing an amended motion for new trial.
Additionally, counsel states that he did not receive notice of the appointment
until July 19 or 20. Thus, it appears from the record that appellant was not
represented by counsel during at least part of the thirty-day period for filing a
motion for new trial.
Nevertheless, appellant has failed to show that he was harmed by the
gaps in representation. See Cooks, 240 S.W.3d at 911–12. Appellant does
not say what issues he would have raised on appeal that were not preserved
by the motion for new trial filed and presented by trial counsel, nor are any of
the issues in his brief barred from consideration by this court for lack of them
being properly raised in a motion for new trial. Thus, we conclude and hold
that appellant is not entitled to abatement of this case for the purpose of filing
an additional motion for new trial. See id. at 912. We overrule appellant’s first
point.
Legal and Factual Sufficiency of Evidence
In his second and third points, appellant contends that the evidence is
legally and factually insufficient to support his conviction for murder.
Specifically, appellant claims that the evidence is insufficient to prove that his
actions caused Schraer’s death, or that he was a party to the death, and that
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there is insufficient evidence corroborating the testimony of appellant’s
accomplices.
Standards of Review
Legal Sufficiency
In reviewing the legal sufficiency of the evidence to support a conviction,
we view all the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution in order
to determine whether any rational trier of fact could have found the essential
elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia, 443
U.S. 307, 319, 99 S. Ct. 2781, 2789 (1979); Clayton v. State, 235 S.W.3d
772, 778 (Tex. Crim. App. 2007).
This standard gives full play to the responsibility of the trier of fact to
resolve conflicts in the testimony, to weigh the evidence, and to draw
reasonable inferences from basic facts to ultimate facts. Jackson, 443 U.S. at
319, 99 S. Ct. at 2789; Clayton, 235 S.W.3d at 778. The trier of fact is the
sole judge of the weight and credibility of the evidence. See T EX. C ODE C RIM.
P ROC. A NN. art. 38.04 (Vernon 1979); Margraves v. State, 34 S.W.3d 912, 919
(Tex. Crim. App. 2000). Thus, when performing a legal sufficiency review, we
may not re-evaluate the weight and credibility of the evidence and substitute
our judgment for that of the fact-finder. Dewberry v. State, 4 S.W.3d 735,
740 (Tex. Crim. App. 1999), cert. denied, 529 U.S. 1131 (2000). Instead, we
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“determine whether the necessary inferences are reasonable based upon the
combined and cumulative force of all the evidence when viewed in the light
most favorable to the verdict.” Hooper v. State, 214 S.W.3d 9, 16–17 (Tex.
Crim. App. 2007). We must presume that the fact-finder resolved any
conflicting inferences in favor of the prosecution and defer to that resolution.
Jackson, 443 U.S. at 326, 99 S. Ct. at 2793; Clayton, 235 S.W.3d at 778.
The sufficiency of the evidence should be measured by the elements of
the offense as defined by the hypothetically correct jury charge for the case.
Malik v. State, 953 S.W.2d 234, 240 (Tex. Crim. App. 1997); Bowden v.
State, 166 S.W.3d 466, 470 (Tex. App.—Fort Worth 2005, pet. ref’d). Such
a charge would be one that accurately sets out the law, is authorized by the
indictment, does not unnecessarily restrict the State’s theories of liability, and
adequately describes the particular offense for which the defendant was tried.
Gollihar v. State, 46 S.W.3d 243, 253 (Tex. Crim. App. 2001); Malik, 953
S.W.2d at 240. The law as authorized by the indictment means the statutory
elements of the charged offense as modified by the charging instrument. See
Curry v. State, 30 S.W.3d 394, 404 (Tex. Crim. App. 2000).
The standard of review is the same for direct and circumstantial evidence
cases. Clayton, 235 S.W.3d at 778; Hooper, 214 S.W.3d at 13.
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Factual Sufficiency
When reviewing the factual sufficiency of the evidence to support a
conviction, we view all the evidence in a neutral light, favoring neither party.
Watson v. State, 204 S.W.3d 404, 414 (Tex. Crim. App. 2006); Drichas v.
State, 175 S.W.3d 795, 799 (Tex. Crim. App. 2005). We then ask whether
the evidence supporting the conviction, although legally sufficient, is
nevertheless so weak that the fact-finder’s determination is clearly wrong and
manifestly unjust or whether conflicting evidence so greatly outweighs the
evidence supporting the conviction that the fact-finder’s determination is
manifestly unjust. Watson, 204 S.W.3d at 414–15, 417; Johnson v. State, 23
S.W.3d 1, 11 (Tex. Crim. App. 2000). To reverse under the second ground,
we must determine, with some objective basis in the record, that the great
weight and preponderance of all the evidence, though legally sufficient,
contradicts the verdict. Watson, 204 S.W.3d at 417.
