Jones, Stevie Dewayne v. Texas, the State Of

CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMay 27, 1992
Docket05-90-01026-CR
StatusPublished

This text of Jones, Stevie Dewayne v. Texas, the State Of (Jones, Stevie Dewayne v. Texas, the State Of) 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
Jones, Stevie Dewayne v. Texas, the State Of, (Tex. Ct. App. 1992).

Opinion

f* -

(Utfuri of Appeals mttli Stsirtri of Okxas at Dallas JUDGMENT

STEVIE DEWAYNE JONES, Appellant Appeal from the 265th Judicial District Court ofDallas County, Texas. (Tr.Ct.No. No. 05-90-01026-CR V. F88-81145-PR). Opinion delivered by Justice Kinkeade, THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee Chief Justice Enoch and Justice Baker participating.

Based on the Court's opinion of this date, the judgment of the trial court is AFFIRMED.

Judgment entered May 27, 1992.

edkinkeadIe JUSTICE Affirmed and Opinion Filed May 27, 1992

In The

(£ourt of Appeals ¥xfttf district of Okxas at Dallas No. 05-90-01026-CR

STEVIE DEWAYNE JONES, Appellant

V.

THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee

On Appeal from the 265th Judicial District Court Dallas County, Texas Trial Court Cause No. F88-81145-PR ,

OPINION

Before Chief Justice Enoch and Justices Baker and Kinkeade Opinion By Justice Kinkeade

Stevie DeWayne Jones appeals his conviction for murder. Following a jury trial, the

jury assessed punishment at thirty years' confinement in the state penitentiary. In nine

points of error, he argues that (1) the evidence is insufficient to support his conviction and

(2) the admission of suggestive, pre-trial photographic lineups tainted the in-court

identification of two witnesses. He further argues that the trial court erred in admitting (3)

the hearsay testimony of four witnesses and (4) evidence of extraneous offenses. Because the evidence is sufficient to support Jones's conviction, the in-court identifications were not tainted, and the trial court did not err in admitting the four witnesses' testimony under exceptions to the hearsay rule and the extraneous offenses to show Jones's motive to kill Graves, we affirm the trial court's judgment.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Yolanda Graves and Stevie Jones met and began dating in high school. After Jones started buying Graves expensive presents and taking her on trips, Graves's father, W.D. Johnson, asked her to move from his house. At this time, Graves also dated Jerry Wayne Leffall, who is known as both "John" and "Chief."

The Leffall Shooting

At about 5:30 to 6:00 P.M. on March 6, 1988, Jerry Wayne Leffall took Frederick Hunter to the grocery store to buy cigarettes. Leffall waited in the car as Hunter went into the store to buy cigarettes. While Hunter was in the store, Jones drove up and parked behind Leffall's car. Jones then got out of his car and walked to the driver's side of Leffall's car. Jones asked Leffall if his name was "John." Leffall told him "no," and Jones fired at him twice. Leffall laid on the seat of his car and pretended to be shot. Jones stepped back arid started shooting again. Jones then got back into his car and shot at Leffall again before he left. When he heard the shots, Hunter ran out of the store, opened Leffall's car door, and saw that Leffall was not hurt.

The two then went to Hunter's house and called the police. Dallas Police Officer Paul Rodgers responded and interviewed Hunter and Leffall about the shooting. He testified that Leffall told him that he was dating Graves and that angered Jones. Leffall told the officer where Graves lived. The officer then talked to Graves who said that Jones had admitted to her that he had tried to shoot Leffall. The day after the shooting, Hunter picked out Jones's picture from aphotographic array as the person who tried to shoot him. The next day, Leffall also selected Jones's picture from the same photographic array. The Graves's Shooting

Graves moved back into her father's house aweek or two before her murder. Soon after Graves moved home, Johnson testified that Graves told him that she thought that Jones would kill her and that she was scared of Jones. Graves slept on the living room couch. On March 5, Graves's stepsister, Yolanda Rivers, overheard Jones and Graves talking in the living room while she got something to eat in the kitchen. Jones told Graves that he loved her and that she owed her love to him. Jones also reminded Graves of his gifts to her. Graves then came into the kitchen, and Jones followed her. In the kitchen, Graves told Jones that she was pregnant with Leffall's baby. Jones replied that he would now kill Leffall.

