Miranda v. State

813 S.W.2d 724, 1991 WL 158594
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedOctober 30, 1991
Docket04-89-00298-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by218 cases

This text of 813 S.W.2d 724 (Miranda 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
Miranda v. State, 813 S.W.2d 724, 1991 WL 158594 (Tex. Ct. App. 1991).

Opinion

OPINION

ONION, Justice (Assigned).

Appellant, Tina Miranda, appeals her conviction for the murder of her husband, Andrew Miranda. After finding appellant guilty, the jury assessed punishment at twenty-five years’ imprisonment and a fine of ten thousand dollars.

Appellant advances eleven points of error. Among these points are the contentions that the trial court erred in (1) overruling the motion for an instructed verdict; (2) charging the jury on the law of parties; (3) permitting the State to impeach its own witness, Melissa Lucio, with a prior inconsistent written statement as well as oral statement; (4) permitting the introduction of the written instrument itself after the witness admitted making the statements contained therein; (5) permitting the impeachment of Melissa Lucio by the testimony of her husband; (6) overruling objections to the prosecutor’s improper jury argument asking the jury to consider impeachment evidence relating to Melissa Lucio as evidence of appellant’s guilt; (7) overruling objections to the prosecutor’s improper jury argument asking the jury to consider impeachment evidence relating to the State’s witness, Anselmo Martinez, as evidence of appellant’s guilt; and (8) permitting the introduction into evidence of the results of a paternity test showing that appellant’s husband was not the father of her child. We will affirm the judgment of conviction.

In her initial contention appellant urges that the trial court erred in overruling her motion for an instructed verdict of “not guilty.” The State argues that the point is not preserved for review as appellant offered defensive evidence after the overruling of said motion. See Kuykendall v. State, 609 S.W.2d 791, 794 (Tex.Crim.App. 1980). In light of Madden v. State, 799 S.W.2d 683, 686 n. 3 (Tex.Crim.App.1990), we shall consider the contention as a sufficiency of the evidence question. Our dis *729 cussion shall include points of error two and three, which argue that the trial court erred in submitting the case to the jury on the theory of the law of parties because there is no evidence that appellant solicited, encouraged, directed, aided, or attempted to aid any other person to commit the murder of Andrew Miranda, and that the evidence is insufficient to support the jury’s finding to that effect.

Andrew Miranda served in the United States Marine Corps. When he came home to San Antonio from California in 1983, appellant, then Tina Wilkins, came with him. She later returned to California. During a late November 1984 visit to San Antonio by appellant, Susan Rodriguez, Andrew’s foster mother, observed appellant taking what appeared to be morning sickness pills. Appellant later telephoned Andrew from California around Christmas 1984 to discuss her pregnancy. The couple married June 5,1985, and on June 25, 1985, appellant gave birth to Andria Miranda.

Sometime in the late spring of 1986 the Miranda marriage began to experience some difficulties. Andrew moved in with a postal service co-worker, Mario Hernandez, on June 15, 1986, and later moved in with his foster mother, sometime in July 1986. A divorce petition was filed by Andrew.

Shirley Ann Martinez, another postal service co-worker of Andrew’s, godmother of the child and her babysitter, testified that she had a conversation with appellant after the separation; that appellant told her that Andrew wanted a divorce and wanted a blood test to determine if the child was his; and that appellant did not want to have such paternity test.

Martinez also recalled that appellant expressed a wish that her husband would be killed. Martinez stated that appellant was upset because she had seen Andrew with someone else, and that appellant “sat there and she just said she wished she could be real strong so that she could be very nice to Andrew and get him to come to her apartment, and then she’d kill him....” Martinez then revealed that appellant made a gesture or motion from one side of her neck to the other. Martinez thought appellant was serious and she was “scared” by appellant’s remarks.

On September 10, 1986, less than four days before the alleged offense, appellant and the child gave blood specimens for the paternity test. Andrew had given one earlier. The technician at the laboratory told appellant the results of the test would be available within approximately fifteen days. The results received after Andrew’s death concluded that he could not have been the father of the child.

On September 12, 1986, there was evidence that Andrew received a telephone call from his attorney concerning a settlement in a personal injury case which had been filed some two months before Andrew separated from appellant. Twenty or thirty minutes later Andrew received a telephone call from appellant. He was heard to ask her how she “found out.” He then promised to give her $10,000 “after the settlement,” and stated that he did not want to argue with her.

Andrew left work early on the evening of September 13, 1986, about 10:45 p.m. He did not complete his shift. A co-worker testified that Andrew received a telephone call before leaving the postal service unit where he was employed. Andrew later left a note for his foster mother at her home declaring his intentions to return there.

Shortly after time edged past midnight and into September 14,1986, Andrew stumbled into the El Caribe Bar and collapsed on the dance floor. He was covered with blood. Anselmo Martinez, the owner of the bar, asked in Spanish: “Who wounded you?” Andrew responded in English: “My wife, brother-in-law and cousin.” A trail of blood led to the nearby duplex at 652 Fun-ston where appellant lived. Andrew died a short time later.

The cause of death was shown to be massive bleeding resulting from eight stab wounds to the face, neck, chest, and back of the deceased. The wounds were inflicted by two knives. Some of the wounds were consistent with the type of knife later found in the kitchen sink of appellant’s duplex. The medical examiner found no defensive wounds or wounds which would *730 indicate that the deceased had been in a fist fight.

Clementina Garcia lived in the duplex above that of appellant. When Garcia returned home about 11:15 p.m. on September 13, 1986, she observed James Wilkins, appellant’s brother, seated in the living room of appellant’s duplex. Around midnight Garcia heard noises, sounding like furniture being thrown, in the duplex below. It sounded like two people fighting. Garcia then saw Andrew Miranda exit through the kitchen door below, stumble, and head toward the door of the nearby El Caribe Bar. Garcia then saw James Wilkins leave the duplex below and get into the driver’s side of appellant’s car and tell another person, “Get in, get in.” She heard both car doors “shut,” but she did not see who got into the passenger side of the car. The car drove off in the opposite direction of the El Caribe Bar.

Garcia then saw appellant exit through the kitchen door and heard her cry, “Help,” and call out the names of Garcia’s brothers. Garcia and one of her brothers went downstairs. The emotional appellant told them that a “Mexican guy” had been fighting with her husband and that her brother had tried to assist her husband. Appellant showed Garcia the blood in various parts of the small duplex. Appellant made no inquiry about the deceased.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
813 S.W.2d 724, 1991 WL 158594, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/miranda-v-state-texapp-1991.