Mata v. State

939 S.W.2d 719, 1997 Tex. App. LEXIS 473, 1997 WL 43360
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 5, 1997
Docket10-96-012-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by56 cases

This text of 939 S.W.2d 719 (Mata 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
Mata v. State, 939 S.W.2d 719, 1997 Tex. App. LEXIS 473, 1997 WL 43360 (Tex. Ct. App. 1997).

Opinions

OPINION

CUMMINGS, Justice.

Appellant, Richard Mata, was indicted for the offense of murder. A jury convicted Mata of the lesser-included offense of voluntary manslaughter and assessed punishment at twenty years’ incarceration in the Institutional Division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and a fine of $10,000. Tex. Penal Code Ann. §§ 12.33, 19.04 (Vernon 1994). In six points of error, Mata alleges that: (1) the trial court erred by failing to charge the jury on the right of self defense against multiple assailants; (2) section 8.04 of the Texas Penal Code is unconstitutional; (3) the trial court erred in not complying with the requirements for juror note-taking; (4) the State committed error by improperly commenting on Mata’s opportunity to formulate his testimony after listening to the other witnesses; (5) the trial court erred in entering a deadly weapon finding without providing Mata with proper notice; and (6) the evidence was factually insufficient to support the jury’s rejection of Mata’s theory of self defense.

Mata was indicted for the murder of Ruti-lio Rivera. Rivera’s death occurred after an altercation between Mata and Rivera and two of Rivera’s friends, Raymond Salazar and Julio Lazoya. On June 13, 1993, Rivera, Salazar, and Lazoya went to the home of Daisey and Eva Diaz for the purpose of retrieving an audio tape that Rivera had loaned to Daisey and Eva’s brother, Leno Diaz. Mata was visiting his girlfriend, Eva, at this time. At some point during Rivera and Leno’s conversation, Mata went outside, taking a steak knife as protection. The record is unclear as to exactly what transpired thereafter.

According to the State’s witnesses, Mata and Rivera began arguing and Mata stabbed Rivera. Rivera, Salazar, and Lazoya then grabbed Mata in an attempt to detain and disarm him. According to the defense, Rivera, Salazar, and Lazoya attacked Mata, wrestling him to the ground, where they proceeded to kick and beat him. Mata, in an attempt to free himself, stabbed at his attackers, wounding Rivera in the melee. In either event, Rivera’s death resulted.

In his first point of error, Mata contends the trial court committed fundamental error when it failed to charge the jury on the right [722]*722to defend against multiple assailants. At trial, the court instructed the jury on self defense; however, the court submitted only the right of Mata to defend himself against Rivera, the deceased. Neither Salazar nor Lazoya was mentioned in the court’s instructions on Mata’s right of self defense. The State concedes that Mata would have been entitled to an instruction on his right to defend himself against multiple assailants had he so requested. However, Mata neither objected to the charge as given to the jury nor requested an instruction on his right to defend against multiple assailants.

The first inquiry in a review of the charge to the jury is whether the alleged error actually occurred and if complaint of the error was preserved. If the complaint was preserved at trial, then any harm, regardless of the degree, is sufficient to require a reversal of a conviction. Hutch v. State, 922 S.W.2d 166, 170-71 (Tex.Crim.App.1996); Almanza v. State, 686 S.W.2d 157, 171 (Tex.Crim.App.1984) (on rehearing). However, if the alleged error is raised for the first time on appeal, then the appellant must show that the harm resulting from the error was egregious, or so harmful that the appellant was denied a fair and impartial trial. Hutch, 922 S.W.2d at 171; Almanza, 686 S.W.2d at 171.

A person is justified in using deadly force against another when and to the degree he reasonably believes the force is immediately necessary to protect himself against the other’s use or attempted use of unlawful deadly force if a reasonable person in the actor’s situation would not have retreated. Tex. Penal Code Ann. §§ 9.31, 9.32 (Vernon 1994 & Supp.1997); see also Hamel v. State, 916 S.W.2d 491, 493 (Tex.Crim.App.1996). Furthermore, the Court of Criminal Appeals has held that a defendant is entitled to a charge on the right to defend against multiple assailants if there is evidence, no matter how weak or contradicted, the defendant believed himself to be in danger of attack from more than one person. Frank v. State, 688 S.W.2d 863, 868 (Tex.Crim.App.1985). Restricting the charge to the right of self defense against only the deceased is error if there is evidence that more than one person assailed the defendant. See id.; Sanders v. State, 632 S.W.2d 346, 347-48 (Tex.Crim.App. [Panel Op.] 1982).

Rivera and Salazar had a history of &scord with Mata. Mata testified that he had been “jumped” by Rivera and several of Rivera’s friends on at least one prior occasion. He also related an incident, which occurred at a gas station, where Rivera slammed a car door on his leg. Mata further testified that when he attempted to return a car to his ex-wife at Salazar’s house, Rivera, Salazar, and another man threw bottles and rocks at him.1 Mata also stated that on several other occasions during the six months preceding the stabbing Rivera and Salazar chased him. Mata testified that the tattoos on Salazar’s face represented to him that Salazar was a gang leader and that he had killed someone.

In regard to the night of the stabbing, Mata testified he became scared when he realized that Rivera and Salazar were outside the house. He stated that when he saw Salazar exit the vehicle he became afraid that Salazar and Rivera “were going to jump [him] like they had done before.” He also testified that he could not exit the house except through the front door because the back door was nailed shut and that he was “terrified.”

Although the trial court did charge the jury on Mata’s right of self defense against Rivera, we find there was some evidence that he believed all three men were about to attack him. Because there was adequate evidence to support an instruction to the jury regarding Mata’s right to defend himself against multiple assailants, it was error for the trial court to limit its instructions to Mata’s right to defend himself against only the deceased.2

[723]*723Having found the trial court committed error, we must now turn to the question of whether such error resulted in egregious harm. Egregious harm is that which alters the very basis of the defendant’s case, deprives the defendant of a valuable right or significantly affects a defensive theory. Hutch, 922 S.W.2d at 171; Almanza, 686 S.W.2d at 171. To determine if egregious harm resulted from a jury charge error, we must consider: (1) the charge itself; (2) the state of the evidence, including contested issues and the weight of the probative evidence; (3) arguments of counsel; and (4) any other relevant information revealed by the record of the trial as a whole. Hutch, 922 S.W.2d at 171; Bailey v. State, 867 S.W.2d 42, 43 (Tex.Crim.App.1993). The appellant has the burden of showing that actual, not theoretical, harm occurred and that it was so utterly erroneous as to deny the appellant a fair and impartial trial. See Alvarado v. State, 912 S.W.2d 199, 216-17 (Tex.Crim.App.1995) (citing Abdnor v. State, 871 S.W.2d 726, 732 (Tex.Crim.App.1994)); Williams v. State,

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Bluebook (online)
939 S.W.2d 719, 1997 Tex. App. LEXIS 473, 1997 WL 43360, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mata-v-state-texapp-1997.