Nonn v. State

13 S.W.3d 434, 2000 WL 84911
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 9, 2000
Docket13-97-658-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 13 S.W.3d 434 (Nonn 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
Nonn v. State, 13 S.W.3d 434, 2000 WL 84911 (Tex. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

OPINION

Opinion by Justice DORSEY.

A jury convicted appellant Jaime Charles Nonn of capital murder. Because the State did not seek the death penalty the trial court assessed punishment at life in prison. By seven issues appellant complains that the trial court erred in admitting photographs in evidence, erred in admitting his written statement and his two video-recorded statements in evidence, failed to provide him a transcript of his pre-trial hearing, failed to instruct the jury on a lesser-included offense, and he complains of ineffective assistance of counsel. We affirm.

Carl Ginder and his wife Eleanor lived in San Juan, Texas. In the afternoon of December 20, 1994 Carl came home and discovered that Eleanor and their van were not at the house. The next day his wife had still not returned home so he notified the police that she and the van were missing. Homer Flores, an investigator for the Starr County Sheriffs Office, testified that on December 24, 1994, a patrolman called him to check out a vehicle emitting a foul odor of decomposing flesh. The vehicle, a 1990 Chevy van, was located in a county park in Rio Grande City, Texas. Flores knew that the person who was supposed to be driving the van, Eleanor Ginder, was reported missing. Flores found Eleanor’s body inside the van, and he found a sawed-off shotgun inside a cabinet in the rear of the van. Another officer found a blood-stained, silver-colored kitchen knife in the van’s glove box. The inves *437 tigation revealed that appellant and a female companion had used Eleanor’s credit card to buy electronics equipment at a Wal-Mart store in Rio Grande City and that appellant had pawned the merchandise. After gathering this information Flores and officers from the San Juan Police Department went to the home of appellant’s parents, which was next door to the Ginder residence. Appellant lived with his parents, but he was not there when the police arrived. The police informed appellant’s parents that they had found a knife that was involved in a murder. The police described the knife as silver and possibly a steak knife. Mrs. Nonn produced a knife set which had one knife missing. The knife found in the van’s glove box matched this set. The Nonns told the police that appellant was in Chicago. Flores obtained arrest warrants for appellant and a female, Marie Garcia, for kidnapping. He informed the Chicago police about the warrants and appellant’s address in Chicago.

Gregory Biaocchi, a detective for the Chicago Police Department, arrested appellant and Garcia in Chicago. They were taken to the police station and placed in separate interview rooms. Biaocchi advised appellant of his Miranda warnings, and appellant indicated that he understood them. When Biaocchi asked appellant if he wanted to speak to him he indicated that he did. At this point Biaocchi contacted the felony review unit, which was a branch of Cook County’s prosecutorial system that assisted in criminal investigations. Biaocchi’s testimony showed that in Illinois a common procedure is that prosecutors take written statements from suspects.

Michael Falagario, an assistant state’s attorney for the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, worked in the felony review unit. He met appellant in the interview room and explained to appellant that he was not his lawyer, but that he was a lawyer who was working with the police on this case. Falagario asked appellant if he had understood what he had told him, and appellant answered, “ Yes.’ ” Falagario also advised appellant of his Miranda warnings. Appellant told Falagario that he understood his rights and that he wanted to make a statement. Appellant gave Falagario a written statement which stated how he and Marie Garcia murdered Eleanor Ginder. The statement said that appellant and Garcia needed money and a van to go to Chicago. He got a knife from his house and borrowed a sawed-off shotgun. He and Garcia waited for Carl Gin-der to go to work, and then they told Eleanor that Carl was involved in a car accident. They offered to take Eleanor to the accident scene. They got into the Ginder’s van. Marie drove, Eleanor sat in the front passenger seat, and appellant sat in the back. As they drove away appellant pulled Eleanor into the back of the van and hit her three of four times in the head with the shotgun. Marie parked the van and stabbed Eleanor several times with the knife. They took Eleanor’s credit card and used it to buy electronics equipment at the Wal-Mart store in Rio Grande City. After pawning the merchandise they caught a bus to Chicago.

Dr. Ruben Santos performed the autopsy on Eleanor’s body. His testimony showed that she had part of a blouse “stuffed” into her mouth and that her mouth, eyes, and face were covered with tape. Her hands were tied behind her back, and her feet were tied together. She received two blows to the head. She also had ten stab wounds; one in the left mandibular, one to the right of the Adam’s Apple, three below the right collar bone, and five in the breast area. Some of the stab wounds to the breast area went through her heart and were sufficient to cause death.

The Written Statement

By issue one appellant asserts that the trial court erred when it failed to suppress his written statement which he gave to law-enforcement officials in the *438 State of Illinois because the statement did not comply with article 38.22, section 2 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure. Specifically he complains that the warning required by article 38.22, section 2(a)(5), that is, the right to terminate the interview at any time, was not on the face of his written statement. He argues that Illinois officials were acting as agents for the State of Texas at the time they took his statement, and therefore, compliance with article 38.22 was required. Appellant filed a motion to suppress his written statement on that basis. The trial court held a hearing on the motion and after hearing the evidence admitted the statement in evidence.

Article 38.22, section 2 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure provides in part:

No written statement made by an accused as a result of custodial interrogation is admissible as evidence against him in any criminal proceeding unless it is shown on the face of the statement that:
(a) the accused, prior to making the statement, either received from a magistrate the warning provided in Article 15.17 of this code or received from the person to whom the statement is made a warning that:
(1) he has the right to remain silent and not make any statement at all and that any statement he makes may be used against him at his trial;
(2) any statement he makes may be used as evidence against him in court;
(3) he has the right to have a lawyer present to advise him prior to and during any questioning;
(4) if he is unable to employ a lawyer, he has the right to have a lawyer appointed to advise him prior to and during any questioning; and
(5) he has the right to terminate the interview at any time;

Tex.Code CRiM. PROC. Ann. art. 38.22 § 2 (Vernon 1996).

The warnings appearing on the face of appellant’s written statement are:

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Related

Nonn v. State
117 S.W.3d 874 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2003)
Nonn, Jaime Charles
Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2003
Nonn v. State
69 S.W.3d 590 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2002)
Nonn, Jaime Charles v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2001
Hernandez v. State
52 S.W.3d 268 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2001)

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Bluebook (online)
13 S.W.3d 434, 2000 WL 84911, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/nonn-v-state-texapp-2000.