In determining whether the evidence is factually insufficient to support a
conviction that is nevertheless supported by legally sufficient evidence, it is not
enough that this court “harbor a subjective level of reasonable doubt to
overturn [the] conviction.” Id. We cannot conclude that a conviction is clearly
wrong or manifestly unjust simply because we would have decided differently
than the jury or because we disagree with the jury’s resolution of a conflict in
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the evidence. Id. We may not simply substitute our judgment for the fact-
finder’s. Johnson, 23 S.W.3d at 12; Cain v. State, 958 S.W.2d 404, 407
(Tex. Crim. App. 1997). Unless the record clearly reveals that a different result
is appropriate, we must defer to the jury’s determination of the weight to be
given contradictory testimonial evidence because resolution of the conflict
“often turns on an evaluation of credibility and demeanor, and those jurors were
in attendance when the testimony was delivered.” Johnson, 23 S.W.3d at 8.
Thus, we must give due deference to the fact-finder’s determinations,
“particularly those determinations concerning the weight and credibility of the
evidence.” Id. at 9.
An opinion addressing factual sufficiency must include a discussion of the
most important and relevant evidence that supports the appellant’s complaint
on appeal. Sims v. State, 99 S.W.3d 600, 603 (Tex. Crim. App. 2003).
Moreover, an opinion reversing and remanding on factual insufficiency grounds
must detail all the evidence and clearly state why the finding in question is
factually insufficient and under which ground. Goodman v. State, 66 S.W.3d
283, 287 (Tex. Crim. App. 2001); Johnson, 23 S.W.3d at 7.
Accomplice Witness Testimony
Article 38.14 of the code of criminal of procedure provides that
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[a] conviction cannot be had upon the testimony of an
accomplice unless corroborated by other evidence tending to
connect the defendant with the offense committed; and the
corroboration is not sufficient if it merely shows the commission of
the offense.
T EX. C ODE C RIM. P ROC. A NN art. 38.14 (Vernon 2005). In conducting a
sufficiency review under the accomplice-witness rule, the reviewing court must
eliminate the accomplice testimony from consideration and then examine the
remaining portions of the record to ascertain if there is any evidence that tends
to connect the accused with the commission of the crime. Solomon v. State,
49 S.W.3d 356, 361 (Tex. Crim. App. 2001); Hernandez v. State, 939 S.W.2d
173, 176 (Tex. Crim. App. 1997). “Tendency to connect” rather than rational
sufficiency is the standard: the corroborating evidence need not be sufficient
by itself to establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Solomon, 49 S.W.3d at
361; Cathey v. State, 992 S.W.2d 460, 462 (Tex. Crim. App. 1999), cert.
denied, 528 U.S. 1082 (2000). Nor is it necessary for the corroborating
evidence to directly link the accused to the commission of the offense. Cathey,
992 S.W.2d at 462. The accomplice-witness rule is a statutorily imposed
sufficiency review and is not derived from federal or state constitutional
principles that define the legal and factual sufficiency standards. Id. at
462–63. To satisfy the accomplice-witness rule there simply needs to be other
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evidence tending to connect the accused to the commission of the offense.
See id. at 463.
In determining whether a person was an accomplice, courts may look to
events before, during, and after commission of the offense, including actions
that show an understanding and common design to do a certain act. See
Kunkle v. State, 771 S.W.2d 435, 439 (Tex. Crim. App. 1986), cert. denied,
492 U.S. 925 (1989). To be an accomplice witness, there must be some
affirmative act on the witness’s part to assist in the commission of the offense.
Kutzner v. State, 994 S.W.2d 180, 187 (Tex. Crim. App. 1999. In order to be
an accomplice as a matter of law, the person must be susceptible to
prosecution for the offense with which the accused is charged or a lesser
included offense. See Medina v. State, 7 S.W.3d 633, 641 (Tex. Crim. App.
1999), cert. denied, 529 U.S. 1102 (2000); Ex parte Zepeda, 819 S.W.2d 874,
876 (Tex. Crim. App. 1991); Kunkle, 771 S.W.2d at 439. A co-indictee for the
same offense is an accomplice as a matter of law. Burns v. State, 703 S.W.2d
649, 651 (Tex. Crim. App. 1985). However, a witness is not deemed an
accomplice if he or she knew of the crime but failed to disclose it or even
concealed it. Blake v. State, 971 S.W.2d 451, 454 (Tex. Crim. App. 1998);
Harris v. State, 738 S.W.2d 207, 215–16 (Tex. Crim. App. 1986), cert.
denied, 484 U.S. 872 (1987); Russell v. State, 598 S.W.2d 238, 249 (Tex.
