Childs v. State

21 S.W.3d 631, 2000 Tex. App. LEXIS 3593, 2000 WL 702768
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJune 1, 2000
Docket14-98-00531-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by67 cases

This text of 21 S.W.3d 631 (Childs 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
Childs v. State, 21 S.W.3d 631, 2000 Tex. App. LEXIS 3593, 2000 WL 702768 (Tex. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinions

OPINION

D. CAMILLE HUTSON-DUNN, Justice (Assigned).

Tommy Maverick Childs, appellant, was certified to stand trial as an adult and was convicted of capital murder in the robbery-slaying of a cab driver. Because he was a juvenile at the time of the offense, his punishment was automatically assessed at life in prison. In nine points of error he contends the trial court erred in not suppressing his second and third statements, questions the sufficiency of the evidence and argues the jury should have been instructed on the lesser included offense of murder. We affirm.

STATEMENT OF FACTS

In his third through eighth points of error appellant complains of the sufficiency of the evidence to support his conviction. We will therefore summarize the evidence heard by the jury.

In the early morning hours of February 5,1997, Dewayne Lewis walked to the bus stop to get a taxi that his mother had called. He saw Kevin Collins, a person that he knew from the neighborhood, at the bus stop at the corner of Calumet and Live Oak. Collins agreed to go with him to get something to eat. In a few minutes, appellant walked up and asked to join them. Appellant told Lewis that he was going to rob the first cab that came by. Lewis, who was on probation, told him that he would “kick his ass” if he did. Appellant said he was kidding and did not even have a gun. Lewis did not see a gun.

When the cab arrived, appellant got in the front seat, Lewis got in the back seat behind the appellant and Collins got in the back seat behind Cisroe Taylor, the taxi driver. Appellant and Taylor were talking in a way that led Lewis to believe they knew one another. Appellant wanted Taylor to go to the Bayou Landing Apartments so he could buy marijuana. Lewis argued with him but appellant persuaded Taylor to drive to the back side of the apartments. Appellant got out and the others remained in the cab. Appellant returned, opened the front passenger door, leaned over, and pointed a gun at Taylor. He told the driver to give him all his money and the keys. Lewis said “what the f — wrong with you” and jumped out of the cab. Collins also got out of the cab. Appellant ordered Taylor out of the cab, grabbed the microphone and threw it out of the passenger side of the car.

As Taylor got out of the car, he asked Lewis to please ask appellant not to shoot him. Lewis told the appellant not to shoot and even told him that the police were coming. Appellant paid no attention and kept the gun pointed at Taylor. Lewis walked away from the cab, around a corner, and heard two shots fired. Lewis ran home. The next day he ran into the appellant and asked him if he had shot Taylor. Appellant admitted to shooting Taylor, but said that he believed that the driver was going for a gun because as he was getting [634]*634out of the cab, he had one hand up and the other hand under the seat.

Houston Police Officer Roger Mahoney said Taylor was found about 7 a.m. the next morning, sitting in the driver’s seat of his cab with his left foot on the pavement. His radio microphone was found about 20 feet from the passenger side of the cab.

Houston Police Officer Jay Hammerly recovered a five-shot pistol from under the cab driver’s seat, and said one bullet was recovered from the back seat.

Dr. Tommy Brown of the Harris County medical examiner’s office said Taylor died from a gunshot wound to the back which struck his heart. Brown said the bullet traveled from left to right on a rising trajectory and lodged behind the victim’s breastbone.

Michael Lyons, a firearms examiner with the Houston Police Department, said the two recovered bullets and the two recovered shell casings were all fired from the same weapon. The bullets would not have fit the five-shot pistol found under Taylor’s seat.

Appellant testified on his own behalf. He said he was with Dewayne Lewis and Kevin Collins on the day of the robbery when they flagged down the cab. He went to buy marijuana at one of the apartments; when he came back, he saw Collins, seated in the back seat, with a stranglehold on Taylor, in the front seat. He said that when he saw Taylor pulling a gun from under the seat of the cab, he pulled a gun and pulled the trigger twice. Appellant said he did not intend to shoot Taylor and did not mean to kill Taylor, but that he was afraid for his own safety when he saw Taylor pulling out a gun.

Childs also said he told the officers he was an adult because he knew he was wanted on a juvenile arrest warrant.

SUFFICIENCY OF THE EVIDENCE

Childs brings three points of error challenging the legal sufficiency of the evidence to support his conviction, and three points of error challenging the factual sufficiency of his conviction. We will address these points first.

Legal sufficiency is the constitutional minimum required by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to sustain a criminal conviction. See Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 315-16, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979). The standard for reviewing a legal sufficiency challenge is whether any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the offense beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson, 443 U.S. at 320, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 2789; Johnson v. State, 871 S.W.2d 183, 186 (Tex.Crim.App.1993). The evidence is examined in the light most favorable to the jury’s verdict. Jackson, 443 U.S. at 320, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560; Johnson, 871 S.W.2d at 186. The standard is the same in both direct and circumstantial evidence cases. Geesa v. State, 820 S.W.2d 154, 162 (Tex.Crim.App.1991). All of the evidence is considered by the reviewing court, regardless of whether it was properly admitted. Johnson, 871 S.W.2d at 186; Chambers v. State, 805 S.W.2d 459, 460 (Tex.Crim.App.1991).

The jury is the trier of fact, and is the ultimate authority on the credibility of witnesses and the weight to be given to their testimony. See Tex.Code CRiM. Peoc. Ann. art. 38.04 (Vernon 1979); Penagraph v. State, 623 S.W.2d 341, 343 (Tex.Crim.App. [Panel Op.] 1981). It is for the jury as trier of fact to resolve any conflicts and inconsistencies in the evidence. Bowden v. State, 628 S.W.2d 782, 784 (Tex.Crim.App.1982).

This court also has jurisdiction to review the factual sufficiency of the evidence. Johnson v. State, no. 1915-98, 2000 WL 140257 (Tex.Crim.App. February 9, 2000). Our review begins with the presumption that the evidence is legally sufficient. Jones v. State, 944 S.W.2d 642, 647 (Tex.Crim.App.1996). We must look to all the evidence “without the prism of ‘in the light most favorable to the verdict.’ ” Cle[635]*635wis v. State, 922 S.W.2d 126, 129 (Tex.Crim.App.1996). In our review, we must be careful not to intrude on the jury’s role as the sole judge of the credibility of the witnesses or the weight to be given their testimony. See Santellan v. State,

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Bluebook (online)
21 S.W.3d 631, 2000 Tex. App. LEXIS 3593, 2000 WL 702768, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/childs-v-state-texapp-2000.