Sills v. State

846 S.W.2d 392, 1992 WL 369043
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 3, 1993
DocketC14-91-00360-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by25 cases

This text of 846 S.W.2d 392 (Sills 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
Sills v. State, 846 S.W.2d 392, 1992 WL 369043 (Tex. Ct. App. 1993).

Opinion

OPINION

JUNELL, Justice.

Appellant entered a plea of not guilty before the jury to the charge of murder. Tex.Penal Code Ann. § 19.02. He was convicted and the court assessed punishment, enhanced under Tex.Penal Code Ann. § 12.42(c), at imprisonment for 45 years. We reverse and remand.

In his first point of error, appellant contends the trial court erred by allowing the prosecutor to use a witness’s written statement given to the police to impeach that witness, who repeatedly refused to give any testimony concerning the events leading up to the shooting of Steven Floyd Hays, the deceased complainant.

In his second and third points of error, appellant contends the trial court erred because the prosecutor was permitted to ask leading questions of a witness who refused to testify, and because the trial court’s limiting instructions to the jury regarding a witness’s testimony were inadequate.

In his fourth point of error, appellant asserts the evidence is insufficient to support appellant’s conviction. We will address this point of error first.

On June 22, 1990, Harold Sills shot Steven Floyd Hays. Hays died several days later from the gunshot wound.

Appellant was charged with murder in two alternative paragraphs. The first paragraph alleged appellant intentionally or knowingly caused the death of Hays by shooting him with a firearm. The second paragraph alleged appellant intended to cause serious bodily injury to Hays and caused his death by intentionally or knowingly shooting him with a firearm, an act clearly dangerous to human life. The trial court instructed the jury to convict appellant if it found he committed murder in either of these two ways. The jury convicted appellant of murder as charged in the indictment.

Appellant argues the evidence is insufficient to prove he intentionally or knowingly committed murder. In reviewing the sufficiency. of the evidence, this Court must determine whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 2789, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979).

A person acts intentionally, or with intent, when it is his conscious objective or desire to engage in the conduct or cause the result. A person acts knowingly, or with knowledge, when he is aware of the nature of his conduct or of the circumstances surrounding his conduct. A person also acts knowingly, or with knowledge, *394 when he is aware that his conduct is reasonably certain to cause the result. Tex.Penal Code Ann. § 6.03(a), (b) (Vernon 1974).

To determine culpability the jury is entitled to consider events that occurred before, during, and after the commission of the offense. Henderson v. State, 825 S.W.2d 746, 749 (Tex.App.-Houston [14th Dist.] 1992, pet. ref’d).

Lynne Farmer, the common law wife of Hays, testified substantially as follows:

Hays owed appellant $100.00 for a dope deal. Farmer accompanied Hays to appellant's trailer home so Hays could pay the debt. She remained in the car while Hays walked toward the trailer. When Hays got to the door of the trailer, he was knocked back. Appellant then came out of the trailer and kicked at Hays. Hays returned to the car. Appellant came to Hays and asked for his money. Hays gave appellant $100.00. Appellant told Hays that he had heard Hays had been running his mouth. Appellant and Hays went inside the trailer. Farmer remained in the car. She heard some banging around, “like they had been fighting.” After a short time, things got quiet. She then heard banging around again and heard Hays cry. She then heard a gunshot. After the gunshot she heard more moving around. Someone came out of the trailer and told her Hays wasn’t hurt, that he was just banged up. Several people began coming out of the trailer. Eventually, several people brought Hays out to the car and put him in the back seat. Appellant told Farmer he wasn’t mad at her but the “sorry son-of-a-bitch deserves to die. I should have killed him when I had the chance.” Farmer told appellant she was scared and he told her she had good reason to be scared.

In his written confession, appellant told police he wanted Hays to stop telling people that appellant was ripping off a man named Dennis Chambers. Appellant said he picked up a .25 automatic gun from the coffee table to frighten Hays. Appellant also said “I shot the gun above Steve’s head and Steve acted like he went into shock.” At trial, appellant told the jury he was angry and picked up the gun so no one else would get it, turned, and the gun went off. Appellant testified he did not know why the gun went off and he did not intend to kill Hays.

The trier of fact is the exclusive judge of the facts, credibility of witnesses and weight to be afforded their testimony. Bonham v. State, 680 S.W.2d 815, 819 (Tex.Crim.App.1984), cert. denied, 474 U.S. 865, 106 S.Ct. 184, 88 L.Ed.2d 153 (1985). The jury is free to accept one version of the facts, reject another, or reject all or any of a witness’s testimony. Penagraph v. State, 623 S.W.2d 341, 343 (Tex.Crim.App.1981). Simply because the defendant presents a different version of the facts does not render the State’s evidence insufficient. Anderson v. State, 701 S.W.2d 868, 872 (Tex.Crim.App.1985), cert. denied, 479 U.S. 870, 107 S.Ct. 239, 93 L.Ed.2d 163 (1986).

Hays owed appellant $100 for a drug deal. Appellant was angry at Hays for remarks he had made. In his written statement to the police appellant said he picked up the gun to scare Hays. Immediately after the shooting, appellant said he should have killed Hays. Appellant was charged with shooting the deceased with a deadly weapon, a firearm. Specific intent to kill may be inferred from the use of a deadly weapon per se. Moreno v. State, 755 S.W.2d 866, 868 (Tex.Crim.App.1988). A firearm is a deadly weapon per se. Tex.Penal Code Ann. § 1.05. Appellant’s acts, words and deeds may also infer intent. Dues v. State, 634 S.W.2d 304, 305 (Tex.Crim.App.1982).

Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict, we find that a rational jury could have found appellant intentionally or knowingly killed Steven Hays. We overrule appellant’s fourth point of error.

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Bluebook (online)
846 S.W.2d 392, 1992 WL 369043, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sills-v-state-texapp-1993.