Garcia v. State

887 S.W.2d 862, 1994 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 44, 1994 WL 124308
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Texas
DecidedApril 13, 1994
Docket71148
StatusPublished
Cited by452 cases

This text of 887 S.W.2d 862 (Garcia 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
Garcia v. State, 887 S.W.2d 862, 1994 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 44, 1994 WL 124308 (Tex. 1994).

Opinions

OPINION

MEYERS, Judge.

Appellant was convicted in July 1990 of capital murder under Texas Penal Code § 19.03(a)(2) for a murder committed in August 1987 during the course of a robbery. After the jury returned affirmative findings to the two special issues submitted pursuant to Art. 37.071(b) of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, appellant was sentenced to death under Art. 37.071(e).1 Direct appeal to this Court is mandated by Art. 37.071(h). We will affirm.

I. Sufficiency of the Evidence

Appellant challenges, in point twenty-seven, the sufficiency of the evidence to convict him of capital murder. Appellant disputes the sufficiency of the evidence to establish beyond a reasonable doubt that 1) he specifically intended to kill the victim, 2) he was the person who shot the victim, and 3) he committed the murder in the course of robbeiy. Appellant also challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to corroborate the testimony of accomplice Eduardo Morales. While this latter contention is multifarious, we will address these arguments in the interest of justice. E.g., Thomas v. State, 723 S.W.2d 696, 697 n. 2 (Tex.Crim.App.1986); but see Tex.R.App.P. 74(d).

A sufficiency review requires that, while viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict, we ask whether any rational trier of fact could have found beyond a reasonable doubt all of the elements being challenged. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 2789, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979); Nelson v. State, 848 S.W.2d 126, 131 (Tex.Crim.App.1992), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 114 S.Ct. 100, 126 L.Ed.2d 66 (1993).

[868]*868The record, viewed in a light most favorable to the jury’s verdict, establishes the following: Adelmina Rios, the victim’s seventeen year old sister, testified that on August 25,1987, she was working the 4-10 p.m. shift at an L & M Mart located about ten miles north of Edinburg, Texas. Her fourteen-year-old brother, the victim, joined her at the store around 9:15 p.m. to keep her company and buy some hot dogs and a drink. At about 9:30 p.m. two men entered the store. Ms. Rios was behind the counter, and her brother was sitting at the end of the counter eating his hot dogs. The first man walked around the store looking into the coolers and brought a soft drink to the counter. The second man, subsequently identified as appellant, also walked around the store looking in the coolers. He apparently was stalling, waiting for the other customers to leave. Appellant, retrieving a beer, asked the first man whether he wanted a beer. According to Ms. Rios, the store was well lit, her eye sight was good, and she could see appellant clearly and without obstruction; she remembered particularly his face. She identified appellant as the second man — the man who killed her brother.

After retrieving the beer, appellant walked down the middle aisle. Ms. Rios removed her focus from appellant but momentarily turned back to look at him when she heard him say something. When she turned around he was standing at the end of the counter with a gun to her brother’s face. Though appellant had mumbled, she understood that it was a robbery, since appellant’s free hand was extended, waiting to receive the money. Ms. Rios testified that her focus at this point was on appellant’s face. She begged him not to hurt them; her brother sat trembling, the gun in his face. Neither Ms. Rios nor her brother offered any resistance or made any gesture denoting resistance. As she turned to empty the cash register, she heard appellant fire the gun and saw that appellant had shot her brother in the head; the boy fell gasping for air, vomiting, and bleeding. Appellant again demanded the money. She took the paper money and walked toward him, her focus again fixed on his face, and he moved toward her. As she handed appellant the money, some fell to the floor, and appellant bent, over to pick up the money. As he stood back up, appellant shot Ms. Rios. Thinking that she had only been grazed, Ms. Rios fell, feigning death to avoid being shot again by appellant. She waited.2 When the Sheriffs deputies arrived, she realized that she had been shot in the stomach. Later she learned that the bullet had gone through her, exiting through her back. She had been seriously injured and was immediately hospitalized.

Ms. Rios testified that she had a clear view of appellant most of the time that he was in the store. She noted that after realizing that she was being robbed, her focus was on his face. She accurately described appellant to the police and later identified him from a photo lineup; she explained that upon seeing appellant’s picture she experienced a memory flashback of the gunman’s face and was certain that appellant was the gunman who had shot her and killed her brother. Rogelio Garcia, an employee of E.M.S., testified that he attended to Ms. Rios on the night of the murder. He testified that she had been conscious, alert, very calm, and concerned about her brother — that she had known where she was and what had happened. Deputy Sheriff Jeff Rivers testified that he was dispatched to the scene of the crime and that Ms. Rios had been calm and spoke to him in a normal tone of voice; she told him what had happened and had given him descriptions of the two men.

Dr. Ruben Santos, testifying that he performed the autopsy of the deceased, stated that the boy had suffered a “close-range,” gunshot to the right side of his head. “Close-range,” he explained, means that the barrel of the weapon was no more than four feet from the victim’s head. Dr. Santos stated that his internal examination showed that the bullet severely damaged the victim’s [869]*869brain; he found no other condition which contributed to the boy's death. The victim died from the wound caused by the close-range gunshot to his head.

Ofelia Morales, appellant’s sister-in-law, testified that sometime after the date of the offense she overheard appellant telling someone over the telephone that he had killed a boy, that the boy had “bounced like a dog and screamed like a sheep” and that his eyes had been wide open as he lay dying. She heard appellant say that it was at a store. He also said that “the other ones’s eyes were also wide open.” Ms. Morales testified that when she asked appellant what he had been talking about, he merely laughed. She asked again, and he then told her that he had killed a boy and repeated that the boy had “bounced like a dog and cried like a sheep.” She asked him why he had done such a thing; he responded that he did not know, verbally abused her, and told her that it was none of her business. Appellant then produced a gun, held it at Ms. Morales’ head and warned her against telling anybody of what she had heard or he would kill her. She explained that she did not reveal the incident to anyone for fear of appellant.

A rational trier of fact could find beyond a reasonable doubt that appellant intentionally killed Eduardo Rios. The specific intent to kill may be inferred from the use of a deadly weapon. Godsey v. State, 719 S.W.2d 578, 580-81 (Tex.Crim.App.1986). In the present case not only did appellant enter the store carrying a deadly weapon, he held it to the victim’s head, and without provocation shot the boy at “close-range” in the head. Appellant then completed the robbery, shot his second victim and fled from the scene. See Thompson v. State,

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Calvin Wilson Graves v. the State of Texas
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2023
Harry Vega Cruzado v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2020
Seandre McMahon v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2020
Wilbert Burse v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2019
Mahyar Arefi v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2019
Zanard Rashun Houston v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2019
Eric Andrew Martinez v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2018
White, Brian Jason
Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2018
Charles Joseph Ballard v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2017
Kerry Dean Parks v. State
463 S.W.3d 166 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2015)
Cristobal Galvan-Cerna v. State
509 S.W.3d 398 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2014)
Susan Lucille Wright v. State
374 S.W.3d 564 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2012)
McGee v. State
342 S.W.3d 245 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2011)
Cueva v. State
339 S.W.3d 839 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2011)
Martinez v. State
327 S.W.3d 727 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2010)
Russell v. State
290 S.W.3d 387 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2009)
Ignacio Navarro v. State
280 S.W.3d 405 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2008)
Ingram v. State
213 S.W.3d 515 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2007)
Wilson v. State
179 S.W.3d 240 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2005)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
887 S.W.2d 862, 1994 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 44, 1994 WL 124308, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/garcia-v-state-texcrimapp-1994.