Efrain Lopez v. State

478 S.W.3d 936, 2015 Tex. App. LEXIS 10865, 2015 WL 6396185
Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided October 22, 2015·No. NO. 14-14-00758-CR·Published·Cited by 11 cases

Opinion

OPINION

William J. Boyce, Justice

A jury convicted appellant Efrain Lopez of capital murder and assessed his punishment at life imprisonment. See Tex. Penal Code Ann. § 19.03(a)(2) (Vernon Supp. 2014). Appellant contends that the trial court committed reversible error by denying appellant’s motion to dismiss the case for failure to provide a speedy trial; and (2) admitting an allegedly prejudicial photograph of appellant into evidence.

BACKGROUND

Appellant and three other men entered the home of Guadalupe Sepulveda on September 12, 2005, and stole jewelry, guns, marijuana, and cocaine. Sepulveda was wounded by gunfire during the incident and his brother, Daniel Zamora, was killed. Appellant and the three other men wore black clothes and gloves, and covered their faces. This incident, which forms the basis of appellant’s conviction below, is referred to as the “Loma Vista” case because it occurred at 6401 Loma Vista Street. 1

On December 16, 2005, appellant was arrested for an unrelated aggravated assault. A day after his arrest, appellant was indicted for a capital murder committed on Bunker Hill Road (the “Bunker Hill” case) 2 Appellant was represented by attorney Gerald Fry in the Bunker Hill case. Both the Bunker Hill case and the Loma Vista case were linked to the La Tercera Crips gang.

Appellant remained incarcerated from 2005 to 2011 pending trials in the aggravated assault and Bunker Hill cases. Appellant was indicted in the Loma Vista case on May 11, 2011. Joseph Salhab was appointed to represent appellant in the Loma Vista case on June 14,2011.

Appellant filed a pro se motion for speedy trial on October 31, 2013, in which he contended that he was ready for trial in *940 both the Bunker Hill and Loma. Vista cases at all times. . In an, apparent reference to the Bunker Hill case, appellant argued that his right to a speedy trial “began upon his arrest approximately three months prior to return, of indictment.” Before this motion was filed, however, appellant and Salhab signed eleven agreed resets in the Loma Vista case between June 14, 2011, and September 6, 2013, 3 with the final one setting the. case for disposition on February 5, 2014.

Appellant filed a -pro se motion to dismiss the indictment in-the Loma Vista case for denial of a speedy trial, on December 19, 2013.- Appellant alleged that he was arrested for the Loma Vista case, twice: first on October 10, 2005, after which he was released following a 24-hour hold, and again on December 16,. 2005. Appellant argued' that the delay could not be attributed to him or his counsel. Appellant further argued that the delay caused him to suffer oppressive pre-trial incarceration and anxiety, and compromised his ability to present his case due to lost evidence and unavailable witnesses.

Six agreed resets occurred in the Loma Vista case between February 5, 2014, and June 30, 2014, with the final one setting a trial date of August 29, 2014. Salhab filed a motion on August 29, 2014, to dismiss the Loma Vista indictment for failure to provide a speedy trial in which he adopted appellant’s October and December 2013 pro se motions. A hearing on the motion to dismiss was held the same day.

At the hearing, defense co-counsel Deborah Summers argued that the passage of time since appellant’s May 11, 2011 indictment in the Loma Vista case established a sufficiently prejudicial delay to trigger an analysis addressing whether appellant was denied his right to a speedy trial. See generally Barker v. Wingo, 407 U.S. 514, 530, 92 S.Ct. 2182, 33 L.Ed.2d 101 (1972) (court must consider length of delay, reason for the delay, defendant’s assertion of the right, and prejudice to the defendant).

The State called Spence Graham to testify at the hearing. Graham became felony chief prosecutor of the 179th District Court in May 2009 and was in 'charge of handling approximately 30 capital murder cases pending in that court, including appellant’s Bunker Hill case.

After reviewing the evidence in the Bunker Hill case — which included evidence of other homicides and aggravated robberies linked to the La Tercera Crips gang— Graham concluded appellant was “worthy of being charged in the Loma Vista capital murder.” Graham further testified that a search warrant was issued regarding the Loma Vista investigation, but that Graham held off filing charges against appellant in the Loma Vista case at Fry’s request while plea negotiations were ongoing in the *941 Bunker Hill case. 4 Graham testified that he and Fry did .not want to jeopardize the potential Bunker Hill plea deal — which involved appellant agreeing to testify for the State in another capital murder case — by indicting appellant in the Loma Vista case. 5 Appellant was indicted in the Loma Vista ease after the Bunker Hill plea negotiations broke down. Once the Loma Vista charges were filed and Salhab was appointed to represent appellant in that case, Graham had a lengthy discussion with Sal-hab “to get him up to speed.” Graham further testified , that the defense was not yet ready for trial when he left the 179th District Court in December 2011.

At the conclusion of the hearing, the State argued that it had been ready for trial at least since early March 2014. When the trial was set for July 2014, appellant was in quarantine for medical reasons and unable to appear. The State also claimed that Salhab did not want to try the case in July 2014 and had urged the trial court to reset the case. Salhab confirmed that appellant had been in quarantine and was unable to communicate with Salhab during the three weeks preceding the July 2014 trial setting. The trial court denied appellant’s motion and trial was set for September 2, 2014.

A four-day trial was,held beginning on September 3, 2014. The jury found appellant guilty of capital murder and assessed his punishment at life imprisonment.

Analysis

I. Right to a Speedy Trial

In his first issue, appellant contends that his Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial was violated because he was incarcerated for eight years and nine months without a trial. Appellant argues that the trial court erred in denying his motion to dismiss the case because his right to a speedy trial attached when appellant became an accused. Appellant contends that he became an accused in the Loma Vista case when he was arrested on December 16,2005.

" A. When Did the Appellant Become an Accused?

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Efrain Lopez v. State, 478 S.W.3d 936, 2015 Tex. App. LEXIS 10865, 2015 WL 6396185 (Tex. Ct. App. 2015).

478 S.W.3d 936 (Efrain Lopez v. State) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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