Christian Shawn Williams v. State

Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided February 11, 2020·No. 01-17-00945-CR·Published

Opinion

Opinion issued February 11, 2020

In The

Court of Appeals For The

First District of Texas ———————————— NO. 01-17-00945-CR ——————————— CHRISTIAN SHAWN WILLIAMS, Appellant V. THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee

On Appeal from the 434th District Court Fort Bend County, Texas Trial Court Case No. 15-DCR-070091B

OPINION ON REHEARING

Christian Shawn Williams was convicted of murder. On appeal, he raises

three issues: (1) the evidence is legally insufficient to support his conviction;

(2) the trial court erred in admitting expert testimony; and (3) the trial court erred in admitting statements made by a codefendant to his cellmate. We affirm the trial

court’s judgment.1

Background

On the evening of May 28, 2015, Stephanie Peña was shot and killed in a

retail pharmacy parking lot while she sat in the driver’s seat of her car. A witness

in the parking lot heard a gunshot and saw a young African-American man run

from a black car to a white car. The white car sped away, and the witness called

911.

Responding officers found a spent cartridge casing on the floorboard of

Peña’s car. They also found a small amount of marijuana and a beer can that was

still cold to the touch. They recovered Peña’s cell phone and extracted its contents

to a separate drive. Cell phone data records showed that before her death, Peña was

communicating with a phone number registered to Solitaire Williams, Christian

Williams’s mother. The number was the same number he had given to the Fort

Bend County probation department as his own. The records associated with that

phone number showed multiple communications with Peña, including more than

75 text messages and two calls, between the afternoon and evening of May 28, but 1 We issued a memorandum opinion on August 1, 2019, in which we affirmed Williams’s conviction, holding that the trial court did not err in admitting expert testimony or admitting statements made by a codefendant. We declined to reach sufficiency of the evidence because it was filed in a supplemental brief. Williams moved for rehearing. We deny the motion, withdraw our August 1, 2019 memorandum opinion and judgment of the same date, and issue this substitute opinion and judgment in their stead. 2 not after the time Peña died. Police tried to locate Williams’s phone after the

murder, but it was turned off throughout the entire investigation.

Investigators discovered other phone numbers associated with Williams by

contacting his probation officer. They obtained a warrant to “ping,” or connect

with, a number associated with him, providing law enforcement with the phone’s

location every 15 minutes. The phone was located in an apartment complex in

Houston. Simultaneously, detectives investigated another person, Robert Dike,

based on leads they had gathered. Dike lived in the same apartment complex where

Williams’s phone pinged. After surveillance, officers obtained an arrest warrant for

Williams and went to the apartment. When they arrived, Williams jumped from the

third-floor balcony to the second-floor balcony and surrendered. Dike was in the

apartment and was arrested on traffic warrants.

Detectives later obtained the actual text messages between Williams and

Peña. The text messages demonstrated that Williams contacted Peña to purchase

marijuana. The two negotiated a price for two ounces of marijuana and debated

where to meet for the purchase. Eventually, they agreed on a location near the

pharmacy parking lot. The last communication between them was a 90-second

phone call, the details of which are unknown.

Williams was charged with capital murder. At trial, the jury heard testimony

consistent with the above facts. Additionally, Peña’s friend testified that he had

3 met up with Peña shortly before her death. He met her in the parking lot of a fast

food restaurant and got into the passenger seat of her dark Lexus sedan. They met

so that the friend could view and possibly purchase some marijuana. While they

were in Peña’s car, she received a phone call from a man. The friend believed that

he heard the name “Christian” during the conversation.

Demond Walton testified that he was cellmates with Robert Dike, who

eventually was also charged with the murder. While in the Fort Bend County jail,

the two men became friends, and Dike told Walton why he was in jail. Dike said

that he and Williams intended to rob a drug dealer for marijuana.

The jury found Williams guilty of the lesser-included offense of murder and

sentenced him to 23 years’ imprisonment.

Analysis

We address three issues on appeal: (1) the evidence was insufficient to

support Williams’ conviction; (2) the trial court erred in admitting testimony from

a cell phone analyst because her methods were unreliable; (3) the trial court erred

in admitting Walton’s testimony because it was inadmissible hearsay and violated

his right to confrontation. We affirm.

I. Sufficiency of the Evidence

Williams claims that the evidence is insufficient to support his murder

conviction.

4 A. Standard of Review

When reviewing the legal sufficiency of the evidence to support a

conviction, we consider all of the evidence in the light most favorable to the

verdict to determine whether, based on that evidence and the reasonable inferences

therefrom, the jury was rationally justified in finding guilt beyond a reasonable

doubt. Merritt v. State, 368 S.W.3d 516, 525 (Tex. Crim. App. 2012) (citing

Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 318–19 (1979). We consider all evidence in the

record, whether it was admissible or inadmissible. Winfrey v. State, 393 S.W.3d

763, 767 (Tex. Crim. App. 2013). The jury is the sole judge of credibility and

weight to be given to the testimony of the witnesses. Lancon v. State, 253 S.W.3d

699, 707 (Tex. Crim. App. 2008). The jury may accept or reject all or any part of a

witness’s testimony. Id.

A person commits the offense of murder if he: (1) intentionally or

knowingly causes the death of an individual; (2) intends to cause serious bodily

injury and commits an act clearly dangerous to human life that causes the death of

an individual; or (3) commits or attempts to commit a felony, other than

manslaughter, and in the course of and in furtherance of the commission or

attempt, or in immediate flight from the commission or attempt, he commits or

attempts to commit an act clearly dangerous to human life that causes the death of

an individual. See TEX. PENAL CODE § 19.02(b).

5 B. Analysis

The evidence was sufficient to support Williams’s conviction. The record

reflects that a witness in the retail pharmacy parking lot heard a gunshot that killed

Peña and described seeing a man fitting Williams’s general description running

from a dark Lexus sedan where the victim was shot and getting into the back of a

white car. The witness called 911. Peña’s friend testified that he met up with her on

the day she died to consider purchasing some marijuana. He testified that Peña

brought the marijuana, they met in a fast food restaurant parking lot, and he got

into the passenger side of her dark-colored Lexus sedan. While he was viewing the

marijuana, Peña received a call from a man wanting to purchase the same

marijuana.

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