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Crim. App.), cert. denied, 449 U.S. 1003 (1980). Likewise, mere presence at
a crime scene does not make an individual an accomplice. Cocke v. State, 201
S.W.3d 744, 748 (Tex. Crim. App. 2006), cert. denied, 127 S. Ct. 1832
(2007).
Applicable Facts
After appellant was indicted and arrested in Oklahoma, Detective Anders
and Texas Ranger Tracy Murphree went to Oklahoma to interview him. After
advising appellant of his Miranda rights, which he waived, the officers
questioned him about the night Schraer was killed. Appellant first gave the
officers an oral statement in which he denied being in Texas at the time of
Schraer’s death. However, over the course of about two hours of questioning,
he later gave them a second oral statement, which he then reduced to writing,
as follows:
While at a party at a hotel, it was brought to my attention by
Randall Horton, a couple of days after, that [Schraer] had raped his
girlfriend’s little sister. He told me that he and Jeff [Stealey] and
Casey [Nelson] were going to confront him on it.
A few minutes later, [Schraer] came outside, and we all
confronted him on it. When he lied to us, we told him we’d kick
his ass. Then he made a comment about her, something along the
line of her asking for it. So I hit him. Then we said we were going
to take him and get him away from here after we [whooped] his
ass and that he could never return to [this] house again or we’d
kick his ass again.
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At that point, we took him to the truck and drove off. While
going down the road, Randall and Jeff were having more and more
fun with it — beating him. At that point, I got scared. This was
going too far, and that’s not what I wanted to be a part of.
They got to this area of weeds off a highway and drug him
out. At that point, I was so scared I was trying everything to not
pay attention to them. But I could hear them laughing as I walked
around. All I kept saying was, I want to go home. Then Randall
grabbed my arm and said, let’s go. They [stopped] somewhere, I
guess to wash the truck, and I started to walk off. Randall called
me back over, and we left again.
The only thing I remember is Randall screaming in my ear,
Just shut up, don’t say anything about this. When we got back to
the house that night I packed my [clothes], I had there, and left.
The only time I saw any of them again was two or three months
ago I saw Casey and someone else I did not recognize. Casey said
someone was looking for me about [Schraer], and I said, I don’t
remember much, and last I heard [Schraer] was gone, packed up,
and left. At that point I walked away because I didn’t want to go
back through that night again.
According to Detective Anders, this confession was similar to the first story
appellant had told him, but not the same.
Detective Anders testified that these events took place at Danny Smith’s
house; Danny was around fourteen years old at the time, and all the other kids
went to his house because “nobody cared what went on there.” Smith’s house
was about fifteen minutes away from where the body was found.
During the course of his investigation, Detective Anders spoke with other
persons there that night, including Jeff Stealey and Casey Nelson. Each of
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them gave voluntary statements denying any knowledge of what happened that
night. Detective Anders also talked to Horton, Alisha Grammer—who was
Stealey’s girlfriend at the time, and Robert Tedford, whose truck was used to
take Schraer to the field where his body was found. After speaking with all of
these people, Detective Anders felt there was enough information to charge
only appellant, Stealey, and Nelson. According to Detective Anders, the
Lewisville police did not charge Horton in Schraer’s death because the
investigation showed that although Horton was in the backyard when the
incident started, he did not go in the truck with appellant, Stealey, and Nelson,
nor was he at the field where they dumped Schraer.
Grammer identified appellant in a photo lineup as the person who struck
Schraer in the head, either with a pipe or baseball bat. She did not testify at
trial, however.
Robert Tedford testified that he stayed at Smith’s house frequently in
1997 and that he often loaned his truck to Nelson, Horton, and Stealey.
Tedford recalled that some of “the guys” had gotten together to “take issue
with [Schraer] . . . beat him up, whatever” because they believed he sexually
assaulted a twelve-year-old girl, who was Horton’s girlfriend’s little sister.
Specifically, they discussed beating him with poles and killing him. Tedford
could not remember whether appellant was present during this discussion. He
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did remember that Nelson, Horton, Stealey, and Robbie Moss were there.
