Guzman v. State

539 S.W.3d 394
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedSeptember 7, 2017
DocketNO. 01-16-00262-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by30 cases

This text of 539 S.W.3d 394 (Guzman 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
Guzman v. State, 539 S.W.3d 394 (Tex. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

Terry Jennings, Justice

A jury found appellant, Francisco Guzman, guilty of the offense of capital murder.1 Because the State did not seek the death penalty and appellant was a juvenile when he committed the offense, the trial court, as statutorily required, assessed his *398punishment at confinement for life.2 The trial court further found that appellant used a deadly weapon, namely, a knife, in the commission of the offense. In three issues, appellant contends that the trial court erred in denying his request for a jury instruction on spoliation of the evidence, his trial counsel provided him with ineffective assistance, and the statutes under which he was sentenced violate the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.3

We affirm.

Background

Patricia Rodriguez ("Patricia") testified that in November 2004, she lived at home with her parents, Maria Manzo ("Manzo") and Alejandro Rodriguez ("Alejandro"); three sisters, Acuzena Rodriguez ("Suzanna"), Maria Rodriguez ("Maria"), and Rufina Rodriguez, the complainant4 ; and her cousin, appellant. Patricia explained that on November 8, 2004, she and Maria rode a bus home from school. When they arrived, the front door was locked, but appellant, who was home at the time, let them into the house. Maria then went upstairs, and Patricia walked straight to a telephone in the kitchen to call her boyfriend. As she tried to make her telephone call, appellant stood behind her. When she discovered that the telephone was "dead," appellant confirmed that "the phone wasn't working," and she walked to her parent's master bedroom to try to use the telephone located in there. Appellant followed Patricia into the master bedroom and stood behind her as she tried to make her telephone call. When she realized that this telephone was also "not working," she tried to leave the master bedroom. Appellant, however, punched Patricia's face with his fist, and she believed that "he was going to kill [her]."

After appellant punched Patricia, he threw her onto the floor and began stabbing her in the chest, neck, arms, and back with a knife. He cut her arms as she raised them to her face to protect herself. Appellant stabbed Patricia eight times, the attack lasted for "about ten minutes," and once he had stopped stabbing her, she fled to the "dressing area" of the master bedroom. At that point, Maria came into the master bedroom, and appellant "grabbed a pole and hit her [o]n the head."

When Patricia saw Maria again, she was walking to the bathroom area in the master bedroom and screaming. Patricia then heard appellant tell Maria that if she would not be quiet, "he was going to cut out her tongue." Further, Patricia heard appellant "taping" Maria. He also "pushed [Patricia] inside the [master-bedroom] closet" and "duct tape[d]" her hands, mouth, and legs. Appellant then left the master bedroom when Patricia's mother, Manzo, came home.

When appellant returned to the master bedroom with Manzo, they began talking. Hearing her mother, Patricia tried to help, but appellant "ran after [Patricia] and stabbed [her] in [the] back." Patricia thereafter remained in the master-bedroom closet until her mother came and got her after the entire attack was over. Patricia's sister, Suzanna, called for emergency assistance.

*399Patricia further testified that after appellant had stabbed her, she felt dizzy, could not breathe, and bled "a lot." She pretended to be dead so that appellant would "stop stabbing [her] or doing something else." And following the attack, emergency medical personnel took Patricia to a hospital, where she stayed for two months following surgery. Patricia further explained that although Manzo, prior to the day of the attack, had placed a lock on the door of the master-bedroom closet, on the day of the attack, the closet door and lock were broken.

Manzo testified that appellant, her sister's son, lived with her family in 2004. While he was living with them, Manzo noticed that certain items would go missing from the home. This prompted her to place a lock on the master-bedroom closet, where she kept "[a]ll the gold that belonged to [her] daughters and [her] family." Manzo also noted that in November 2004, she owned a truck, which appellant did not have permission to drive.

On November 8, 2004, Manzo went to work, and she later returned home at the same time as Suzanna and the complainant. When they entered the house, appellant, who was in the living room, told Manzo that "he had problems and he wanted to talk to [her] in the [master] bedroom." After they entered the master bedroom, appellant told Manzo that "somebody had broken into [the house] to steal" and "he had ... kill[ed]" that person. Seeing the blood in the bedroom, she tried to comfort appellant. Manzo then heard "[g]roaning or crying," and as she tried to walk toward the dressing area and closet, appellant stabbed her in the stomach with a knife. He then threw her to the floor, saying, "Give me your money." (Internal quotations omitted.) After Manzo gave him $700 that was in her pocket, appellant continued attacking her, stabbing her on her head, arms, face, legs, and chest, about fifteen times, causing her to bleed "[a] lot."

Once Manzo was down on the floor, appellant yelled, "Suzanna. Suzanna. Your mom fell." (Internal quotations omitted.) When Suzanna came toward the master bedroom, he "stabbed her in the stomach." However, she was able to flee to the home's hallway bathroom. Finally, when the complainant came "run[ning]" toward the master bedroom "to see what was going on," appellant "grabbed her from her hand" and stabbed her in the chest "a lot." Seeing appellant stab the complainant, Manzo tried to "pull[ ] her away from him." Appellant then proceeded to stab Manzo in the "upper chest or ... shoulder area." When appellant stopped attacking Manzo, he said, "Don't move. Stay there." (Internal quotations omitted.) He then left the house, driving away in Manzo's truck. Manzo found Patricia in the closet in the master bedroom and Maria in the master-bedroom bathroom, tied up with duct tape. Emergency medical personnel took Manzo, Patricia, Suzanna, Maria, and the complainant to a hospital. Manzo required surgery and stayed in the hospital for two weeks.

Manzo further testified that appellant did not have permission to take $700 from her. And after the attack, she discovered that a jewelry box and her jewelry, which she did not give anyone permission to take, were missing from the master-bedroom closet.

Dr. Francis Welsh testified that in November 2004, he was an attending trauma surgeon at Ben Taub Hospital when the complainant, who did not have a pulse and was not breathing, arrived at the hospital. She had sustained "multiple stab wounds to her chest" and her "lower extremities." She had also sustained injuries to her lungs and a laceration to the left ventricle of her heart. Welsh noted that any of the *400complainant's injuries, independently, "could [have] be[en] lethal," and when combined in the complainant's case, "they were lethal."

Dr. Morna Gonsoulin, an assistant medical examiner at the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences, testified that she performed an autopsy on the complainant, who died on November 8, 2004.

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Bluebook (online)
539 S.W.3d 394, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/guzman-v-state-texapp-2017.