Alejandro C. Garza, Jr. v. State

CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 25, 2009
Docket04-07-00446-CR
StatusPublished

This text of Alejandro C. Garza, Jr. v. State (Alejandro C. Garza, Jr. v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Alejandro C. Garza, Jr. v. State, (Tex. Ct. App. 2009).

Opinion

i i i i i i

MEMORANDUM OPINION

No. 04-07-00446-CR

Alejandro Carbajal GARZA Jr., Appellant

v.

STATE of Texas, Appellee

From the 79th Judicial District Court, Jim Wells County, Texas Trial Court No. 06-07-11915-CR Honorable Richard C. Terrell, Judge Presiding

Opinion by: Karen Angelini, Justice

Sitting: Karen Angelini, Justice Rebecca Simmons, Justice Steven C. Hilbig, Justice

Delivered and Filed: February 25, 2009

AFFIRMED

A jury found Alejandro Carbajal Garza Jr. guilty of murdering Javier Sanchez in the course

of committing or attempting to commit a kidnapping. Garza was sentenced to life imprisonment

without parole. Garza appeals his capital murder conviction in four issues. We affirm. 04-07-00446-CR

I. BACKGROUND

On the morning of January 2, 2006, Sanchez’s body was found on a roadside near the

reservoir in Alice, Texas. Sanchez had been shot five times. Garza was charged with Sanchez’s

murder and pled not guilty.

At trial, accomplice witness James Michael Dennis testified against Garza. According to

Dennis, Sanchez was staying at his sister’s house in Alice on January 1, 2006. Dennis heard Sanchez

was “looking to score a little bit of cocaine.” Between 9:00 and 10:00 p.m., Dennis went to

Sanchez’s sister’s house, woke Sanchez up, and offered him some cocaine. Later that evening,

Dennis and Sanchez met Garza twice at the Astromatic Car Wash on U.S. Highway 281 and bought

cocaine from him. At the second meeting, Garza was joined by Alfred “Casper” Gonzales and

Alonzo “Lowrider” Gonzalez. When Dennis called Garza a third time to arrange to buy more

cocaine, Garza told Dennis and Sanchez to meet him at a more remote location, the Richardson

Water Well. Dennis and Sanchez went to the well and waited for about fifteen minutes, but Garza

did not show up.

While Dennis and Sanchez were driving back from the well toward town, a gold Expedition

pulled out in front of Dennis’s car causing him to come to a stop. A black truck then pulled up

behind Dennis’s car, trapping it. Garza, Casper, Lowrider, and another man identified only as Dito,

exited the two vehicles holding guns. Garza, Casper, and Lowrider pulled Sanchez from the

passenger seat. Dennis saw Garza had a silver gun in his hand “it may have been a 9, a .45,

something in that – that area.” Garza held open the rear passenger door to the first vehicle, while

Lowrider grabbed Sanchez and tried to push him into the vehicle. Dennis then heard what “could

-2- 04-07-00446-CR

have been a small caliber handgun pop,” saw Sanchez’s body “buckle back,” and saw Lowrider push

him into the backseat of the Expedition. Dennis was left alone in his car.

Dennis further testified that after Sanchez was taken, he went to Garza’s home to buy more

cocaine. Between 2:00 and 3:00 a.m., he saw Garza on his cell phone and heard him say “Bro, we

took care of our business.” He also heard Lowrider say he “iced that fool, three to the dome,” which

according to Dennis meant that “he killed him” with “three shots to the head.”

Dennis testified he ran into Garza and his lawyer the next day. Garza told Dennis he had just

been to the sheriff’s office, but that he didn’t tell the sheriff anything about Sanchez. Garza also said

that if Dennis knew what was good for him, he wouldn’t say anything either.

Dennis also acknowledged he gave numerous statements to police about Sanchez’s

kidnapping and murder. In one of these statements, Dennis told police that after Sanchez was taken,

he followed the Expedition to the reservoir, where he saw Garza, Lowrider, and Casper shoot

Sanchez. At trial, Dennis said this part of his statement was untrue.

In closing arguments, the State argued Sanchez was first abducted and later fatally shot, and

Garza aided and assisted in the kidnapping and murder. The State further argued Garza was directed

to kill Sanchez by Mexican Mafia gang leader, Oliver Gonzalez. The jury was charged that it could

convict Garza under the law of parties. The jury returned a guilty verdict, and Garza was

automatically sentenced to life imprisonment as required by law. See TEX . PEN . CODE ANN .