Tedford took issue with their plans because he had been falsely accused of
sexual assault in the past. Tedford eventually left the backyard where everyone
was talking and went inside the house. He never saw Schraer that night or
ever again. The next day, everyone was acting strangely, not talking about
anything, and Nelson told Tedford what had happened. Tedford found out the
next day that his truck had been used; it was clean, but he did not think that
was unusual. Tedford had known Schraer was dead since 1997. When asked
why he had not come forward, he said he was scared because, in his words,
“I know the people involved. I mean, they did it once, why wouldn’t they do
it again?”
Horton’s Version of Events
Randall Horton testified that in September 1997, he was staying at
Smith’s house. Appellant had been there a couple of times. He was a
newcomer to the group; “[h]e wasn’t a regular.” Horton was friends with
Stealey and Nelson.
Horton testified that he was at the party where Schraer had allegedly
raped Horton’s girlfriend’s sister. At one point, Schraer was alone in a room
with her, but Horton did not know what had happened until a few days later
when his girlfriend told him what had happened. She also told Stealey and
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Nelson. Horton confirmed that the guys that “hung out” at Smith’s house
talked about killing Schraer, “[j]ust, [t]ake him out, just beat him to death
somewhere, leave him on the side of the road.” Horton said that he, Nelson,
Stealey, appellant, and Grammer were there and that appellant “was pretty
violent, pretty mad.” According to Horton, appellant said he had to “take out”
Schraer and that he was so mad about the situation because appellant’s sister
had been molested. The group talked about taking Schraer to a campground,
chaining him to a campsite there, and telling “D,” a man with whom Schraer
had fought a couple of times, where he was. There was also some discussion
about waiting to find out what happened, “backing off.”
The group did not see Schraer until the next day. He went to Grapevine
Lake with a group that included Horton, Nelson, and Stealey. That night,
Schraer was at Smith’s house with “the same people . . . [who] were hanging
out together after the hotel party.” For the most part, people acted like nothing
had ever happened. At one point, Stealey poured a beer down the side of
Schraer’s head and said, “This is for my dead homies.” Horton did not think
anything of it because “it was just talk.”
Horton said that at Smith’s house one night, Nelson said, “If anything is
going to be done, it’s got to happen right now.” Horton, Nelson, Stealey,
Schraer, Grammer, and appellant were all there. At some point, appellant
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picked up a three-foot-long, black, metal pipe that was against the fence and
started swinging it like a baseball bat. He “walked over behind [Schraer] and
then . . . walked back and forth a couple of times.” Appellant was swinging
the pipe for about fifteen or twenty minutes. Then, appellant walked back over
toward Schraer; Nelson “nodded his head like a twitch, kind of,” and appellant
hit Schraer in the back of the head. Schraer was seated at the time with his
back to appellant.
According to Horton, appellant swung the pipe hard, and “[y]ou could
hear it hit.” Schraer had his hands in front of his body; said, “Oh shit”; and hit
his head on the table. Nelson then grabbed Schraer’s foot, dragged him by his
feet through the backyard and alley, and put him into the bed of the truck with
appellant’s help. Horton saw appellant in the bed of the truck, and he saw
Nelson get in the driver’s seat. He saw Stealey grab the handle of the
passenger side door of the truck, but he never actually saw him get in.
Horton and Grammer walked over to her car and got in. They drove to
the campsite that had originally been suggested as a place to leave Schraer, but
they did not see anything there and did not go in. Grammer took Horton back
to Smith’s house, and appellant, Nelson, and Stealey showed up in the truck
fifteen or twenty minutes later. They told Horton they had taken Schraer to the
side of the highway. Appellant told Horton he had to keep hitting Schraer to
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keep him from trying to get out of the truck. When they pulled over to the side
of the road, the three took turns hitting Schraer; Stealey went last. Stealey told
Horton that before he hit Schraer the last time, Schraer looked at him and said,
“Why are you doing this to me?” According to Horton, Stealey was angry but
laughing, and appellant was calm, as if nothing had happened.
Horton said that Stealey and Nelson told the group that if “anything was
said, . . . everybody goes down together.” Appellant said he would do
whatever it took to stay out of prison. Horton was scared of the three because
they said that if anybody told what they knew, they would be killed. Horton
saw blood in the driveway when the three returned. Nelson and Stealey made
Horton come with them to wash the truck, but he did not see any blood in the
truck or on the two men. Appellant stayed behind at the house, and Horton
never saw him again until trial. Either the next day or a few days later, Horton
asked to see where they had left Schraer; Stealey took him to a place “off of
35 by Phil Dill Boats.” He saw a body that was “[b]eat up pretty bad” with the
face caved in. There was a Cowboys jersey on it, which was what Schraer had
been wearing the night before.
