Shelling v. State

52 S.W.3d 213, 2001 WL 463139
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJuly 26, 2001
Docket01-98-01048-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 52 S.W.3d 213 (Shelling 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
Shelling v. State, 52 S.W.3d 213, 2001 WL 463139 (Tex. Ct. App. 2001).

Opinions

EN BANC OPINION

TAFT, Justice.

Appellant, Roy Neal Shelling, Jr., was convicted by a jury of murder. The jury assessed punishment at confinement for life. Appellant presents five issues: four issues concern the State’s references to the O.J. Simpson trial, and one issue concerns the trial court’s permitting the State’s use of peremptory strikes against minority venirepersons who agreed with the verdict in the Simpson trial. We affirm.

Facts

Appellant and Lisa Robinson were married in 1994 and moved to the Houston area where they became teachers in the same school district. Appellant was a jealous, possessive husband who recorded his wife’s conversations, went through her [216]*216purse, and accused her of unfaithfulness. On one occasion in 1996, appellant repeatedly punched Robinson for working late. Robinson moved out more than once, but always returned.

In March 1997, appellant confronted Percie Melton, a female teacher with whom Robinson worked, to confirm that it was Melton, and not someone else, who gave Robinson perfume on her birthday. Melton had to show appellant the receipt. In June 1997, appellant moved out and returned to his family’s home in Louisiana.

Robinson met the victim, Carlos McMahon, the following September when she bought eyeglasses at EyeMasters where McMahon worked. They became friends and had frequent phone conversations.

Appellant arrived unexpectedly at Robinson’s apartment on the evening of October 7, 1997. She allowed him to stay overnight, but they did not sleep together. Appellant remained in the apartment the next day when Robinson left for work.

Appellant walked into Robinson’s classroom that morning wearing jeans, a t-shirt, and house slippers. He was very angry. He had a tape recorder and played a message left on Robinson’s answering machine by McMahon (whom appellant did not know), but which appellant believed had been left by a friend of theirs named Shawn Crutcher. Appellant said, “So you’re f — ing Shawn.” Appellant then went into the hall and verbally assaulted Melton, who was talking with a counselor. He played the tape for Melton, and said, “Who the f— is this?” Later that day, the Nissan Pathfinder Robinson drove to work was missing from the school parking lot; in its place was appellant’s vehicle, a Maxima, with the tires slashed.

Appellant phoned Crutcher twice that day. He played the tape, accused Crutch-er of having an affair with Robinson, and threatened to kill him.

Appellant persuaded Robinson to allow him to accompany her to Chicago to visit her family for the Thanksgiving holiday. While in Chicago, Robinson told appellant she was filing for divorce. Appellant said that, if he ever caught her with anyone else, “there would be drama.” Robinson phoned McMahon from Chicago twice, and, during one of those conversations, asked for his address.

Appellant and Robinson returned to Houston from Chicago on Friday, November 28, 1997. The following Sunday, November 30, McMahon and Robinson spoke on the phone twice and made plans to have dinner together that night. Robinson was to meet McMahon at his apartment after he got off work at 6:00 p.m. Between 4:00 and 5:00 p.m., appellant left in the Pathfinder, ostensibly to return to Louisiana.

However, when Robinson drove through the gate and into the parking lot of McMahon’s apartment complex, she met appellant driving the Pathfinder. According to Robinson, the look on appellant’s face was “the same look that he had when he walked in [her] classroom.” They made eye contact, and Robinson was so terrified that she turned around and immediately left. She did not see where appellant went. That evening, McMahon’s next door neighbor, Carol Jackson, heard loud noises from his apartment. It sounded like someone was knocking down the door, then like someone was hitting the common wall between the two apartments. Finally, Jackson heard a moan. Robinson phoned McMahon’s apartment all night, but did not get an answer.

The next day, Robinson and Melton went to McMahon’s apartment. There was no response when they knocked, but they found the door unlocked. Inside they [217]*217made the gruesome discovery of McMahon’s body, and called police.

Sgt. Eric Mehl of the Houston Police Department investigated the case. He found six fired .380 caliber cartridge casings in the living room, two fired bullets in the dining room, and one in the freezer. According to Mehl, the killer was there simply to kill, robbery not being a motive. McMahon’s wallet was in plain view and undisturbed, as were stereo equipment and other items. In Mehl’s opinion, this was an “overkill” murder. McMahon had been shot five times, stabbed 11 times, and his throat had been cut, severing the jugular vein and slashing the carotid artery. Appellant’s fingerprint was found on a plastic compact disk case on the kitchen counter. Robinson testified that she had never seen that compact disk before this trial.

Robinson also testified that she and appellant were living together during the broadcasts of the O.J. Simpson trial, and that appellant watched the trial to the point that it sometimes interfered with his work. She further stated that appellant believed Simpson was guilty, but got away with murder.

Voir Dire

In issue one, appellant contends the trial court erred in overruling his objections to the prosecutor’s references to the O.J. Simpson trial during voir dire. In issue five, he contends the trial court erred in overruling his Batson1 objection to the State’s use of its peremptory challenges against minority venirepersons based on their agreement with the Simpson verdict.

A. References to O.J. Simpson Trial

In his first issue presented, appellant asks whether the trial court erred in overruling appellant’s objection to references to the O.J. Simpson trial during voir dire. Appellant claims he objected to any reference to the O.J. Simpson verdict, and the trial court overruled the objection.2

When the prosecutor stated he would like to know each juror’s opinion on the O.J. verdict, the record actually reflects the following objection, which interrupted the prosecutor’s explanation as to what he was not going to ask about: “I’m going to object to the reference to the O.J. verdict as it relates to homicide cases as it indirectly relates to this defendant, myself or cocounsel.” The trial court overruled appellant’s objection. When the prosecutor resumed his explanation, he stated that he was not interested in the politics or media spectacle, but in the jurors’ thoughts about what they understood the evidence to be, whether they thought the verdict was right or wrong, or whether they just did not follow it. Appellant then obtained a running objection to any question regarding the O.J. verdict. Thus, appellant’s stated basis for his objection to any question regarding the O.J. verdict was limited to its relation to homicide cases directly and appellant and his counsel indirectly.

Appellant’s objection at trial does not comport with his argument on appeal. Appellant does not state a separate basis for his first issue presented for review, but rolls four of his issues together. His global complaint on appeal is to prosecutorial misconduct that violated appellant’s right [218]

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Shelling v. State
52 S.W.3d 213 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2001)

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Bluebook (online)
52 S.W.3d 213, 2001 WL 463139, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/shelling-v-state-texapp-2001.