Juan Carlos Marines v. State

CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 28, 2008
Docket14-06-00738-CR
StatusPublished

This text of Juan Carlos Marines v. State (Juan Carlos Marines 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
Juan Carlos Marines v. State, (Tex. Ct. App. 2008).

Opinion

Affirmed and Memorandum Opinion filed February 28, 2008

Affirmed and Memorandum Opinion filed February 28, 2008.

In The

Fourteenth Court of Appeals

____________

NO. 14-06-00738-CR

JUAN CARLOS MARINES, Appellant

V.

THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee

On Appeal from the 182nd District Court

Harris County, Texas

Trial Court Cause No. 1040507

M E M O R A N D U M   O P I N I O N


Appellant, Juan Carlos Marines, was indicted on the offense of murder.  The jury returned a guilty verdict, and the trial court sentenced appellant to forty-five years= confinement in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Institutional Division, and a $10,000 fine.  Appellant then filed a motion for a new trial based on Anewly-discovered evidence,@ which the trial court denied.  In three issues, appellant appeals his conviction and the denial of his motion for a new trial, claiming (1) the evidence is legally insufficient to support his conviction; (2) the evidence is factually insufficient to support his conviction; and (3) the trial court erred in denying his motion for a new trial, as the evidence discovered and presented in his motion was not known at the time of trial.  Finding no error in the trial court=s judgment, we affirm.

Factual and Procedural Background

On April 30, 2005, shortly after 2:00 a.m., a fight broke out in the parking lot of Slick Willie=s, a pool hall located just south of downtown Houston.  Involved in this fight were numerous individuals, including, among others, appellant and Alejandro German, the complainant.  Sometime during the fight, at least two individuals in a dark-colored Ford F-150 truck drove across the parking lot of the pool hall, and multiple shots were fired from its passenger-side window.  The complainant was struck three times, and died at the scene.

Officer J.C. Bonaby, an investigator with the Houston Police Department homicide division, was assigned to investigate the incident.  Witnesses at the scene made conflicting statements to Bonaby and other investigating officers:  several reported that the shooter was a Hispanic male with dark hair, while another indicated that there were two shooters.  Still another reported that, while he was unsure, there may have been four individuals in the F-150.  At least three witnesses told Bonaby that they had seen the shooters, but none could provide a complete physical description of the suspects or the license plate number of the F-150.


During his investigation, Bonaby received several anonymous tips, and one from a law enforcement officer.  The tips informed Bonaby of the general location of the shooter=s residence, as well as his name, address, and that he drove a black Ford pickup truck.  Using this information, Bonaby discovered that appellant and his father were the registered owners of a black Ford F-150 truck.  Bonaby then created a photo array using appellant=s Texas driver=s license photograph, and showed the array to two individuals who witnessed the shooting:  Raphael Reyes, a brother of the complainant who was also involved in the fight, and Crystal Rocha, the girlfriend of another of Reyes= brothers.  According to Bonaby, Reyes identified appellant in the photo array without hesitation in less than two minutes= time.  Rocha selected another photo from the array as that of the shooter.  Bonaby then obtained an arrest warrant, and arrested appellant.  The weapon used to shoot the complainant was never recovered.

Appellant was charged by indictment with the offense of murder.  On August 10, 2006, the jury found him guilty as charged.  The jury assessed punishment at forty-five years= confinement in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Institutional Division, and a $10,000 fine.  The trial court sentenced appellant and entered judgment in accordance with the jury=s verdict, and appellant timely filed his notice of appeal.  Appellant later filed a motion for a new trial based upon Anewly-discovered evidence.@  The trial court denied the motion.  This appeal followed.

Analysis of Appellant=s Issues

I.        The Evidence is Legally Sufficient to Support Appellant=s Conviction.


In his first issue, appellant contends that the evidence is legally insufficient to support his conviction.  According to him, the evidence indicates that he was not the driver of the F-150 the night of the shooting, and that he was not the shooter.  He argues that Anewly-discovered@ evidence presented in his motion for a new trial[1] demonstrates that Danny Rosales, the passenger in the light blue Dodge truck driven by appellant the night of the shooting, was the shooter, and therefore appellant can only be found guilty under the law of parties,[2] which was neither alleged in the indictment, nor contained in the charge.  Appellant argues that no rational jury could have possibly convicted him of being the shooter, and thus the evidence is legally insufficient to sustain his conviction.

A.      Standard of Review and Applicable Law.

In evaluating the legal sufficiency of the evidence, we must view the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution and determine whether any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the offense beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319 (1979); Vasquez v. State, 67 S.W.3d 229, 236 (Tex. Crim. App. 2002).  We consider all the evidence that sustains conviction, whether properly or improperly admitted or whether introduced by the prosecution or the defense. Simpson v. State,

Related

Jackson v. Virginia
443 U.S. 307 (Supreme Court, 1979)
Drichas v. State
175 S.W.3d 795 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2005)
Keeter v. State
74 S.W.3d 31 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2002)
Watson v. State
204 S.W.3d 404 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2006)
Margraves v. State
56 S.W.3d 673 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2001)
Clayton v. State
235 S.W.3d 772 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2007)
Wesbrook v. State
29 S.W.3d 103 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2000)
Fuentes v. State
991 S.W.2d 267 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1999)
Dinh Tan Ho v. State
171 S.W.3d 295 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2005)
Simpson v. State
227 S.W.3d 855 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2007)
Blackmon v. State
926 S.W.2d 399 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1996)
Boyett v. State
692 S.W.2d 512 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1985)
Zamora v. State
647 S.W.2d 90 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1983)
Vasquez v. State
67 S.W.3d 229 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2002)
Moff v. State
131 S.W.3d 485 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2004)
Sims v. State
99 S.W.3d 600 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2003)
Johnson v. State
23 S.W.3d 1 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2000)
Tucker v. State
15 S.W.3d 229 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2000)
Garza v. State
213 S.W.3d 338 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2007)
Conner v. State
67 S.W.3d 192 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2001)

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