When Horton saw on television that the police had found a body off of
407 and 35, he knew who it was. But he did not talk to police about that
night’s events until 2006 when he was interviewed by Ranger Murphree and
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Detective Anders. He gave an initial statement, and two days later he was
arrested for a parole violation unrelated to the case. While he was in jail, he
gave a more detailed statement to Detective Anders.
On cross-examination, Horton testified that he had participated in the
discussions about harming Schraer. In his initial statement to police, he said
that Nelson had nodded his head, no, when appellant was swinging the pipe;
however, at trial, he admitted that he was contending that Nelson was
encouraging appellant to hit Schraer, in contrast to his initial statement.
Additionally, in his initial statement, he said appellant had dragged Schraer to
the truck; appellant testified that his statement was incorrect in that respect.
Stealey’s Version of Events
Stealey testified next, and told the jury that the murder charges against
him were pending and that the State had not promised him anything for his
testimony. Stealey testified that he attended the hotel party where Schraer had
allegedly raped the twelve-year-old girl; appellant and Nelson were not there.
He confirmed that he heard about the alleged rape after the party. He also
confirmed that there was an informal gathering and discussion about it where
they discussed that “something [had] to be taken care of.” Stealey took it to
mean that they were going to beat up Schraer.
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Stealey corroborated Horton’s testimony that appellant said his sister had
been raped and no one had done anything about it. He and Nelson, Horton,
Schraer, Grammer, and appellant were in the backyard the night appellant hit
Schraer. Schraer was seated by himself at the table, and everyone else was
standing around. Appellant was behind a tree. Stealey went to sit at the table,
and appellant shooed him away, so he moved. After that, appellant “came
charging out with a black pipe and struck [Schraer] in the back of the head
. . . . like he was trying to take his head off.” According to Stealey, Schraer
never saw appellant; when he was hit, he said, “Oh, and then the F word,” and
then his head hit the table.
Schraer was completely knocked out after appellant hit him. Stealey
testified that Nelson dragged Schraer to the truck by the ankle of his pants;
appellant jumped into the back of the truck, Nelson hopped in the front, and
Stealey got in back with appellant. While they were driving away from Smith’s
house, Schraer woke up, and appellant started hitting him again with the pipe.
Appellant hit Schraer in the back of the head and the middle of his back.
Stealey said Schraer asked, “Why are you doing this?”, while they were in the
back of the truck.
Appellant hit Schraer several times in the back to prevent him from
getting out of the truck. At this point, Schraer’s face was covered in blood,
22
“and he was breathing real heavily and choking.” They drove around for about
fifteen or twenty minutes. At one point, Stealey shoved Schraer away from
him with his foot. Appellant kept hitting Schraer, about fifteen times. Schraer
was fighting for his life. Halfway through the ride, appellant hit Schraer in the
face with the butt end of the pipe. When they arrived at the field, Schraer was
not breathing or making any noise. His face was “completely smashed.” They
dumped his body out. Appellant hit Schraer three or four more times, and
Stealey hit him twice with the pipe. They left appellant in the field covered
with some brush.
The truck was full of blood, so on the way back to Smith’s house, they
drove the truck through a car wash on 407. They then put the pipe in a trash
can at a convenience store. Stealey recalls being very emotional and horrified
at what had happened. Back at Smith’s house, he remembers there “being talk
of we’re all going to keep silent about this or join him.” Stealey said that he
never said anything because he was scared of the people involved and of being
taken away from his family to go to prison. He corroborated Horton’s story
about looking at the body.
On cross-examination, Stealey admitted that he had received a letter from
the State indicating that he had agreed to cooperate with the State in exchange
for some type of plea bargain, but he did not know the terms of the plea
23
bargain at the time of trial. According to Stealey, appellant had told Schraer on
the way to the lake that he was going to have to kill him for something Schraer
had said and appellant was the person who had poured liquor on Schraer,
saying, “This is for my dead homies.”
Stealey admitted that with regard to what happened that night, “it gets
down to his [appellant’s] word or [Stealey’s] word.” Stealey agreed that
appellant was enraged and out of control, on a “real emotional high,” when he
was beating Schraer in the back of the truck. He admitted hitting Schraer
“pretty hard” across the front of his body after he had stopped moving and
making noise. He did not remember going to the car wash a second time, but
he remembers Horton telling him about a second car wash because there was
brain matter in the truck.
