Spearman v. State

307 S.W.3d 463, 2010 Tex. App. LEXIS 1026, 2009 WL 5851190
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 10, 2010
Docket09-09-00228-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 307 S.W.3d 463 (Spearman 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
Spearman v. State, 307 S.W.3d 463, 2010 Tex. App. LEXIS 1026, 2009 WL 5851190 (Tex. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinion

OPINION

DAVID GAULTNEY, Justice.

A jury found Darrius Eugene Spearman guilty of murder and assessed punishment at confinement in prison for fifty years. Spearman challenges the legal and factual sufficiency of the evidence to support the jury’s guilty verdict and rejection of his self-defense claim. He also argues the trial court erred in allowing a witness’s statement to be read to the jury. We conclude the evidence is sufficient to support the verdict, and although the eviden-tiary ruling did not strictly follow a Court of Criminal Appeals’ opinion construing the applicable hearsay exception, we conclude any error did not affect substantial rights. Accordingly, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.

The Sufficiency StandaRds of Review

Spearman first challenges the sufficiency of the evidence supporting the jury’s finding that he intentionally caused the victim’s death by shooting him with a firearm. See Tex. Pen.Code Ann. § 19.02(b)(1) (Vernon 2003). In reviewing the legal sufficiency of the evidence, an appellate court reviews all of the evidence in a light most favorable to the verdict, and must decide if any rational trier of fact could find the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. Evans v. State, 202 S.W.3d 158, 161 (Tex.Crim.App.2006). When conducting a factual sufficiency review, a court views the evidence in a neutral light and asks whether the evidence supporting the verdict is so weak, or the verdict is so against the great weight and preponderance of the evidence, as to render the verdict manifestly unjust. Grotti v. State, 273 S.W.3d 273, 283 (Tex.Crim.App.2008).

Spearman specifically challenges the jury’s rejection of his self-defense claim. Spearman asserts the record “is wholly void of any evidence that the defendant acted intentionally in causing the death of the victim; but, in fact was acting in self-defense to prevent himself from being shot.” He also states that the record demonstrates that “the pistol accidentally discharged in the struggle wherein the defendant was attempting to restrain the victim from shooting the defendant.”

When a defensive issue under section 2.03 of the Penal Code is contemplated, the defendant bears the burden of producing some evidence that supports the particular defense and, once accomplished, the State then bears the burden of persuasion to disprove the raised defense. See Tex. Pen. Code Ann. § 2.03(d) (Vernon 2003); Adelman v. State, 828 S.W.2d 418, 421 (Tex.Crim.App.1992). The State’s burden “requires only that the State prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt.” Zuliani v. State, 97 S.W.3d 589, 594 (Tex.Crim.App.2003) (citing Saxton v. State, 804 S.W.2d 910, 913 (Tex.Crim.App.1991)). “When a *466 jury finds the defendant guilty, there is an implicit finding against the defensive theory.” Id. (citing Saxton, 804 S.W.2d at 914). In reviewing the sufficiency of the evidence to support a verdict of guilt, an appellate court looks at the sufficiency of the evidence to support both the verdict and the rejection of the defense. See Zuliani, 97 S.W.3d at 594-95; Saxton, 804 S.W.2d at 913-14.

The Evidence

Meyoshia Carter-Smith testified that she was at Tiffany’s, a club in Port Arthur, on the night of the shooting. The club was extremely crowded. Carter-Smith described some of the attendees as “gang-bangers.” At about 1:30 in the morning, the disc jockey played a song that encouraged the club patrons to “throw your sets up[J” and some of the patrons began “making [gang] signs” and “throwing their [gang] rags up.”

Carter-Smith was leaning on a railing near the dance floor. She noticed a man she knew as “Fish,” later identified as Marcus Allen, dancing with a girl on the dance floor. The girl was about “two, three big steps” away from Carter-Smith. When the lyrics to the song said to “throw your sets up,” Allen did not “throw his set up” but kept his hands on the hips of the girl.

Spearman made a hand gesture and approached Allen. The witness could not hear what was being said because of the noise level at the club. Allen tried to waive Spearman off. Carter-Smith then heard song lyrics which said to “put your guns in the air.” She saw Spearman approach Allen with a gun covered by a red bandana. She did not hear a distinct gunshot, because the song included the sound of gunshots, but she saw a flicker “[l]ike a little firecracker[.]” She knew Allen had been shot. Just before Alen fell to the floor, she saw the gun in Spearman’s hand. She later testified that she “never actually” saw a gun — “I seen, like, a flashlight and I seen somebody drop. So, I assumed that it was a gun covered.”

When Allen fell to the floor, people started kicking him. Spearman was out of sight. She identified one of the people kicking Allen as a man referred to as “KT” by others that night, and she later found out KT’s name is “Korwin.” The club owner and a bouncer broke up the fight and took Alen out of the club. Carter-Smith “could tell that he was unconscious because ... he wasn’t moving.” The club was shut down.

Carter-Smith called 911, went outside the club, and saw Alen lying near the club’s door. Ater determining his pulse was weakening and he was not breathing, she began administering CPR. Alen’s eyes began “rolling back in his head[.]” The police and EMS arrived; the police asked Carter-Smith to leave.

At the time of the shooting, Carter-Smith had been at the club for about three and a half hours and had consumed four mixed drinks containing tequila. She testified she was “tipsy,” but she claimed she was not intoxicated and “not under the influence that I didn’t see what I seen.”

Easton Washington, a bouncer at the club that night, was the only employee searching the patrons for weapons as they entered the club. Washington testified that when the disc jockey announced there was a fight, Washington ran to the dance floor. Gerald Hatch, the club owner, was holding one man, and another man was “balled up in a knot” on the floor while others were “[kicking him and stomping him.” Washington threw some people off the man balled up on the floor, picked the man up, and began helping him out the door. The man told Washington, “ ‘Call *467 my mama.’” Washington got the man outside. He saw no blood. A woman then walked up, examined Allen, and said “ ‘it look[s] like he’s been shot or stabbed[;]’ ” she began administering CPR.

Hatch testified he had been drinking alcohol that evening, but he was not intoxicated. When he heard of the fighting, he ran to the dance floor and grabbed a man attacking Allen. Once Hatch got him to the door, the man “took off running.” Spearman did not look like the man that he escorted out of the club. Hatch observed Washington helping someone to the outside that appeared injured.

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Bluebook (online)
307 S.W.3d 463, 2010 Tex. App. LEXIS 1026, 2009 WL 5851190, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/spearman-v-state-texapp-2010.