§ 12.31(a) (Vernon 2003).

-3- 04-07-00446-CR

II. ACCOMPLICE WITNESS CORROBORATION /COMPLICITY AS A PARTY

In his third issue, Garza argues the evidence was legally insufficient to support his

conviction because the State failed to provide independent corroboration of Dennis’s testimony, and

the evidence did not establish his complicity as a party. Dennis, who was also indicted for Sanchez’s

murder, was an accomplice witness as a matter of law. See Herron v. State, 86 S.W.3d 621, 631

(Tex. Crim. App. 2002).

“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; the corroboration is not

sufficient if it merely shows the commission of the offense.” TEX . CRIM . PROC. CODE ANN . art. 38.14

(Vernon 2005). However, it is not necessary for the corroborating evidence to directly connect the

defendant to the crime. Cathey v. State, 992 S.W.2d 460, 462 (Tex. Crim. App. 1999). Nor is it

necessary for the corroborating evidence to be sufficient in itself to establish guilt beyond a

reasonable doubt. Id. “There must simply be some non-accomplice evidence which tends to connect

appellant to the commission of the offense alleged in the indictment.” Castillo v. State, 221 S.W.3d

689, 691 (Tex. Crim. App. 2007) (emphasis in original). To determine if there is sufficient

corroborating evidence, an appellate court eliminates the accomplice testimony from consideration

and then examines the rest of the record to see if there is evidence that tends to connect the defendant

with the commission of the crime. Solomon v. State, 49 S.W.3d 356, 361 (Tex. Crim. App. 2001).

In this case, other evidence admitted at trial tended to corroborate Dennis’s testimony. Two

other witnesses, Priscilla Salinas and Christy Ann Cantu, testified about Garza’s actions on the night

Sanchez was killed. Priscilla Salinas testified she was at Garza’s house from about 8:30 p.m. on

-4- 04-07-00446-CR

January 1, 2006, until the early morning on January 2, 2006. According to Salinas, Garza received

several phone calls on his cell phone on January 1, 2006. Garza left his house between 10:40 and

11:30 p.m. with Casper and Lowrider, and Salinas saw that he had a silver gun sticking out of the

top of his pants near his stomach. Salinas further testified that Garza came home around 2:00 a.m.

on January 2, 2006, along with Casper and Lowrider in a gold Expedition. About a month later,

Garza told Salinas that if anyone asked her where he was on the night Sanchez was killed, she should

say that he never left his house.

Christy Ann Cantu, Oliver Gonzalez’s fiancé, also testified. According to Cantu, she was

at home in Beeville with Gonzalez on January 1 and 2, 2006, and she overheard two cell phone

conversations between Gonzalez and Garza. Cantu said she could hear both Gonzalez and Garza

talking because Gonzalez was using the speaker option on his cell phone. In the first conversation,

which took place on January 1, 2006, Garza told Gonzalez that Sanchez had been bad-mouthing

Gonzalez.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Brady v. Maryland
373 U.S. 83 (Supreme Court, 1963)
Strickland v. Washington
466 U.S. 668 (Supreme Court, 1984)
Brumit v. State
206 S.W.3d 639 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2006)
Solomon v. State
49 S.W.3d 356 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2001)
Walker v. State
195 S.W.3d 250 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2006)
Castillo v. State
221 S.W.3d 689 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2007)
Little v. State
991 S.W.2d 864 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1999)
Rivera v. State
12 S.W.3d 572 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2000)
Jasper v. State
61 S.W.3d 413 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2001)
Quinn v. State
958 S.W.2d 395 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1997)
Lively v. State
968 S.W.2d 363 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1998)
Lewis v. State
911 S.W.2d 1 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1995)
Webb v. State
232 S.W.3d 109 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2007)
Valencia v. State
946 S.W.2d 81 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1997)
Ex Parte Welborn
785 S.W.2d 391 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1990)
Lively v. State
940 S.W.2d 380 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1997)
Ex Parte Nailor
149 S.W.3d 125 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2004)
Resendez v. State
160 S.W.3d 181 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2005)
Harm v. State
183 S.W.3d 403 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2006)
Bone v. State
77 S.W.3d 828 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2002)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
Alejandro C. Garza, Jr. v. State, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/alejandro-c-garza-jr-v-state-texapp-2009.