Appellant’s Version of Events
After the State rested, appellant testified. Appellant was about nineteen
years old in September 1997. According to appellant, he was at the party
where Schraer allegedly raped the twelve-year-old girl. Everybody was either
drinking, smoking marijuana, or doing other drugs. A couple of days after the
party, when he went to Smith’s house, Stealey, Nelson, Horton, and Grammer
were in the backyard and really upset. According to appellant, they were
ranting and raving. When he asked what had happened, they told him Schraer
24
had raped the little sister of Horton’s girlfriend and they were discussing what
they were going to do. Randy and Grammer said they were going to “kick his
butt,” and Stealey said “that mother f’er is going to pay.”
Appellant testified that the rest of the group was talking about beating up
Schraer, and he told them they should confront him and find out what
happened first. According to appellant, someone then went to get Schraer and
sat him at the table. Appellant said that Grammer and Horton started
screaming and yelling at Schraer, calling him a “molesting piece of . . . S-H-I-T.”
Appellant testified that Schraer at first denied their allegations, and Horton told
Schraer they were going to “beat his ass” if he did not start talking. Appellant
said that he went along with it and started screaming and yelling at Schraer.
When appellant asked why he did it, Schraer answered, “That little bitch had
it coming. She deserved it.” After that, appellant hit Schraer. Appellant did
not know what he hit Schraer with, but he “just grabbed something and hit
him.” He said he did not swing the object like a bat, but he just hit Schraer
after he said what he did.
Appellant said that after he hit Schraer, Schraer started to fight, and he
and Nelson grabbed him and dragged him to the truck. Appellant admitted that
he and Stealey got in the back of the truck, and Nelson drove. Appellant and
Stealey held Schraer down in the truck bed. After a car drove up behind them,
25
appellant told Stealey they should just drop off Schraer and tell him to get out
of there, but Stealey told him no. About that time, Schraer jumped up and
started swinging, and appellant’s reaction was to grab his legs. According to
appellant, Stealey grabbed Schraer’s torso and body-slammed Schraer to the
ground. Appellant admitted to hitting Schraer a couple of times in the face with
his fists, but he said at that point, Stealey grabbed the pipe and started hitting
Schraer.
Appellant testified that when they got to the field, Stealey got Schraer
out and kept hitting him with the pipe while appellant just watched. According
to appellant, Nelson asked what Stealey was doing because he just thought
they were going to beat up Schraer. Appellant said he was going to leave and
not be a part “of this” anymore, and that at that point, Stealey threatened him
with death if he left. Stealey then hit Schraer two or three more times, “and
then the last hit he did was a golf swing right across the side of his head.”
Appellant testified that Schraer was alive when he hit him in the face with
his fists in the truck. According to appellant, Stealey washed the truck after
they left the field. When they got back to Smith’s house, Stealey told everyone
that he would kill them if they told what had happened because he had already
killed once. Appellant said Stealey was bragging to everyone that he had “killed
26
[Schraer] with the pipe and how he had done a golf swing across the side of his
head.”
Appellant admitted that he initially lied when the police first questioned
him about the murder, partly because he “was trying [his] desperate best to not
remember, and . . . [he] was scared to actually be put in jail.” He told them
that Horton had been in the truck because the event had happened a long time
ago, and he was confused. According to appellant, he only thought they were
going to “beat [Schraer] up, drop him by the highway, [and] tell him to get
lost.” However, he knew Schraer was going to die “from being beaten with
that pipe.” When he tried to walk away at the field, the only thing on his mind
was getting away from the situation.
On cross-examination, the State impeached appellant by pointing out that
he had previously lied in a hearing before the court by testifying that he asked
for a lawyer but did not get one when Ranger Murphree and Detective Anders
first questioned him even though the tape of the entire interview revealed that
he did not make such a request. In addition, the State was able to point out
the inconsistency in appellant’s testimony that he would never forget such a
traumatic event with his explanation of why he kept leaving out details because
he could not remember them from ten years ago. Although appellant denied
hitting Schraer to keep him in the back of the truck, he admitted that Horton
27
told the group that that is what had happened. Although appellant agreed
when the State said that even if all he said was true he was still guilty under
the law of parties, appellant denied intending to kill Schraer; he said he only
wanted to hurt him and beat him up for raping a twelve-year-old girl.
Medical Testimony
Dr. Austin had testified earlier about the nature of the injuries that she
deduced from Schraer’s remains. According to Dr. Austin, the base of the skull
showed blunt force trauma occurring around the time of death; in other words,
it could not have been caused by the construction equipment. Dr. Austin
testified that the blow was significant, not a “light tap.” “It would be a blow
with some type of a weapon. You know, it could be a board, it could be a
baseball bat. . . . It would be something that would be fairly heavy, and it
would have been swung with purpose, you know, with a purpose to hit
someone hard.” Dr. Austin also found indications of multiple blows to the
head, but because of the construction equipment that had been used, she could
not be sure what exactly caused that trauma.
