Bell v. State

867 S.W.2d 958, 1994 Tex. App. LEXIS 252, 1994 WL 25233
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 2, 1994
Docket10-93-140-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by40 cases

This text of 867 S.W.2d 958 (Bell 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
Bell v. State, 867 S.W.2d 958, 1994 Tex. App. LEXIS 252, 1994 WL 25233 (Tex. Ct. App. 1994).

Opinion

OPINION

THOMAS, Chief Justice.

A jury found Edward Harold Bell guilty of murder and assessed punishment at seventy years confinement. Bell contends in three points that the evidence was legally insufficient to support the verdict, that he was denied effective assistance of counsel, and that the court erred by failing to instruct the jury on voluntary conduct. We affirm.

On the afternoon of August 28,1978, Dorothy Lang was looking out her kitchen window and saw Edward Bell park his truck across the street from her house. When he stepped out of the truck, she saw that he was wearing only a red shirt that came down past his waist but did not cover his genitals. Lang called the police when she saw Bell approach a group of boys while masturbating. Larry Dickens, Lang’s twenty-six year old son, overheard Lang’s call to the police and ran outside to detain Bell until the police arrived.

Larry ran to the truck and took the keys from the ignition. Bell began demanding that his keys be returned to him.

Lang testified that Bell got his jeans from the truck and put them on. He reached back inside the truck, produced a gun, and told Larry that he was going to kill him if he did not return his keys. Bell then fired the gun *960 into the air and threatened to kill Larry if he didn’t return the keys. Larry replied that Bell was not going to kill anyone and started to approach Bell. According to Lang, her son walked two or three steps toward Bell when Bell shot him. After Bell shot Larry five times, Larry staggered to his garage.

Lang threw the phone down and ran into the garage to let Larry inside the house. Larry was leaning on the washer and Bell was standing next to Larry holding the gun to Larry’s head when she entered the garage. Lang told Bell that he had better leave because the police were on their way. He said that he could not go anywhere because Larry had his keys. Lang then told Larry to give Bell his keys. After Larry gave Bell the keys, he shot Larry again. Lang testified that Larry did not strike Bell during the confrontation and did not have any weapons.

Bell then retreated to his truck and Larry tried to follow him. Lang grabbed Larry from behind and helped him lie down. Lang then ran inside to call an ambulance.

Meanwhile, Dawna Dickens Gay, Larry’s sister, was returning home when she saw Bell walk from her garage to his truck, get a rifle, and walk back up her driveway. As Dawna crossed through the intersection she saw Bell lean over and shoot the gun at something on the ground. As she got closer, she saw that Larry was lying in the driveway. Bell then ran back to his truck and left.

Pasadena police officer Curtis Adams was responding to a call of a person exposing himself that changed to a shooting with a victim down, when he saw a suspect in a red truck matching the description he was given over his radio. He turned around and began to chase the truck. Bell accelerated and turned onto a cul-de-sac where he crossed a yard and stopped the truck at a fence. He then began to flee on foot. Adams ordered him to stop and he did.

An inventory of Bell’s truck produced a loaded rifle and a .22 automatic pistol. Adams testified that Bell was very calm and had no marks on his face. Adams took Bell back to the scene where Dawna identified him.

Efforts to resuscitate Larry at the scene were futile. The autopsy showed that Larry-had been shot twice in the head, in both elbows, in the right thigh and in the back. The two head wounds and the back wound were all fatal. A large caliber lead bullet was recovered from the scalp and four .22 caliber bullets were recovered. The wound to the left cheek was from close range, nine to twelve inches away.

Bell was released on bond, but became a fugitive. On February 14, 1993, after being a fugitive for fifteen years, Bell was arrested in Panama and extradited to the United States. He was then tried for Larry Dickens’ murder.

Bell testified on his own behalf. His account of what happened is different from the testimony of the other witnesses. We -will address his version of events under the first point.

In his first point, Bell argues that the evidence was legally insufficient to sustain the conviction of murder because the State failed to negate the issue of sudden passion beyond a reasonable doubt.

Bell gave this rendition of what happened on August 24, 1978. As he was walking toward the comer and masturbating, he saw Larry running toward him. Bell attempted to return to his truck but arrived there at the same time as Larry. Larry then struck Bell on his left ear, and as he fell to the ground, Larry took the keys out of the vehicle’s ignition. Bell heard Larry say, “Goddamn pervert,” and, “You have to be punished for this.” When Larry, who was still screaming at Bell, stepped to the back of the truck, Bell put on his pants.

Bell said he was “fearful” and had no path of retreat, so he pulled a pistol out of the track, pointed it at Larry’s head, and said, “Don’t hit me again.” When Bell asked for his keys, Larry doubled up his fist and *961 struck him while Bell “kept snapping out shots” until Bell hit the ground. Bell got up off the ground, pulled a rifle out of his truck, and again demanded his keys. Bell stated that he did not point the rifle at Larry but followed him into his garage where Larry sat down. As he bent down to retrieve his keys, he tripped and the rifle discharged. Bell, who noted that he had not meant to kill the decedent, then fled, as Lang screamed at him.

Bell testified that when Larry hit him, he burst his eardrum, that he was in great pain, and that he was scared.

In reviewing the sufficiency of the evidence, we consider all the evidence — that introduced by the state and the defense — in the light most favorable to the verdict. See Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 316, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 2787, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979); Madden v. State 799 S.W.2d 683, 686 (Tex.Crim.App.1990). The Code of Criminal Procedure provides that reconciliation of conflicts and contradictions in the evidence is within the province of the jury. Tex.Code CRIM.PROCANN. art. 38.04 (Vernon 1979); Losada v. State, 721 S.W.2d 305, 309 (Tex.Crim.App.1986). The jury may believe some witnesses and refuse to believe others, and it may accept portions of a witness’ testimony and reject other portions. Losada, 721 S.W.2d at 309. On appeal, we will not reverse a conviction because of conflicts in evidence if there is enough credible evidence to support the conviction. See id.

Several eye witnesses testified that Bell shot Larry, followed him into the garage, shot him again at close range after Larry gave him his keys, went back to his truck and got a rifle, returned to the garage and shot Larry again. Bell claimed that Larry hit him, threatened him, and that he accidentally shot Larry with the rifle when he tripped. This evidence conflicts with the State’s evidence.

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Bluebook (online)
867 S.W.2d 958, 1994 Tex. App. LEXIS 252, 1994 WL 25233, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bell-v-state-texapp-1994.