Clint Weldon Wilson v. State

CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedNovember 7, 2014
Docket06-14-00021-CR
StatusPublished

This text of Clint Weldon Wilson v. State (Clint Weldon Wilson 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
Clint Weldon Wilson v. State, (Tex. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

In The Court of Appeals Sixth Appellate District of Texas at Texarkana

No. 06-14-00021-CR

CLINT WELDON WILSON, Appellant

V.

THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee

On Appeal from the 8th District Court Franklin County, Texas Trial Court No. F8775

Before Morriss, C.J., Carter and Moseley, JJ. Memorandum Opinion by Chief Justice Morriss MEMORANDUM OPINION In January 2013, Aldis Mendez 1 stood between two men, her then boyfriend, Clint

Weldon Wilson, and her ex-boyfriend and father to her three children, Juvenal Gonzales, just

before Wilson shot and killed Gonzales. Except for the central fact that Wilson shot Gonzales,

Aldis’ version of the events that ensued had little in common with Wilson’s version. The jury

believed Aldis and delivered a verdict that Wilson was guilty of murdering Gonzales. 2 On

appeal, Wilson complains about the jury charge, the lack of a mistrial, and the amendment of the

indictment after trial began. We affirm the judgment of the trial court, because (1) the jury

instruction on provocation was warranted by the evidence, (2) a jury instruction on threats by the

victim was properly refused, (3) a jury instruction on necessity was properly refused, (4) mistrial

was not mandated, (5) Wilson’s complaint regarding the lack of a jury instruction on justifiable

force is inadequately briefed on appeal, and (6) we have no jurisdiction over the amendment of

the indictment in a companion case not on appeal.

We set out the basics of the two different versions of the facts surrounding the shooting.

Wilson’s version of the facts portrayed him as a disabled man seeking only to protect his

girlfriend and himself from a drunken, violent ex-boyfriend. Wilson testified that he met Aldis

in late August 2012 and had lived with her and her three children in her mobile home until late

November of that year. He left her for another woman, but began seeing her again in December

1 Because we also refer herein to Aldis Mendez’ mother, Supaya Mendez, we will refer to both women by their first names. 2 On the murder charge, appealed here, Wilson was sentenced to life in prison and assessed a $10,000.00 fine. Wilson was also found guilty of unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon and sentenced to ten years’ confinement, to run concurrently, and assessed another $10,000.00 fine. He does not appeal the firearm conviction.

2 when the other relationship faltered. Around Christmas, his hands and a foot were frostbitten

from exposure. 3 Aldis picked him up from the hospital and took him to her home where he

stayed until the shooting. Several times during the period he lived with Aldis, she would receive

telephone calls late at night from Gonzalez. Aldis would give Wilson the telephone. He would

tell Gonzalez that she did not want to talk to him or get back together with him and to stop

calling. Gonzalez would call two or three nights in a row, then stop and begin again two or three

weeks later. During these conversations, Gonzalez would reportedly curse Wilson, threaten to

“f*** [Wilson] up,” and threaten his life. About seven to ten days before the shooting, Gonzalez

told Wilson he was “going to come out there, drag [him] from the house, hang [him] on a tree,

and skin [him] like a fish.”

Wilson also testified that, on the morning of January 19, 2013, he and Aldis were

sleeping in bed when they were awakened by yelling in the living room. Aldis looked at him

with panic in her eyes and said, “It’s [Gonzales],” and ran into the living room. Wilson did not

follow her because he thought she could handle the situation. But Aldis and Gonzales kept

arguing, and it was getting louder and louder. Wilson heard her scream, grabbed a pistol, and

proceeded to the kitchen. Wilson claimed he grabbed the pistol because he could not defend

himself against Gonzalez. When Wilson got to the kitchen, Aldis was struggling to get away

from Gonzalez. Wilson told him, “[L]et her go, motherf*****,” then pointed the pistol at

Gonzalez. Gonzalez let Aldis go, and she ran behind Wilson. Wilson kept telling Gonzalez to

leave, but Gonzalez just said, “[Y]ou ain’t going [to] do nothing, you little bitch.” Wilson then

3 Wilson had been hanging out with his cousin, took methamphetamine, got lost, and passed out in a field in the snow for several hours. 3 fired a warning shot through the floor. He did not want to hurt Gonzalez, but he was afraid of

him and wanted him to leave. Instead, Gonzalez got more aggressive, and Wilson fired a second

warning shot through the wall. Gonzalez bowed up, cursed him, and lunged at him. Wilson then

shot him four or five times “for [himself] and for -- Aldis and Lexi (Aldis’ daughter).” Wilson

said he was afraid for his life, as well as the lives of Aldis and Lexi, and claimed he had no

choice. Wilson then told the jury of a similar incident that occurred a year earlier in which he

had to defend himself from the ex-boyfriend of his then girlfriend. Wilson ended up killing him,

also. Although denying he posted it, Wilson admitted opening a Facebook page in which he

bragged about having studied at the Harvard Law School of Self-Defense Class of 2011. He

claimed self-defense in that case, also, and charges were dismissed in August 2012. On

August 8, 2012, a post appeared on his Facebook in which he apparently bragged about it.

Aldis’ version was considerably different, and she was the only other surviving witness to

the events inside the mobile home. She testified that Gonzalez was the father of her three

children and that they had broken up in March 2012. She said that she met and began dating

Wilson in September and that he would stay every other day or so. She confirmed that Gonzalez

came over unannounced that morning and that she went out to talk with him. They began

arguing “a little bit” and she told him to leave, then Wilson came out of the bedroom. Wilson

was walking with his hand behind his back and she got scared because she thought he had a gun.

Aldis told Wilson to go back to the bedroom and that she would handle it, not to worry about it.

Wilson told Gonzalez to leave, and the two men began mouthing back and forth, cussing at each

other. She kept telling Wilson that she would handle it and that she would make Gonzalez leave.

4 She was not afraid Gonzalez would hurt her. Then Wilson took a step forward and pulled out the

gun. She told him not to do anything. She picked up her daughter, Lexi, and lifted her out

through the back door because she did not want her to see whatever was going to happen. Then,

Wilson fired a shot through the floor. Next, Wilson shot through the wall. Right after that, he

shot Gonzalez the first time, then a second time. Gonzalez had only taken one step forward and

then he was shot. She closed her eyes and kept telling Wilson to stop. The shots came back to

back, and she opened her eyes after the third or fourth shot, when Gonzalez was going out the

door. She was in shock.

She also testified that she did not feel threatened by Gonzalez that day and did not think

he made any threat that deserved being shot. He never displayed a weapon and never threatened

to kill anyone that day. Aldis acknowledged that Gonzalez and Wilson had argued over the

telephone, but denied that Gonzalez ever threatened to come over and kill him. On cross-

examination, she admitted that Gonzalez was “pissed off” at both she and Wilson that day. She

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