Dr. Mark Krauss, Deputy Chief Medical Examiner in the District Medical
Examiner’s Office in Fort Worth, also examined Schraer’s remains. He testified
about the nature of the wound to the back of Schraer’s head. According to Dr.
Krauss, there was a “complete fracture, . . . depressed, shoved inward to the
28
inner part of the skull.” By a complete fracture, Dr. Krauss meant that it went
through the entire skull to the brain. Dr. Krauss agreed that striking someone
in the head with a blunt object, such as a metal pipe, to the extent that such
a fracture resulted, would be an act clearly dangerous to human life. He also
testified that a blow to that part of the head is especially dangerous because
there are “a couple of major arteries that run on the inside of the skull.”
According to Dr. Krauss,
If you fracture the skull, it causes a shearing across that artery.
Most of the time it tears it and damages it somehow. If you get
bleeding from that artery, it very rapidly elevates the dura, the
lining inside of the skull, and starts pushing it away and causes a
localized massive effect. If you even get half of a golf ball worth
of hematoma there, it’s potentially fatal. If you get any bigger than
that, it is fatal.
Dr. Krauss opined that the cause of Schraer’s death was blunt force trauma to
the head and that the blow came from “relatively behind” Schraer.
Applicable Law
Penal code section 6.03 defines the intentional and knowing mental
states as follows:
(a) A person acts intentionally, or with intent, with respect to
the nature of his conduct or to a result of his conduct when it is his
conscious objective or desire to engage in the conduct or cause the
result.
(b) A person acts knowingly, or with knowledge, with respect
to the nature of his conduct or to circumstances surrounding his
29
conduct when he is aware of the nature of his conduct or that the
circumstances exist. A person acts knowingly, or with knowledge,
with respect to a result of his conduct when he is aware that his
conduct is reasonably certain to cause the result.
T EX. P ENAL C ODE A NN. § 6.03(a), (b) (Vernon 2003).
Intent can be inferred from the acts, words, and conduct of the accused.
Patrick v. State, 906 S.W.2d 481, 487 (Tex. Crim. App. 1995), cert. denied,
517 U.S. 1106 (1996). It can also be inferred from the means used and the
wounds inflicted. Womble v. State, 618 S.W.2d 59, 64 (Tex. Crim. App.
[Panel Op.] 1981); Yanez v. State, 199 S.W.3d 293, 311 (Tex. App.—Corpus
Christi 2006, pet. ref’d). Intent may also be inferred from acts indicating a
consciousness of guilt. See Claxton v. State, 124 S.W.3d 761, 766 (Tex.
App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 2003, pet. ref’d); cf. Montgomery v. State, 810
S.W.2d 372, 396 (Tex. Crim. App. 1991) (op. on reh’g) (noting that appellant’s
intent to arouse and gratify his own desire could be inferred by his
consciousness of wrongdoing, as evidenced by his telling children not to reveal
to anyone what had happened).
Analysis
Appellant contends that the evidence shows that Schraer died from
multiple blows and that there is no showing that the one blow to Schraer’s
head is what killed him. Additionally, appellant contends that there is
30
insufficient nonaccomplice evidence to prove that he intentionally or knowingly
killed Schraer.
Appellant admitted that he hit Schraer with something from the backyard,
and he admitted wanting to hurt Schraer at the time. He also admitted that
Schraer was sitting down when he hit him. Grammer, whom none of the men
implicated as being involved in the beating or activities afterward, identified
appellant as the one who initially hit Schraer. Dr. Krauss testified that the blow
to the back of Schraer’s head was so deep, it depressed the skull all the way
through to the brain and that such a blow would have been sufficient to kill
Schraer. Appellant also admitted to assisting Stealey in trying to keep Schraer
in the back of the truck.
We conclude and hold that there is both legally and factually sufficient
nonaccomplice evidence to support a conclusion that appellant intended to kill
Schraer, as evidenced by the nature of Schraer’s head injury and the force that
would have been needed to accomplish such an injury. Additionally, there is
also legally and factually sufficient nonaccomplice evidence to support a
conclusion that appellant intended to cause serious bodily injury to Schraer, and
in the course of doing so, committed an act clearly dangerous to human life.
Accordingly, we overrule appellant’s second and third points.
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Alleged Jury Charge Error
In his fourth and fifth points, appellant contends that the trial court erred
by refusing to instruct the jury on the lesser included offenses of aggravated
assault and manslaughter. In his seventh point, appellant claims the trial court
erred by refusing to instruct the jury on sudden passion at punishment.
