Cruz v. State

690 S.W.2d 246, 1985 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 1553
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Texas
DecidedApril 10, 1985
Docket69342
StatusPublished
Cited by56 cases

This text of 690 S.W.2d 246 (Cruz v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cruz v. State, 690 S.W.2d 246, 1985 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 1553 (Tex. 1985).

Opinions

OPINION

W.C. DAVIS, Judge.

A jury found appellant guilty of capital murder. The jury answered the punishment issues affirmatively, and punishment was assessed at death. See Art. 37.071, V.A.C.C.P.

Appellant contends that the evidence is insufficient to support his conviction because there is no evidence corroborating the testimony of the accomplice.

Richard Williams, also known as John Zimmerman, was the State’s chief witness [248]*248and was an accomplice witness as a matter of law. The court so charged the jury. Williams testified that he was hitchhiking in Arizona when he met appellant and appellant’s wife, Sharon. They were delivering a car to a company in Richland, Texas, and Williams rode with them to Texas. The three delivered the car the day after Thanksgiving, in 1983, and camped out under a bridge at Richland Creek until they met Chuck Stringer. Stringer agreed to give them some work and let them stay in a building on his land. They stayed there for about two weeks and then moved into a shack owned by J.T. Lansford, the deceased. The shack was heated, and Lans-ford provided them with food and water.

Williams testified that appellant always carried a .22 caliber revolver and had also used Lansford’s rifle to hunt for rabbits. Williams admitted that he told Stringer that he had killed a rabbit with one shot from a .22 caliber pistol. He said he had used appellant’s gun.

Williams also said that Lansford carried a lot of money. On several occasions Williams had seen him pay for things with one hundred dollar bills. Appellant told him that Lansford kept money in an envelope under the mattress.

On Christmas Eve appellant told Williams that Lansford had propositioned his wife and offered her $100.00, and that he had to defend his honor. Williams said that appellant told him that he was going to rob and kill Lansford.

Around dusk on Christmas Eve, Williams was picking pecans and gathering kindling in the driveway, about halfway between the shack and Lansford’s house. Lansford drove up, waved to Williams, and went inside the house. Williams saw the light in the house go on, heard four or five shots, and saw the light go out. When Williams went inside, he saw appellant standing over Lansford, who was lying on the floor, face up, with bullet holes in his forehead and left eye. Appellant was holding a .22 caliber rifle and a .22 caliber pistol. He handed Williams the rifle and told him to empty it into Lansford. Williams, who was about ten feet away, fired the remaining two rounds at Lansford’s stomach. Appellant emptied the shells out of the pistol, put them into a box, and reloaded the pistol. He took Lansford’s wallet out of his pocket, took “a wad of money” from the wallet, and put the wallet back into Lansford’s pocket. Williams said that appellant then took beer out of the refrigerator, and looked into the cabinets. He said that he did not see appellant look under the mattress for money. Williams put the rifle up against the left side of the door and went back to the shack.

When he got to the shack, Sharon was packing the backpacks. Williams said that she knew what appellant was going to do. About ten minutes later, appellant pulled Lansford’s truck up to the door of the shack and told his wife to put their things into it because they were leaving. Williams said he left his belongings in the shack and they left within two hours.

They drove to Dallas, where the truck ran out of gas, somewhere on Interstate 45. They then took a bus to El Paso and went to Mexico. Appellant paid for their meals and bus tickets. Williams, appellant and Sharon were arrested when they tried to cross the border into Calexico, California.

Chuck Stringer testified that he operated a truck stop in Angus, in the Richland Creek area. He met Williams walking by the creek when Williams asked him if Stringer had a dryer they could use to dry their clothes, which had gotten soaked in the rain. Williams introduced himself as John Zimmerman and asked Stringer if he could give them some work. It was very cold and Stringer told them they could stay in a large empty building on his property and he helped them out with a little work and food. They stayed there for about three weeks, until the week before Christmas, when they moved into a shack on Lansford’s property.

Appellant and Sharon supported themselves by picking pecans, while Williams occasionally helped Stringer on wrecker calls. Stringer said that he, Lansford, and [249]*249Bill Thompson helped the three out by giving them food and work from time to time.

On Christmas Eve at about 11:00 p.m., Stringer drove to Lansford’s place to deliver three fruit baskets. No lights were on and Lansford’s truck was gone. Stringer said he knocked on the door of the shack and shined his lights down around Lans-ford’s house, but saw no one.

Stringer testified that Williams told him that he had killed a rabbit with one shot and that he was surprised at how well the gun shot. Stringer also said that he had a .22 caliber Colt automatic, which disappeared some time within the three months before January, 1984. He did not know that any of the three took it, although he thought that appellant had the chance to do so.

Billy Thompson lived in Richland and had known Lansford for about twenty years. He said that Stringer asked him to let appellant and his wife pick pecans for him, which he did. Thompson said that he had seen appellant with a rifle and a pistol on occasion.

One day, Thompson took Williams with him to change some tires. When they returned home Thompson noticed that his .38 caliber pistol had disappeared from his truck. Thompson thought that Williams had taken the gun. He told appellant that he thought Williams had taken it and that he wanted it back. That afternoon appellant came out of the shack, gave him back the gun, and told him that Williams had taken it and put it behind the seat of the truck because he thought someone might steal it. Thompson said that Williams could not have hidden it behind the seat because appellant came out of the shack with the gun. He thought appellant was trying to “save me from getting on John.”

Thompson visited Lansford until 4:00 p.m. on Christmas Eve, 1983. The next day, Thompson stopped by Lansford’s place about 10:00 o’clock in the morning. The shack was empty and Lansford’s pickup was gone. Finally, the third day after he had last seen Lansford alive, Thompson looked through the window in the front door of Lansford’s house. Upon seeing two feet sticking up, he called the Sheriff.

Thompson said that Lansford carried his money in his wallet. He also said he had heard that Lansford kept money under a mattress.

Sheriff Bobby Ross testified that he took a statement from Williams and that Williams had cooperated with him in the investigation of the case.

Deputy Sheriff Leslie Cotton testified that on December 27, 1983, the day the body was discovered, she took pictures of the crime scene and dusted for fingerprints. She did not find appellant’s fingerprints. Four empty shell casings were found lying on the floor — two next to the left shoulder, one under Lansford’s back, and one next to his right shoulder. Cotton did not say what the caliber of the gun or bullet the casings were from.

Cotton also said that Lansford’s truck was found abandoned on Interstate 45 in Dallas. She identified a wooden plaque, apparently a Christmas gift, addressed to Lansford from all three suspects.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
690 S.W.2d 246, 1985 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 1553, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cruz-v-state-texcrimapp-1985.