Maldonado v. State

998 S.W.2d 239, 1999 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 87, 1999 WL 438988
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Texas
DecidedJune 30, 1999
Docket72986
StatusPublished
Cited by134 cases

This text of 998 S.W.2d 239 (Maldonado v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Maldonado v. State, 998 S.W.2d 239, 1999 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 87, 1999 WL 438988 (Tex. 1999).

Opinions

OPINION

MEYERS, J.,

delivered the opinion of the Court in which PRICE, HOLLAND, JOHNSON and KEASLER, J.J., joined.

Appellant was convicted in October 1997 of capital murder. Tex. Penal Code Ann. § 19.03(a). Pursuant to the jury’s answers to the special issues set forth in Texas Code of Criminal Procedure art. 37.071 §§ 2(b) and 2(e), the trial judge sentenced appellant to death. Article 37.071 § 2(g).1 Direct appeal to this Court is automatic. [242]*242Article 37.071 § 2(h). Appellant raises eleven points of error. We will affirm.

In his first point of error, appellant contends we must reverse his conviction because the verdict cannot be supported under the theory of law and fact submitted to the jury, citing Malik v. State, 953 S.W.2d 234, 238 n. 3 (Tex.Crim.App.1997) (noting line of cases holding that due process prevents appellate court from affirming conviction based upon legal and factual grounds not submitted to jury). Appellant was indicted for murder committed during the course of committing or attempting to commit robbery. Tex. Penal Code Ann. § 19.03(a)(2). He argues the offense of robbery requires proof of an attempted or completed theft. Yet, in appellant’s recorded statement, which represented the only evidence connecting appellant to the crime, appellant did not admit to personally taking part in the theft of the victim’s property. Appellant opines his recorded statement does not support a showing that he personally (as the primary actor) committed the underlying offense of robbery. Therefore, appellant argues, since the jury was not instructed on a parties theory of liability, he should not have been convicted of capital murder under the charge given.

This argument boils down to a challenge to the legal sufficiency of the evidence to support the underlying offense of robbery.2 Thus, we will proceed with an analysis of the evidence under the Jackson v. Virginia3 standard. Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict, the trial testimony showed the following facts. On Friday, November 11, 1995, after an evening playing volleyball, Augustin Sau-cedo dropped his father, Cruz Saucedo, off at his apartment. Augustin tried to contact his father that weekend, but received no response when he paged him (his father did not have a phone, only a pager). On the following Tuesday, when Augustin still had not heard from his father, he contacted his sisters, Paula and Hericelda, who lived in the same apartment complex as their father. Paula provided Augustin with a key to their father’s apartment and accompanied him to the apartment. Au-gustin then discovered the decomposing body of his father lying on the kitchen floor.

Cruz Saucedo’s hands had been bound with the electric cord of a Black & Decker iron and he had been shot twice in the head with a .45-caliber semi-automatic weapon. The police discovered four bricks of marijuana hidden in the apartment and recovered a pillow with two bullet holes soaked with “body fluids.” Augustin noticed his father was not wearing a necklace he normally wore. Also, investigators found several cans of air freshener in the apartment, which Augustin had not noticed before his father’s death. Investigators deduced the air freshener indicated someone stayed in the apartment for a period of time after the victim’s death and sought to mask the stench of decay.

On April 24th of the following year, the police “received information” implicating appellant in this homicide. Officer Jaime [243]*243Escalante went to the Harris County Jail to interview appellant who was incarcerated on unrelated charges. Escalante read appellant his Miranda4 rights in Spanish. Appellant was talkative, but refused to discuss the instant offense. He asked Es-calante to come back the next day and he would think about giving him a statement. Escalante returned the following day and, after he read appellant his constitutional rights again, appellant gave a tape recorded statement admitting his participation in this offense and others.

In the recorded statement, appellant admitted entering the victim’s apartment with another man named Felix or Benito, while a third man, Adan, waited in the car. Appellant was carrying a .45-caliber pistol. They went to the apartment because Felix wanted to borrow a “cuerno” (AK-47). Appellant also asked the victim to loan them a pistol. When the victim refused to give them a “cuerno” or a pistol, Felix bound the victim with the cord of the iron in the kitchen. Appellant and Felix then demanded to know where the pistol was and also demanded to know the location of some marijuana they believed the victim had in his possession. The victim told them the marijuana was under the bed and the pistol was in the vacuum cleaner. Felix retrieved these items, then told appellant to kill the victim. Appellant remembered shooting the victim three times in the head, using a pillow to muffle the sound. Appellant noted that Felix was giving the orders and Felix took the marijuana out to the car.

Proof of a completed theft is not required to establish the underlying offense of robbery. Wolfe v. State, 917 S.W.2d 270, 275 (Tex.Crim.App.1996). At a minimum, to show attempted robbery, the State carried the burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that appellant had the specific intent to commit robbery and that appellant committed an act amounting to more than mere preparation for robbing the victim. See Tex. Penal Code Ann. § 15.01(a) (criminal attempt). Thus, if the State introduced evidence from which the jury could rationally conclude that appellant possessed the specific intent to obtain or maintain control of the victim’s property either before or during the commission of the murder, it has proven that the murder occurred in the course of robbery. See Williams v. State, 937 S.W.2d 479, 483 (Tex.Crim.App.1996); Robertson v. State, 871 S.W.2d 701, 705 (Tex.Crim.App.1993), cert. denied, 513 U.S. 853, 115 S.Ct. 155, 130 L.Ed.2d 94 (1994); Nelson v. State, 848 S.W.2d 126, 132 (Tex.Crim.App.1992), cert. denied, 510 U.S. 830, 114 S.Ct. 100, 126 L.Ed.2d 66 (1993). In resolving this question, the requisite intent may be inferred from circumstantial evidence and from the defendant’s conduct. Wolfe, 917 S.W.2d at 275; Robertson, 871 S.W.2d at 705.

In the instant case, appellant’s statement indicates he personally asked to borrow the victim’s pistol and, after binding the victim, he and Felix both demanded that the victim tell them where the marijuana and the pistol were kept. Appellant claimed he and Felix had originally asked if the victim would loan them a “cuerno” or his pistol. It strains credulity to assert that appellant only sought to borrow a gun, especially after the victim refused to give it to them and Felix tied him up with an electrical cord.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
998 S.W.2d 239, 1999 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 87, 1999 WL 438988, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/maldonado-v-state-texcrimapp-1999.