The trial court need not submit a lesser included instruction sua sponte
if neither side requests one. See Delgado v. State, 235 S.W.3d 244, 249–50
(Tex. Crim. App. 2007). Moreover, the defense may not claim error
successfully on appeal due to the omission of a lesser included offense if the
defense did not request one. Id. at 250. Likewise, the trial court has no duty
to sua sponte instruct the jury on defensive issues, such as sudden passion.
Posey v. State, 966 S.W.2d 57, 61–62 (Tex. Crim. App. 1998); see Trevino
v. State, 157 S.W.3d 818, 821–22 (Tex. App.—Fort Worth 2005, no pet.)
(explaining that sudden passion is defensive issue).
Here, neither appellant nor the State requested instructions on aggravated
assault, manslaughter, or sudden passion. Accordingly, the trial court was not
required to give these instructions to the jury sua sponte. We overrule
appellant’s fourth, fifth, and seventh points.
32
Lack of Accomplice Instruction
In his sixth point, appellant contends that the trial court erred by failing
to include an instruction that a conviction cannot be based on the testimony of
an accomplice unless corroborated by other evidence tending to connect the
defendant with the offense. See T EX. C ODE C RIM. P ROC. A NN. art. 38.14
(Vernon 2005). The State concedes that the charge should have included such
an instruction but that the omission of the instruction was harmless.
Standard of Review
Appellate review of error in a jury charge involves a two-step process.
Abdnor v. State, 871 S.W.2d 726, 731 (Tex. Crim. App. 1994). Initially, we
must determine whether error occurred. If so, we must then evaluate whether
sufficient harm resulted from the error to require reversal. Id. at 731–32.
If there is error in the court’s charge but the appellant did not object to
it at trial, we must decide whether the error was so egregious and created such
harm that appellant did not have a fair and impartial trial— in short, that
“egregious harm” has occurred. Almanza v. State, 686 S.W.2d 157, 171 (Tex.
Crim. App. 1985) (op. on reh’g); see T EX. C ODE C RIM. P ROC. A NN. art. 36.19
(Vernon 2006); Hutch v. State, 922 S.W.2d 166, 171 (Tex. Crim. App. 1996).
In making this determination, “the actual degree of harm must be assayed in
light of the entire jury charge, the state of the evidence, including the contested
33
issues and weight of probative evidence, the argument of counsel and any other
relevant information revealed by the record of the trial as a whole.” Almanza,
686 S.W.2d at 171; see generally Hutch, 922 S.W.2d at 172–74. The
purpose of this review is to illuminate the actual, not just theoretical, harm to
the accused. Almanza, 686 S.W.2d at 174. Egregious harm is a difficult
standard to prove and must be determined on a case-by-case basis. Ellison v.
State, 86 S.W.3d 226, 227 (Tex. Crim. App. 2002); Hutch, 922 S.W.2d at
171.
Analysis
Nonaccomplice evidence can render harmless a failure to submit an
accomplice witness instruction by fulfilling the purpose an accomplice witness
instruction is designed to serve. Herron v. State, 86 S.W.3d 621, 632 (Tex.
Crim. App. 2002). A harmless error analysis for the omission of an accomplice
witness instruction should be flexible, taking into account the existence and
strength of any nonaccomplice evidence and the applicable standard of harm.
Id. According to the court of criminal appeals,
[i]n determining the strength of a particular item of
non-accomplice evidence, we examine (1) its reliability or
believability and (2) the strength of its tendency to connect the
defendant to the crime. Under Almanza v. State, 686 S.W.2d at
157 (Tex. Crim. App. 1984), the appropriate harm analysis
depends upon whether the defendant preserved error by bringing
the improper omission to the trial court's attention. . . . [W]hen the
34
defendant has failed to preserve error, he must show egregious
harm. . . .
Under the egregious harm standard, the omission of an
accomplice witness instruction is generally harmless unless the
corroborating (non-accomplice) evidence is “so unconvincing in fact
as to render the State’s overall case for conviction clearly and
significantly less persuasive.”
Id. at 632.
Here, we have already determined that sufficiently convincing
nonaccomplice evidence corroborated the accomplice testimony. Thus, we
conclude and hold that the trial court’s failure to include an accomplice
testimony instruction was harmless in this case. We overrule appellant’s sixth
point.
Conclusion
Having overruled all of appellant’s points on appeal, we affirm the trial
court’s judgment.
TERRIE LIVINGSTON
JUSTICE
PANEL: LIVINGSTON, DAUPHINOT, and HOLMAN, JJ.
PUBLISH
DELIVERED: August 7, 2008
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