McFadden v. State

541 S.W.3d 277
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 1, 2018
DocketNo. 06-17-00040-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 541 S.W.3d 277 (McFadden 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
McFadden v. State, 541 S.W.3d 277 (Tex. Ct. App. 2018).

Opinion

Opinion by Justice Burgess

After a jury found Deborah Smiley McFadden guilty of murdering her live-in boyfriend, Edward Eugene George, Jr., (George), the trial court sentenced her to forty years' confinement in prison. McFadden has appealed, maintaining (1) that there was insufficient evidence to support the jury's verdict of guilt and (2) that the trial court erred when it denied McFadden's request for a jury instruction on defense of property. While we find there was sufficient evidence to support the jury's verdict of guilt, we also find that the trial court erred in failing to instruct the jury on the use of deadly force in defense of property under Section 9.42 of the Texas Penal Code. Accordingly, we reverse the trial court's judgment and remand the case to the trial court for a new trial.

I. Background

Vernetta Morgan arrived at her home around noon on October 12, 2003, and noticed McFadden's vehicle1 parked behind a shed on the property. Morgan looked inside one of the vehicle's windows and saw McFadden sleeping in the back seat. McFadden informed Morgan that she and George had been in an argument and that *281McFadden was moving out of George's home. Morgan agreed to help McFadden move her belongings from George's home.

Morgan and McFadden travelled to George's house and asked George if they could retrieve McFadden's belongings. Initially, George refused. McFadden and George then began "arguing back and forth,"2 so Morgan contacted the sheriff's department to ask an officer to come to the home to assist them in retrieving McFadden's property. According to Morgan, there were no officers available due to an earlier emergency call.

Morgan then asked George if they "could please just get [McFadden's] clothes, and George responded, "You can take her clothes, but you are not taking anything else." Morgan and McFadden began carrying boxes of clothes out to McFadden's SUV. At one point, Morgan and George drank beer together while McFadden continued to pack her belongings. Morgan stated, "I was drinking a beer with [George], just kind of keeping things light because it was-it just was a heated moment." According to Morgan, McFadden "seemed fairly relaxed," but George was "complaining" and "yelling." Morgan denied that McFadden seemed fearful, stating, "No. She just kept loading stuff." She further testified that, at one point, "[McFadden] was lounged out on the couch."

Morgan explained that, while McFadden remained inside the house and continued packing, she went back outside. Shortly thereafter, George came outside with a cigarette lighter and stated that "he was going to light the boxes in the Yukon on fire because [McFadden] would not come out of the house." According to Morgan,

He tried to light one of the boxes, and it wouldn't light. So he ran over to a carport and grabbed a gas can and started pouring it-excuse me-in the Yukon on her stuff. And I asked him, "Please don't do this. Just let us get this done, and we'll be out of here."

After pouring gasoline on the boxes, George went back inside the house in order to get McFadden to come outside "because he wanted her to see that he was going to do it. He was going to light the boxes." At that point, Morgan heard McFadden and George yelling at one another. Although she did not want to get involved, Morgan heard McFadden yelling for help, and Morgan ran inside the house. She found McFadden in the hallway with George "hovering over her." According to Morgan, George hit McFadden in the cheek and then kicked her in her ribs. Morgan helped McFadden up and then helped her get out of the house. McFadden went to the driver's side of her vehicle, and George followed them out. Morgan went to *282the back of the vehicle because "there was another box. [Morgan] was going to put it in, shut the Yukon, get in and go."

Before she could load the box into the Yukon and shut the rear door, Morgan heard a "pop-pop." At one point in her testimony, Morgan said, "[George came] running around me. I believe he brushed by and grabbed my arm." According to Morgan, George was in front and McFadden was following behind him with the gun in her hand. Morgan stated, "Oh, my God, Debbie. Stop. And I believe she shot one more time."3 Morgan then heard George fall down behind her. She stated he was on the ground by the passenger-side rear tire. Morgan told McFadden, "You just shot him."4

Morgan called 9-1-1 and told the operator, "[My] girlfriend ... just shot her boyfriend." After Morgan finished the 9-1-1 call,5 she saw McFadden standing at the edge of the driveway with the gun in her hand. McFadden asked her if George was "still breathing." Shortly after the incident, George's son, David George (David) arrived and began attending to George. Morgan also tried to help George, but McFadden did not attempt to assist him in any way. According to Morgan, after the incident, McFadden asked her to "help her [and] say it was self-defense."

Kenneth Edgmon, formerly a K-9 officer with the Panola County Sheriff's Office, arrived at George's home on October 12, 2003. According to Edgmon, emergency medical personnel were already there "working on the person on the ground," and Morgan and McFadden were standing in the driveway. McFadden admitted to Edgmon that she had shot George. McFadden also told him that the gun was in her vehicle. Edgmon found the weapon in McFadden's vehicle in "a pocket on the back of the driver's seat, and it was sticking out of it." Edgmon removed the weapon from the vehicle, finding a nine-shot, fully-loaded revolver containing six spent shell casings and three live rounds. Edgmon did not know how many times the weapon had been fired that day, but it could have been fired up to six times based on the fact that there were six spent shell casings found in the revolver.

David Allen Gray, a former criminal investigator with the Panola County Sheriff's Office, took photographs and video recordings of the scene, both of which were admitted into evidence. While he was at the scene, Gray smelled a "strong odor of gasoline" around McFadden's vehicle and on the boxes containing her belongings.6 A five-gallon gasoline can was found just outside the garage door. Gray believed there was fuel remaining in the gas can, but he could not recall the amount.

Sarah Fields, a lieutenant in the Criminal Investigative Division of the Panola County Sheriff's Office, took photographs of McFadden's injuries, which included (1) a small laceration to McFadden's lip, (2) a discolored area around her ribs, (3) bruising to her knee and thigh, (4) bruising to her lower abdomen, (5) scratches to the *283neck, (6) an abrasion to her ear, and (7) some type of wound to her hand.7 Fields stated that McFadden's injuries appeared to be from an assault and that her investigation led her to conclude that George had been the assailant.

Snoot McGuire, a former Panola County constable, testified that he was familiar with George and that he knew of instances when George had been involved in violent altercations.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
541 S.W.3d 277, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcfadden-v-state-texapp-2018.