Gilbert v. State

840 S.W.2d 138, 1992 Tex. App. LEXIS 2680, 1992 WL 281901
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedOctober 15, 1992
Docket01-91-00243-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 840 S.W.2d 138 (Gilbert 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
Gilbert v. State, 840 S.W.2d 138, 1992 Tex. App. LEXIS 2680, 1992 WL 281901 (Tex. Ct. App. 1992).

Opinion

OPINION

WILSON, Justice.

Appellant was indicted for murder. A jury found him guilty of voluntary manslaughter through the use of a deadly weapon, and sentenced him to 17 years confinement. Following his conviction, appellant timely filed a motion for new trial and an amended motion for new trial, which the trial court denied. This appeal follows, alleging four points of error. We affirm.

The record reflects that on August 19, 1988, at around 9:00 p.m., two witnesses were standing outside the Westway Ford dealership on the Southwest Freeway in Harris County when they heard two loud noises, which sounded like backfires, coming from the freeway. They next observed a woman exiting from the passenger side door of a small pickup truck, which was stopped in the emergency lane, next to the freeway. The woman staggered across a nearby service road in front of the car of a *140 third witness, who saw the woman was bleeding from the left side of her neck. All three witnesses testified a man exited from the driver side of the same pickup truck and followed the woman across the service road toward the dealership. When he reached her, he shot her once in back of the head at close range. The witnesses watched as the woman fell or was pushed into a ditch, and the man then jogged back to the truck and left the scene. None of the witnesses testified the woman possessed a weapon, or that she struggled with the man who shot her.

The deceased was identified as Wanda Lene Nash Hebert. The autopsy revealed that Hebert received two gunshot wounds. One entered the left side of the neck, and the other was a contact 1 wound to back of the neck.

Appellant admitted later to police officers in Beaumont that he was with Hebert at the time of the incident in question. Appellant testified at trial he did not intend to kill Hebert, but that she was shot following a struggle over two guns she pulled from her purse as they were driving. He testified they struggled as he attempted to pull his truck off the highway, that he heard shots but did not know who was hit at the time, that Hebert pulled him out of the truck with her, and when she fell and did not respond, he panicked and drove to Beaumont. Appellant identified a blue steel revolver, recovered from his truck in Beaumont, as the weapon he and Hebert struggled over. A second revolver containing five live rounds, was recovered from the crime scene near Hebert’s body.

I. JUROR MISCONDUCT

In his first point of error, appellant contends that the trial court erred in denying his motion for mistrial based on juror misconduct during voir dire. We construe appellant’s point of error as claiming a denial of due process in the jury selection process. Appellant argues persons biased against him were seated on the jury.

Kathleen Hensarling, a member of the venire who was not seated as a juror, contacted the trial judge by telephone on the morning of January 16, 1991, the second day of trial. She informed the judge that certain prospective jurors had made comments or engaged in conduct that concerned her. She further informed him that two of those prospective jurors had been selected for appellant’s trial. That same morning, the judge retired the jury and conducted a hearing. In addition to Hen-sarling, jury members Mary Lee Moton and Mary L. Busby were called to testify.

Hensarling testified that prospective juror Joseph Johnson made the remark that appellant “must be guilty” because “they wouldn’t have brought him in and gone through all this” were he innocent. He and venire members Moton and Busby then laughed and Moton said “yeah.” Hensar-ling further testified that the three had been “laughing and talking among each other for a period of time previous to that [remark],” and that “they were kidding because the defense was taking each juror by turn and it was a long process.” Finally, Hensarling testified that Moton had written notes on a piece of paper from her checkbook, such as “[T]he Judge is taking a nap,” and “[It] doesn’t look like I’m going to work today.”

Juror Moton testified she recalled Johnson’s remark about appellant’s guilt, but she did not laugh or write any notes. She further testified she could be a fair and impartial juror.

Juror Busby testified that she also recalled Johnson’s remark, but she did not laugh at it. She further testified that she did recall seeing a note, but was unsure whether Johnson passed it to Moton, or vice versa. Busby also testified she could be a fair and impartial juror. Johnson was not a member of the jury and was not called to testify at the hearing.

The judge admonished jurors Moton and Busby not to discuss this hearing with the other jurors until after the trial. At the conclusion of the hearing, appellant moved for a mistrial based on juror misconduct, which was overruled. Appellant’s motion *141 for new trial on this ground was also denied.

Because Moton and Busby were not jurors at the time of the alleged misconduct, the issue is not one of juror misconduct, but rather denial of due process. Wash-bum v. State, 692 S.W.2d 576, 578 (Tex.App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 1985, no writ). Appellant does not specifically cite due process as a ground for new trial in connection with his juror misconduct allegation. He does, however, claim that the conduct of Moton and Busby during voir dire denied him a fair and impartial trial. He contends that because Hensarling testified she saw Moton with a note, and Busby testified she saw a note being passed, Moton’s failure to recollect any note was not credible. Therefore, Moton’s responses during voir dire were unreliable, and a mistrial should have been granted.

The court heard conflicting evidence about the alleged passing of notes during voir dire. It is well settled that the trial court, as trier of fact, is the sole judge of the credibility of witnesses and is free to accept or reject all or any of their testimony. Snow v. State, 721 S.W.2d 943, 946 (Tex.App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 1986, no writ). Both Busby and Moton stated they heard Johnson’s remark, but did not laugh or respond to it. Both women also testified they could be fair and impartial jurors. The trial court judge was able to observe the demeanor and reactions of the witnesses, and under the facts presented, was within his discretion to believe their testimony, and reject Hensarling’s evidence.

Johnson’s remark that appellant “must be guilty,” if made seriously, or if believed, would demonstrate bias against appellant. But, Johnson was not selected as a juror. The judge heard conflicting evidence regarding Busby’s and Moton’s responses to Johnson’s remark, and regarding the passing of the notes. Issues of fact as to jury misconduct are for the determination of the trial court, and where there is conflicting evidence, there is no abuse of discretion if the motion is overruled. Bratcher v. State, 771 S.W.2d 175, 188 (Tex.App.—San Antonio [4th Dist.] 1989, no writ). We find no abuse of discretion in the trial court’s overruling appellant’s motion for mistrial.

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

Related

State v. Billy John Bell
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2020
Flores v. State
513 S.W.3d 146 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2016)
Rebecca Ann Carpenter v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2005
Delgadillo, Edith v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2004
James Glenn Jacobs v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2004
Helton, Richard Lee v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2004
Alexander v. State
919 S.W.2d 756 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1996)
Roy Edward Sanders v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 1995
Samuel Lee Jones v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 1995
Lee v. State
893 S.W.2d 80 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1994)
Balew v. State
872 S.W.2d 339 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1994)
Antonio Alvarado v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 1994
Peña v. State
864 S.W.2d 147 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1993)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
840 S.W.2d 138, 1992 Tex. App. LEXIS 2680, 1992 WL 281901, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gilbert-v-state-texapp-1992.