Richardson v. State

700 S.W.2d 591, 1985 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 1477
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Texas
DecidedOctober 9, 1985
Docket850-84
StatusPublished
Cited by58 cases

This text of 700 S.W.2d 591 (Richardson 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
Richardson v. State, 700 S.W.2d 591, 1985 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 1477 (Tex. 1985).

Opinions

OPINION ON APPELLANT’S PETITION FOR DISCRETIONARY REVIEW

W.C. DAVIS, Judge.

Appellant was convicted of criminal solicitation to commit capital murder and was sentenced to 35 years at the Texas Department of Corrections.

The issue in the instant case is the Fourteenth Court of Appeals’ interpretation of Tex.Penal Code Ann., Sec. 15.03(b) (Vernon’s 1974) and its determination that the corroborating evidence presented by the State was sufficient. Richardson v. Texas, 681 S.W.2d 683 (Tex.App. 14 Dist.1984).

The record shows that appellant and the accomplice, Hancock, were neighbors. The victim, Norman Harris, told appellant that he wished to purchase a stove and refrigerator as anniversary presents for his wife. Appellant thereafter offered to sell Harris these items for $150. Harris suspected the items were stolen and, after confirming his suspicion, he contacted the sheriff’s department. Charges were filed against appellant and Harris was subpoenaed to appear as a witness in the theft case.

In appellant’s trial for criminal solicitation Hancock, the accomplice, testified that he met appellant in March or April of 1983 and thereafter saw him on a daily basis. Further, on “half a dozen or so” occasions appellant asked him to “dispose” of or kill Harris “because he wanted to make some money out of running dope and if he would be put in jail, he wouldn’t be able to make that money and Norman Harris was the only one that could testify against him in a theft charge, and he wanted him out of the way so he could process (sic) making this money, doing his dope dealing.”

Later appellant said to Hancock, “If you can get rid of Norman, we can make some good money, as far, as you know, running grass, dope, marijuana, and he says, you can make some good money, about $500 a week clear, and have a nice trailer, you know, and all, to put your family in” and “if I (Hancock) were to get caught or killed in the process of it, that he would take care of my wife and kids as far as moneywise.”

About the killing Hancock testified that he and appellant were “stripping some wire” that day and appellant told him, “Well, this is a good time to do it. Court is getting close [the theft case was pending] and this is a good time to get it done” and Hancock replied, “Well, I guess so.” At that point appellant gave him $50 and dropped him off close to Harris’s house.

Hancock asked Harris out for drinks and afterward tried “to get him off to a secluded spot so I told him there was a place down near the river, Channelview. I told him there was a bar down there, which there wasn’t one. So we got down there and I said, well, I had to go to the bathroom, so he stopped the truck and we both got out and I said in my head, ‘Well, if we’re going to do it, might as well do it now.’ So I pulled my knife out, walked around and I cut him.”

Afterwards Hancock called appellant, who came and picked him up, informing him that he had “cut him” but “he ain’t dead.”

Hancock then related the facts surrounding his arrest later that night and how he cooperated with the authorities by making a call to appellant so it could be recorded.

The recording of the call reflects that when appellant answered the telephone, the operator said, “Collect from Hancock, will you pay for the call?” Appellant re[593]*593sponded that he would and immediately the following occurred in pertinent part:

Hancock: Hello, hey.
Appellant: Hello, Billy.
Hancock: Hey, yeah. I tried to talk to you yesterday.
Appellant: My line is tapped.
Hancock: Huh?
Appellant: My line is tapped. They got a monitor on my line.
Hancock: O.K. Did you take care of what you said?
Appellant: I already gave her fifty.
Hancock: Huh?
Appellant: I worked Jimmy yesterday and seen that Bonnie got 50 — dollars you know.
Hancock: Oh, is that gonna, that gonna be the end of it or you gonna see is she’s gonna get more?
Appellant: As soon as the other stuff comes through, it will be taken care of.
Hancock: Uh huh, cause like I say, I’m up here sweating this thing out and I ain’t talked to nobody yet. And I don’t want to talk to nobody. I just want to make sure everything’s taken care of on that end.
[[Image here]]
Hancock: Hey, yeah, hey man. Let’s go ahead and get this damn thing squared away, man. I gotta get the, I’m fixing to go to the damn federal pen. And I wanna know if my damn share of this is gonna be squared away before I get the hell out of Houston.
Appellant: There ain’t no doubt about it. You know, I do what I can do.
Hancock: Well you’re going, you’re going to come across with more than 50 cause that ain’t gonna make it along with them kids and Bonnie.
Appellant: I can only come across with whi t I got.
Hancock: Well, you remember what we talked about and you said ‘Yeah that’d be cool. You had it all together.’?
Appellant: Yes, but I gotta get the stuff to do it, don’t I? And it ain’t come in.
Hancock: Well, I tell ya what, I know one damn thing, that she’s going to have to get something.
Appellant: I already ...
Hancock: She has to make at least 200, 300 dollars a week even to goddamn survive cause I ain’t gonna be able to get nothing to her. I’m gonna be up in the damn state penitentiary or some damn place for God knows how long. Hey, I pulled a little deal off. O.K. Pine But if this deal ain’t. We ain’t got no bugs on it over here. I pulled it off and we made an agreement on it. Now I want the agreement to goddamn go through. Cause I’m the one who’s paying for it and now they’re paying for it. Now it’s all for something that I don’t even know if it’s gonna work out or not.
Appellant: Billy, I can only give what I got.
Hancock: Well, I need to know if they’re taken care of, and this little bit, 50 and 75, every two weeks or every week or something ain’t gonna, ain’t gonna, pay their rent and I don’t want them moving in over there, not with that shit going down with you guys, nuhuh, they’ve got to live in their own place. That’s what the agreement was. Nobody said anything about put ... (unintelligible).
Appellant: Billy, I can only do what I got money to do with.
Hancock: I’m up here sweating my ass off about it, too.
Appellant: Billy, as soon as I get the money, they will get some money. As soon as I get the stuff moving. Do you understand what I’m saying? I’ve been waiting on it. You know that.
Hancock: I got some word up here. Norm may not make it. You heard anything?
Appellant: No, I sure haven’t.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
700 S.W.2d 591, 1985 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 1477, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/richardson-v-state-texcrimapp-1985.