Delbert Andrew Mills v. State

CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedAugust 29, 2014
Docket13-13-00129-CR
StatusPublished

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Bluebook
Delbert Andrew Mills v. State, (Tex. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

NUMBER 13-13-00129-CR

COURT OF APPEALS

THIRTEENTH DISTRICT OF TEXAS

CORPUS CHRISTI – EDINBURG

DELBERT ANDREW MILLS, Appellant,

v.

THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee.

On appeal from the 24th District Court of Goliad County, Texas.

MEMORANDUM OPINION Before Justices Rodriguez, Garza and Benavides Memorandum Opinion by Justice Garza Following a bench trial, the trial court found appellant, Delbert Andrew Mills, guilty

of murder, a first-degree felony offense, see TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. § 19.02(b)(1), (c)

(West, Westlaw through 2013 3d C.S.), and sentenced him to life imprisonment.

Specifically, the trial court found appellant murdered his wife, Patricia Mills, by

intentionally and knowingly causing a fire at their residence, which resulted in her death. By a single issue, appellant contends the evidence is insufficient to prove that he

intentionally and knowingly caused the fire that killed Patricia. We affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

Appellant’s trial began on January 14, 2013. The fire that resulted in Patricia’s

death occurred almost ten years earlier, on June 25, 2003.

Mildred Ingram testified that about 8:30 a.m. on the morning of June 25, 2003, she

was on her way to the Super S grocery store in Goliad, Texas, when she noticed that a

small house near the store was on fire. She asked the store manager to call the fire

department. Ingram ran to the house to help and encountered a man, later identified as

L.N. Garcia, and a young boy, later identified as John Michael Mills, the son of Patricia

and appellant. Ingram was unable to get into a door at the back of the house because

that door was padlocked. She looked for a hose to help extinguish the fire, but the only

hose was “all chopped up.” Ingram remained at the scene until after the fire department

extinguished the fire. Eventually, appellant, who had been at work, arrived and stood

outside talking to others. Ingram testified that appellant did not appear concerned that

his wife had died in the fire.

L.N. Garcia testified that he was driving by the area that morning and noticed the

fire. As he approached the house, he saw a young boy, later identified as John Michael,

then six years old, jump out of a window of the burning house. The boy, who tried to go

back into the house, said that his mother was inside. Garcia took the boy a safe distance

away from the house. Others ran to the scene to help, but no one was able to get inside.

Alonzo Morales Jr., chief of the Goliad Volunteer Fire Department, testified that he

responded to the report of the fire at the Mills residence. Within fifteen or twenty minutes,

the fire was extinguished. When the firemen entered the house, they found Patricia’s 2 body. They found no smoke detectors in the house.

Jennifer Burdette, Patricia’s niece, testified that at the time of Patricia’s death, she

was twelve or thirteen. In March of 2003, a few months before the fire, she stayed at

Patricia and appellant’s house during spring break. She testified that during her stay, the

smoke detector in the kitchen went off, and appellant changed the batteries. Jennifer

testified there were four smoke detectors in the house, although she only knew that the

one in the kitchen worked. Jennifer observed Patricia and appellant arguing and stepped

between them after appellant hit Patricia. Jennifer stated that the back door to the house

was always padlocked. Although the house was wired for electricity, appellant used fuel

lanterns for light to save electricity.

Justin Burdette, Patricia’s nephew, testified that appellant and Patricia often

argued and that appellant often shoved and hit Patricia. He observed these fights on ten

or more occasions when he would spend the night at their house. When Patricia would

threaten to leave appellant, appellant would say that Patricia could only leave when she

was dead. Justin heard appellant make this statement to Patricia about seven years

before the fire. Justin knew that appellant was a registered sex offender, but said they

were never left alone with appellant. Justin testified that appellant used Coleman lanterns

to save on electricity. According to Justin, there was only one smoke detector in the

house, in the kitchen, but it never worked.

Jessica Burdette, Patricia’s niece, testified that appellant verbally abused Patricia,

but she did not see any physical abuse when they lived in Goliad. Earlier, when appellant

and Patricia lived in Wharton, she observed appellant physically abusing Patricia “a lot.”

When she was about ten or eleven, she saw appellant chasing Patricia and her mother

with an iron skillet. Patricia visited Jessica at Jessica’s home in Seadrift about a month 3 before she died. Patricia seemed very upset. Eventually, Patricia told her that she had

walked in on appellant and another woman, Allison Mills (appellant married Allison shortly

after Patricia’s death), and saw them on the couch. Patricia told appellant that if he

wanted to be with Allison, she wanted a divorce. That same day, appellant stated (in

Jessica’s presence) that he told Patricia that he would kill her before he would give her a

divorce and pay child support. According to Jessica, the night of the fire, appellant was

“very angry” that his son, John Michael, had survived the fire. Appellant said he wanted

to know “how in the hell [John Michael] got out” because appellant had “[p]lexiglassed

those windows so thick that even a grown man couldn’t have broke it.” Jessica

remembered that John Michael’s toy box (which was found outside the window after the

fire) was usually kept outside. According to Jessica, appellant would occasionally throw

it outside.1

Richard Wiley, Patricia’s brother, testified that he was “real close” to Patricia and

that they talked regularly on the phone. Patricia told Richard that appellant regularly beat

her and that she did not leave appellant because she was afraid of him. A few days

before her death, Patricia spoke to Richard on the phone. She told him that appellant

had threatened her, saying that the only way out of the house for her was in a body bag.

Patricia told Richard about catching appellant sleeping with Allison. Richard offered to

come pick up Patricia. On cross-examination, Richard admitted that he heard appellant

say several times that the only way Patricia would leave him is in a body bag.

Dean Shirley, an investigator with the state fire marshal’s office, testified that he

investigated the fire at the Mills’ residence. Shirley testified that he was unable to

1 The location of the toybox outside led to speculation that either Patricia or John Michael used the

toybox to dislodge the window. This theory could not be verified, however, because testimony showed that the toybox was sometimes inside and sometimes outside the residence. 4 determine what caused the fire, but that he was able to determine that the fire originated

in the living room, where the remains of a Coleman lantern were found. The Coleman

lantern was missing a cap on the base of the lantern. Shirley testified that Coleman

lanterns run on a white gas that is very flammable. According to Shirley, Coleman lantern

fuel typically must be ignited by an open flame, like a candle. The origin of the fire was

in front of the only door to the house that was operational.2

On cross-examination, Shirley admitted that he did not collect or analyze the

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