On March 6, Jones spent the afternoon with Graves at her father's house. When Graves went to the restroom, Jones took the clothes from her closet that he had bought for her and left. Later that evening, Graves talked to her aunt, Patsy Henderson, on the phone. Henderson said that Graves put her on hold for five to ten minutes while she answered her

-3- call waiting on the other line. Henderson said that when Graves switched back she was very upset. Graves said that she had been speaking with Jones, and he said that he killed Leffall. Henderson testified that Jones interrupted their telephone conversation again. When Graves switched back to Henderson again, Graves told her that Jones said that if he could not have Graves, then no one else would. Henderson begged Graves to come stay with her because she feared what Jones might do. Henderson testified that Graves called again around midnight to tell her that Jones had called her father and told him that he gave his daughter syphilis. Graves told Henderson that she only talked to Jones because she wanted to tell him that he was aliar. Henderson testified that she told Graves to quit answering the phone because that is how Jones knew that she was at home.

Johnson and Rivers each said that they overheard Graves as she talked on the phone with Jones. Johnson testified that he heard Graves tell Jones that she knew he tried to kill Leffall, and that she was going to tell the police about the shooting and ask ajudge for a peace bond to keep him away from her. Rivers testified that Graves also told Jones that he should hurt her and not Leffall because she was the one that ended their relationship. After the conversation on the phone ended, Graves told her father that Jones tried to shoot Leffall. Johnson demanded that Graves not talk to Jones again. That same day Officer Rodgers came to the Johnson house to interview Graves about the Leffall shooting. Officer Rodgers testified that Graves told him that Jones had admitted to her that he had tried to shoot Leffall.

-4- At about 3:00 A.M. on March 7, someone fired gunshots into the Johnson home through the living room windows. The Johnson household ran into the room and found Graves unconscious on the living room floor with six gunshot wounds and called the police and an ambulance. When the police arrived, Graves was able to tell them that "Stevie" had fired the shots. One of Graves's stepsisters told the police that "Stevie" was Stevie Jones. The ambulance took Graves to the hospital, where she later died. Lawrence Durham, the neighbor who lives two houses down from Johnson, testified that he heard gunshots on the night of Graves's shooting. When Durham turned on his porch light, he saw Jones run from Johnson's house toward his house, get into acar, and leave the scene.

Dallas Police Detective Fred Milligan collected the physical evidence from the shooting scene. He testified that the gunshots came through the living room windows and that he recovered fifteen shell casings from the shooting scene. Detective Milligan said the shots fired into the living room were fired in adownward motion towards the couch on which Graves slept. He also said that the shots were not random, but were localized and aimed toward the couch. Dr. Charles Petty, chief medical examiner for Dallas County who performed Graves's autopsy, testified that Graves was not pregnant and that she died from her gunshot wounds.

SUFFICIENCY OF THE EVIDENCE

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

Related

Pointer v. Texas
380 U.S. 400 (Supreme Court, 1965)
Dutton v. Evans
400 U.S. 74 (Supreme Court, 1970)
Chambers v. Mississippi
410 U.S. 284 (Supreme Court, 1973)
Sellers v. State
588 S.W.2d 915 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1979)
Purtell v. State
761 S.W.2d 360 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1988)
Carlsen v. State
654 S.W.2d 444 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1983)
Geesa v. State
820 S.W.2d 154 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1991)
Turner v. State
614 S.W.2d 144 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1981)
Coulter v. State
494 S.W.2d 876 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1973)
Parr v. State of Texas
557 S.W.2d 99 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1977)
Cisneros v. State
692 S.W.2d 78 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1985)
Williams v. State
692 S.W.2d 671 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1984)
Turner v. State
805 S.W.2d 423 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1991)
Madden v. State
799 S.W.2d 683 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1990)
Williams v. State
662 S.W.2d 344 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1983)
State v. Brydon
626 S.W.2d 443 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1981)
Woodard v. State
696 S.W.2d 622 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1985)
Thomas v. State
753 S.W.2d 688 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1988)
Austin v. State
712 S.W.2d 591 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1986)
Montgomery v. State
810 S.W.2d 372 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1991)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
Jones, Stevie Dewayne v. Texas, the State Of, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jones-stevie-dewayne-v-texas-the-state-of-texapp-1992.