Jones v. State

500 S.W.3d 106, 2016 Tex. App. LEXIS 7774, 2016 WL 3964911
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJuly 21, 2016
DocketNO. 01-15-00358-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by31 cases

This text of 500 S.W.3d 106 (Jones 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
Jones v. State, 500 S.W.3d 106, 2016 Tex. App. LEXIS 7774, 2016 WL 3964911 (Tex. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

OPINION

Rebeca Huddle, Justice

Appellant Bobby Joe Jones, Jr., was charged by indictment with two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. The jury found appellant guilty of one count and sentenced him to five years’ confinement, with the recommendation that he be placed on community supervision. The trial court sentenced appellant to five years’ confinement, probated for ten years. Appellant contends that insufficient evidence supports his conviction and that his trial counsel provided ineffective assistance. We affirm.

Background

In the summer of 2012, appellant and his teenage son BJ lived with appellant’s parents, Bobby Joe Jones, Sr. (“Senior”) and Joanie Jones, at the Joneses’ residence in Hays County, Texas. At the time, appellant’s sister, Ashleigh Jones Dekay, was attempting to reconcile with her ex-husband, Matt DeKay, one of the complainants. Appellant was charged with the offense of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon against Matt and Matt’s friend, David Curry, following an incident that occurred in the early morning hours at the Joneses’ home. At trial, the jury heard testimony from the complainants, three eyewitnesses and three responding officers.

[109]*109 Testimony from Complainants

Matt testified that, up to the time of the offense, he had good relationships with appellant and appellant’s parents. Matt and Senior both worked in the construction industry, traveled together, and hunted together. Matt considered Senior a friend, not just a father-in-law.

One late summer evening, Matt, Ash-leigh, Joanie, Senior, and others spent hopped among a variety of bars, restaurants, and shops. Matt testified that- sometime after dinner, Senior drove himself home, and the rest of the group went to the Stardust in- south Austin where they met David and Karen Curry, friends of Matt and Ashleigh. David testified that they arrived at Stardust while it was still light out, around 7:30 p.m. and that he and Matt both had alcohol there. Matt later loaned Joanie his 2011 GMC Sierra crew cab truck, and she drove herself home. Around midnight, David drove Matt to the Joneses’ to retrieve his truck.

Matt and David testified that, as they pulled into the driveway, they noticed damage to the truck above the driver’s side front tire. The damage resembled a fist mark. Matt testified that he called Joanie to get his keys and talk with her about the damage, but neither Joanie nor Senior knew anything about it. Matt testified that, at the time, he suspected that appellant had damaged the truck by kicking or punching it, and he wanted Senior and Joanie to talk to appellant. David testified that, Matt was upset, but not crazy, and that Joanie and Senior were very apologetic. David testified that none of the four had a gun or other weapon and hone appeared to be escalating the situation toward violence.

According to Matt, at some point, Joanie went inside and talked with appellant for a couple minutes. Shortly after Joanie came back outside, he heard yelling inside the house and could tell that appellant was on his way outside. Matt testified that appellant came out of the house “gun first” and said “I’m going to kill you, mother fucker,” before he started shooting. David similarly testified that appellant stepped out of the house, leveled a gun towards him and Matt, and fired. Matt testified that he thought appellant was going to shoot and kill him and he was terrified. David similarly testified that he was so scared, he froze before being able to retreat to -his car. . <

Matt testified that, as’ he took off into the Joneses’ yard, he heard Senior and Joanie trying to get appellant back into the house. David testified that, once he realized Senior had appellant in the house, he set off across the front yard to find Matt, who he found hiding behind a tree. David testified that Matt was too afraid to make his way to David’s car because he believed appellant was trying to kill him. And so David set off back toward his car alone and Matt stayed put. David testified that as he was approaching the patio, appellant appeared, put a gun about four feet from David’s face, and said, “I’m going to kill you, mother fucker.” According to David, he pleaded that he was “just trying to get out of here,” and appellant respond-, ed by repeating his threat. David testified that appellant’s son BJ came out of the house, put himself between appellant and David, pushed at appellant while repeatedly asking, “What are you doing?”, and told David, “Get out of here.” David and Matt left, called the police, and met with officers from the Sheriffs Department at a nearby gas station.

Matt testified that he suspected appellant’s actions that night were related to an earlier event. According to Matt, the previous summer, he planned to take his daughter and appellant’s son BJ to the beach in Corpus Christi. Matt testified that -he had [110]*110not specifically asked appellant whether BJ could go, but that “everyone” knew they were planning the trip. But before they reached Corpus Christi, appellant called, demanded to know where BJ was, and demanded that he return home. Matt testified that appellant was cursing and yelling on the phone such that the children could hear, so he hung up. Matt called Senior and Joanie, and according to Matt, both told'him to continue on to Corpus Christi. Matt testified that,-shortly thereafter, the Sheriffs Department called him and instructed him to return BJ to his father, which he did. ■

Testimony from, eyewitnesses

According to Senior, on the night of the offense, Joanie woke him up and told him Matt was outside yelling and screaming that appellant hit his truck. Senior recounted hearing Matt yelling from inside the house. Senior 'testified that he went outside to see Matt standing near his truck and yelling “Look what [appellant] did. He knocked a big dent in my truck. And I’m going to—I want you to get him out here. I’m going to kick his butt.” Senior testified that he had seen Matt have more than ten alcoholic drinks that night and that Matt was so drunk he could hardly stand. Senior testified that he spent 20 to 30 minutes trying to get Matt to leave to avoid a confrontation. Senior agreed that,' at the time, everyone thought appellant dented Matt’s truck, but to this day, they do not know what caused the damage.

Senior testified that appellant stepped outside of the house, said “I’ll be right back,” and went back inside. According to Senior, appellant came back outside a few minutes later with a pistol, said to Matt, “I got something for you,” pointed the pistol in the air, and fired it. Senior testified that Matt and David both took off running and he ran to get appellant back into the house. Senior recounted that appellant went in one door, then moments later came out another door, resumed yelling at Matt, and again shot the gun into the air.

On cross-examination, defense counsel elicited that Senior had only first spoken with someone from the District Attorney’s office the day before his testimony. Senior testified that he thought Matt and David arrived at his home around 2:30 a,m. or 2:45 a.m. Senior testified that he and Joa-nie were standing between appellant and Matt when appellant first fired the gun. Senior testified that appellant was a good shot and that, had he intended to, shooting Matt that night would have been an “easy shot.” Senior testified that appellant was a licensed security officer through the Austin Police Department at the time of the offense.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
500 S.W.3d 106, 2016 Tex. App. LEXIS 7774, 2016 WL 3964911, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jones-v-state-texapp-2016.