Callaway v. State

818 S.W.2d 816, 1991 WL 113112
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedNovember 20, 1991
Docket07-88-0191-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by53 cases

This text of 818 S.W.2d 816 (Callaway 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
Callaway v. State, 818 S.W.2d 816, 1991 WL 113112 (Tex. Ct. App. 1991).

Opinion

REYNOLDS, Chief Justice.

A jury convicted appellant Jane Ada Call-away, charged with causing the death of Judy Woods Saragusa, of capital murder, but at least ten jurors had a reasonable doubt that there was a probability she would commit criminal acts of violence that would constitute a continuing threat to society. Pursuant to article 37.071(e) of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure (Vernon Supp.1991), the trial court sentenced her to confinement for life in the Texas Department of Corrections. 1

Seeking a reversal of her conviction on twenty-one points of error, appellant contends that:

(1-2) The trial court abrogated her right to cross-examine adverse witness Michael Saragusa;
(3-4) The trial court erred in overruling her motions for mistrial upon introduction of, and for an instruction to disregard evidence concerning, an extraneous offense;
(5) The trial court erred in sustaining the State’s objection regarding her testimony of conversations she had with the deceased;
She was denied due process by (6) the trial court’s refusal to disclose, and (7) the State’s suppression of exculpatory evidence, and by (8) the State’s suppression of its plea agreement with Marion Eugene Scranton;
(9) She was denied a fair trial by the prosecutor’s suppression of exculpatory evidence concerning her relationship with Michael Saragusa;
(10-11) The trial court erred in overruling her objection to Michael Richardson's testimony regarding the extraneous offense of solicitation of capital murder;
(12) The evidence is insufficient to corroborate the accomplice witness testimony of Michael Richardson;
(13) Her right to a fair trial was abrogated by intentional misconduct of the State;
(14) The State’s suppression of Brady material, intentional disregard of the trial court’s instructions, and investigation of defense attorneys and investigators abrogated her constitutional right to counsel;
(15-18) The trial court erred in overruling her motion to suppress evidence based upon her arrest;
(19-20) She was denied due process by the systematic exclusions of Hispanics on the jury panel; and
(21) She was denied equal protection of the law by the State’s arbitrary decision to selectively prosecute her for capital murder when other persons similarly situated were prosecuted only for murder.

On the rationale expressed, we will overrule the points of error and affirm the judgment of the trial court.

A voluminous record, highlighted by counsels’ extensive briefings, reveals the State alleged, and marshaled its evidence to show, that on or about September 2, 1987 2 appellant, through the employment of Leon Hawkins, Jr., caused the death of Judy Woods Saragusa, who resided with her husband, Michael Saragusa, in Houston. The Saragusas owned a yacht sales company, the Marine Group, and Michael Saragusa was an executive vice-president and 50% owner of Quality Beverage Company.

*821 Saragusa hired appellant as a secretary at Quality Beverage on January 26th. Because appellant was a good secretary, her salary was increased and she eventually assisted Saragusa with his personal finances. During her employment, appellant and Saragusa had an affair, the length and intensity of which were disputed.

By virtue of her employment, appellant became acquainted with Judy Saragusa. Michael Richardson testified that on several occasions, appellant solicited him to kill a lady, who it developed was Judy Saragusa, but he refused. At appellant’s request, he picked up $20,000 at appellant’s bank, and delivered it to appellant. Shortly after-wards, appellant gave Richardson two envelopes, one containing $10,000 he was to hold, and the other to be given to Marion Eugene Scranton, who, Richardson knew, was supposed to kill some lady. Richardson looked inside the envelope he was to give Scranton and saw a green piece of paper with the address 5005 Greentree, the Saragusas’ address, written on it. When, at Scranton’s request, Richardson told appellant that Scranton was not going to do anything like that, appellant told him that she would pay his brother, Leon Hawkins, Jr., to kill the lady.

On August 28, Richardson and Hawkins went to appellant’s house. Richardson observed appellant give Hawkins a gun and show him a picture of the person she wanted him to kill. The photograph was recovered from appellant’s house and a witness identified one of the people in the picture as Judy Saragusa. Appellant then drove Richardson and Hawkins to and pointed out the house where the Saragusas resided. The next day, Hawkins told Richardson that appellant had offered him $50,000.00 for killing a lady.

On September 1, Richardson drove Hawkins to Quality Beverage for the purpose of obtaining appellant’s car. Richardson and Hawkins went inside to appellant’s desk, and appellant accompanied them outside, where she gave Hawkins some keys and an envelope. Hawkins went to, entered, and started appellant’s maroon Cadillac.

On September 2, Craig Nimer, a security guard, was patrolling the neighborhood where the Saragusas resided when he observed a black man driving a maroon or burgundy Cadillac. At about 4:30 p.m., he observed Judy Saragusa drive by in her Jaguar and they waved to each other. Shortly thereafter, Nimer observed the Cadillac headed in the direction of the Sara-gusa home. Nimer then walked to the Saragusa driveway and observed the Cadillac, bearing the license plate number that was on appellant’s Cadillac, parked next to Judy Saragusa’s Jaguar.

As Nimer returned to his patrol car, he heard what he believed was a gunshot. Going back towards the Saragusa house, he saw the Cadillac pull out of the Saragu-sa driveway. Nimer later identified Hawkins as the man he had seen in the Cadillac on the day of the murder.

Nimer and Ledet, another security officer, subsequently entered the home and found Judy Saragusa’s body. It was later determined that the cause of death was a gunshot wound to the deceased’s right ear.

On September 4, Hawkins was interviewed by the Houston Police Department. Recovered from Hawkins was a Continental Airlines’ ticket envelope bearing his fingerprint and containing a plane ticket used for an 8:40 p.m. flight on September 2 to San Francisco, which was shown to have been purchased by appellant in the name of “Tony Brooks.” He also possessed the keys to appellant’s Cadillac, which was located in the parking garage of the airport where Hawkins’ ticketed flight was scheduled to depart. The fingerprints of Hawkins and his common-law wife, Benedetta Little, were discovered on the outside of the automobile.

After interviewing Hawkins, several Houston policemen went to his residence, where they met Little. She had found a gun hidden in the mattress of their bed, removed it, and hid it under a porch of a nearby house. She took the officers to the house, where they recovered a .22 caliber pistol from under the porch.

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Bluebook (online)
818 S.W.2d 816, 1991 WL 113112, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/callaway-v-state-texapp-1991.