Fields v. State

515 S.W.3d 47, 2016 WL 6994016, 2016 Tex. App. LEXIS 12615
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedNovember 30, 2016
DocketNo. 04-15-00585-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 515 S.W.3d 47 (Fields 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
Fields v. State, 515 S.W.3d 47, 2016 WL 6994016, 2016 Tex. App. LEXIS 12615 (Tex. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinions

OPINION

Opinion by:

Jason Pulliam, Justice

A jury found Devin Fields guilty of the offense of capital murder for the murders [51]*51of Baby Girl Harrison and her unborn child. The State did not seek the death penalty, therefore, the trial court sentenced Fields to life imprisonment. On appeal, Fields argues the evidence is insufficient to support his conviction and the trial court erred when it admitted into evidence a note written by an accomplice witness, the crime scene video, and an autopsy photograph over his objections. The trial court’s judgment is affirmed.

I. Background

On July 4, 2013, Fields knocked on the apartment door of Stephon Finnell, a man Fields believed was responsible for the recent burglary of his apartment. Finnell’s girlfriend, Baby Girl Harrison, answered the door. Fields opened fire with a .45 caliber handgun, hitting Harrison twice in the chest. Harrison, as well as her unborn child, died as a result of the gunshot wounds.

The record in this case shows Fields and Finnell grew up in the same neighborhood, were members of the same gang, and sold drugs together. In the months prior to the offense, Finnell who already had one child with Harrison, lived with Breanna Ancira and introduced Fields to Ancira. A short time before the offense occurred, Finnell reunited with Harrison. Fields informed Ancira the other couple reunited because Harrison was pregnant with Finnell’s child. Fields and Ancira subsequently became romantically involved.

The night the offense occurred, the apartment Ancira and Fields shared was burglarized. The burglars stole a television and a safe containing Fields’s drugs, money, and gun. According to testimony from the couple’s downstairs neighbor as well as a roommate and Ancira, Fields believed Finnell was responsible for stealing the safe because Fields had declined to help Finnell rob someone else earlier in the day. Although the downstairs neighbor called the police, Fields refused officers entrance into the apartment to investigate. Ancira testified Fields was very angry. Ancira drove Fields to his brother’s home where Fields obtained a handgun from his brother. Fields emptied the handgun’s clip and wiped each of the bullets clean before reloading the clip. Fields then directed Ancira to drive him to the apartment complex where Finnell lived.

Fields ordered Ancira to wait for him. Ancira watched through the car window as Fields argued with an unknown person, yelling, cursing, and gesturing at the other person. Fields moved out of Ancira’s line of sight. Shortly thereafter, Ancira heard three gunshots. Fields ran back to the car and directed Ancira to drive away. Fields informed Ancira, “I think I just killed that bitch.” Ancira testified Fields told her, “Before the bitch could even get my name out, I started shooting.” According to Anci-ra, Fields ranted angrily and blamed Harrison for Finnell committing the burglary. According to Ancira and officers who responded to both the burglary and the murder scenes, the shooting occurred within an hour of the burglary being reported.

Later in the day, when Ancira told Fields she believed Harrison was dead, Fields replied, “Of course she’s dead. I shot her with a [f ing] .45 ... she got shot with a .45, of course she would be dead.” Fields also told others he shot through the apartment’s door and that Finnell should have known what would happen when Fin-nell stole from him. Fields disassembled the handgun and attempted to dispose of it in concrete.

According to Ancira, Fields forced her to go to Houston with him while leading others to believe they had fled to Corpus Christi. Ancira testified Fields threatened Ancira, her toddler daughter, and her family with death if Ancira spoke with the [52]*52police about the offense. Fields also told Ancira she would be jailed, because she was the only one who knew what happened and she would be considered an accomplice. Fields additionally created a story for Ancira to tell police if she was questioned, and further intended to marry An-cira because he believed Ancira would not be able to testify against him if they married.

Following his arrest and detention, Fields admitted to his jail cellmate he went to the home of a close Mend and shot the woman who opened the door. Fields told his cellmate he shot the woman twice with a.45 using hollow-point bullets and then later put the gun in cement.

A grand jury indicted Fields for the offense of capital murder, alleging Fields caused the deaths of two individuals during the same criminal transaction. The District Attorney offered Ancua transactional immunity in exchange for her testimony against Fields. A jury found Fields guilty as charged in the indictment, and the trial court sentenced Fields to life imprisonment.

This appeal followed.

II. Sufficiency of the Evidence

In his first issue, Fields argues the State failed to prove it was his conscious objective or desire to kill Harrison or Harrison’s unborn child.

A. Standard of Review

When examining the sufficiency of the evidence, this court considers all the evidence in the light most favorable to the conviction to determine whether, based on the evidence and reasonable inferences therefrom, a rational trier of fact could have found each element of the offense beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 318-19, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979); Merritt v. State, 368 S.W.3d 516, 525 (Tex. Crim. App. 2012).

As the factfinder, the jury is the exclusive judge of witness credibility and the weight of the evidence. Ramsey v. State, 473 S.W.3d 805, 809 (Tex. Crim. App. 2015). The jury is permitted to draw any reasonable inferences from the evidence so long as the inference is supported by the record. Id. Further, the reconciliation of conflicts in the evidence is within the factfinder’s exclusive province. Wyatt v. State, 23 S.W.3d 18, 30 (Tex. Crim. App. 2000). If a record supports conflicting inferences, this court presumes the factfin-der resolved the conflicts in favor of the prevailing party and therefore defers to that determination. Jackson, 443 U.S. at 319, 99 S.Ct. 2781; Hooper v. State, 214 S.W.3d 9, 12 (Tex. Crim. App. 2007). Direct evidence and circumstantial evidence are equally probative, and circumstantial evidence alone may be sufficient to uphold a conviction so long as the cumulative force of all the incriminating circumstances is sufficient to support the conviction. Winfrey v. State, 393 S.W.3d 763, 771 (Tex. Crim. App. 2013); Hooper v. State, 214 S.W.3d 9, 13 (Tex. Crim. App. 2007); see also Canida v. State, 446 S.W.3d 601, 605 (Tex. App.-Texarkana 2014, no pet.).

B. Application

A person commits the offense of capital murder if he commits murder and murders more than one person during the same criminal transaction. Tex. Penal Code Ann.

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515 S.W.3d 47, 2016 WL 6994016, 2016 Tex. App. LEXIS 12615, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fields-v-state-texapp-2016.