Robert Taylor Williams v. State

402 S.W.3d 425, 2013 WL 2489929, 2013 Tex. App. LEXIS 7031
Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided June 11, 2013·No. 14-12-00017-CR·Published·Cited by 35 cases

Opinion

OPINION

KEM THOMPSON FROST, Justice.

Appellant Robert Taylor Williams appeals his conviction for murder, asserting that the trial court erred in overruling his motions to suppress an in-court identification and his custodial statement and in making certain other evidentiary rulings. We affirm.

Factual and Procedural Background

Appellant was charged by indictment with the felony offense of murder to which he pleaded, “not guilty.” The indictment contained an enhancement paragraph, alleging a prior felony conviction.

Appellant filed a motion to suppress a witness’s in-court identification of him. Appellant also filed several other motions to suppress, all of which related to recorded statements he made to officers during custodial interrogation. After holding hearings on these matters, the trial court denied all of these motions.

The State presented evidence that appellant and the complainant were walking along some railroad tracks when they got into an argument; appellant pulled a revolver from the waistband of his pants and shot the complainant three times. Although the complainant fell to his knees, appellant shot the complainant three more times and fled from the scene, where the complainant eventually died. As appellant fled from the scene, he passed within an arm’s length distance of a woman who had observed the entire incident as she walked her dogs near the railroad tracks. Another witness, who was walking from a nearby *430 store, also saw the shooting. A third witness claimed to have seen appellant running from the direction where gunshots were heard. After talking to these witnesses, responding law enforcement officers developed appellant as a suspect.

An investigating officer compiled a photo array, containing appellant’s photo along with five others. One of the witnesses who had seen the shooting knew the complainant and positively identified appellant as the shooter from the photo array; this witness also identified appellant in court as the shooter. The other eyewitness, who was walking her dogs when she saw the events unfold, failed to make a positive identification, claiming to be too scared of retaliation if she identified the shooter. The third witness positively identified appellant’s photo from the array, indicating the man in the selected photo was the person she saw running from the direction on the railroad tracks where she heard gunshots.

Eventually, officers obtained an arrest warrant for appellant in connection with the shooting. Appellant contacted an investigating officer several times by voice-mail, indicating his desire to speak with the officer and “clear his name.” Appellant agreed to go with officers to the police station to give a statement.

An officer conducted a recorded custodial interview with appellant. Although appellant raised a number of objections to the admission of the statement into evidence, the trial court overruled those objections. The redacted recorded statement was played in open court.

The jury found appellant guilty as charged and found the enhancement paragraph to be true. Appellant was sentenced to fifty years’ confinement.

Denial of Motion to Suppress

In appellant’s first and fourth issues, appellant challenges the trial court’s denial of two of his motions to suppress. We review a trial court’s ruling on a motion to suppress under a bifurcated standard of review. Guzman v. State, 955 S.W.2d 85, 89 (Tex.Crim.App.1997). At a suppression hearing, the trial court is the sole finder of fact and is free to believe or disbelieve any or all of the evidence presented. Wiede v. State, 214 S.W.3d 17, 24-25 (Tex.Crim.App.2007). We give almost total deference to the trial court’s determination of historical facts, especially when the trial court’s fact findings are based on an evaluation of credibility and demeanor. Guzman, 955 S.W.2d at 89. We afford the same amount of deference to the trial court’s application of the law to facts if the resolution of those ultimate questions turns on an evaluation of credibility and demeanor. Id. We review de novo the trial court’s application of the law to facts if resolution of those ultimate questions does not turn on an evaluation of credibility and demeanor. Id. When, as in this case, there are no written findings of fact in the record, we uphold the trial court’s ruling on any theory of law applicable to the case and presume the trial court made implicit findings of fact in support of its ruling so long as those findings are supported by the record. State v. Ross, 32 S.W.3d 853, 855-56 (Tex.Crim.App.2000). If supported by the record, a trial court’s ruling on a motion to suppress will not be overturned. Mount v. State, 217 S.W.3d 716, 724 (Tex.App.-Houston [14th Dist.] 2007, no pet.).

In-Court Identification

In his first issue, appellant asserts the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress witness Molly Gomez’s in-court identification of him. Appellant *431 asserts the use of the photo array was impermissibly suggestive. An in-court identification is inadmissible if it has been tainted by an impermissibly suggestive pre-trial identification. Ibarra v. State, 11 S.W.3d 189, 195 (Tex.Crim.App.1999).

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Robert Taylor Williams v. State, 402 S.W.3d 425, 2013 WL 2489929, 2013 Tex. App. LEXIS 7031 (Tex. Ct. App. 2013).

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