Steve Rodriguez v. State

Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided June 26, 2013·No. 07-11-00271-CR·Published

Opinion

In The

Court of Appeals

Seventh District of Texas at Amarillo

No. 07-11-00270-CR, 07-11-00271-CR STEVE RODRIGUEZ, APPELLANT V.

THE STATE OF TEXAS, APPELLEE

On Appeal from the 390th District Court Travis County, Texas

Trial Court No. D-1-DC-10-202173, D-1-DC-10-500217;

Honorable Julie H. Kocurek, Presiding

June 26, 2013

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Before QUINN, C.J., and CAMPBELL and HANCOCK, JJ.

By separate indictments, appellant Steve Rodriguez was charged with two aggravated robberies. The cases were tried together, a jury found him guilty of the charged offenses and the trial court assessed punishment at twenty-eight years in prison in each case. The sentences run concurrently. In both cases, the court made a deadly weapon finding. Appellant presents six issues on appeal. We will affirm both judgments.

Background

Testimony showed appellant and his brother Servando Rodriguez lived with their grandmother at a residence in Austin. From the late evening of April 16 into the early morning of April 17, 2010, appellant and Servando, their friends John Niess and his brother Frank Niess, appellant’s girlfriend Kaitlyn Kretschmer, and Frank’s girlfriend Erin Moody, were together at the residence. Appellant’s grandmother was out of town.

During the evening, John began talking about “hitting a lick”--an expression for committing a robbery.1 Whether appellant took part in this conversation is unclear from the testimony. According to Erin, Frank obtained the keys to her red Ford F-150 four- door pickup and the four men left the residence together “[a]round 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning.”

Michael Bishop was the victim of the first robbery. From his testimony, the jury heard that Bishop’s girlfriend worked at an Austin nightclub. Between 5:00 and 5:30 a.m. on April, 17, he waited in his vehicle outside the club for her to complete work. He passed the time playing a video game on his cellphone. Suddenly the driver’s door of his vehicle opened and a male stood over Bishop with a shotgun. The gunman “bumped” the barrel of his weapon at Bishop’s face demanding his money and wallet. A second male opened the passenger door of the vehicle and began looking through the glove box, the center console, and the back seat. Bishop noticed a large knife lying on the passenger seat of his vehicle. The individual holding a shotgun also took Bishop’s cellphone.

1 See Broadnax v. State, No. AP-76,207, 2011 Tex. Crim. App. Unpub. Lexis 920, at *2 (Tex.Crim.App. Dec. 14, 2011) (not designated for publication).

By the time Bishop concluded the two had taken most of his belongings, he heard a voice from behind his car shouting to the two perpetrators, “Hurry up, fool.” Bishop looked over his shoulder and saw a red four-door Ford or Dodge pickup truck with black trim behind his car. A person in the back seat held the pickup’s door open. Bishop described this individual as a young Hispanic male with short hair. According to Bishop, “I managed to see him I think fairly well.” Bishop also noticed someone in the driver’s seat of the pickup. When the person shouted for the two at Bishop’s car to hurry, the person with the shotgun told the other perpetrator to grab the ignition key. He obliged. The two then ran back to the pickup as Bishop’s girlfriend approached. He motioned her to stay back as the men retreated to the pickup and it sped away. Bishop noted part of the truck’s license plate number and someone inside the nightclub telephoned 9-1-1 at Bishop’s request.

Eddie Arpero and his cousin Raando Arpero were the victims of the second robbery. Eddie and Raando worked in the warehouse of an Austin printing company. About 6:00 a.m. the two picked up breakfast at a fast food restaurant and drove to work in Eddie’s truck. They parked and before they left the vehicle a “reddish” Ford four-door pickup pulled behind them. Two men came from the pickup and ran toward Raando. One had a shotgun. Cocking the weapon, he commanded Raando to get on the ground. The other man put a hand gun to Eddie’s head and told him to get on the ground. They took Eddie’s keys and cellphone, and the stereo from his truck. Raando’s wallet was also taken.

Eddie could see one of the men holding the shotgun to Raando’s head. As Eddie watched, the men returned to the pickup. A person then left the pickup and

placed Raando in handcuffs. He was left face down with his hands cuffed behind his back. Raando identified appellant as the person placing him in handcuffs. After the pickup departed, the victims contacted security guards at a location across the street and police were notified.

Meanwhile Moody and Kretschmer went for a drive. They returned to appellant’s residence after appellant called Moody and reported he and the others were home.

Through Bishop’s cellphone service provider, officers obtained the general location of the stolen phone.2 Thus, around 6:15 a.m. they were led to a location on Vassar Road where a red Ford pickup was parked. The hood of the vehicle felt warm to the touch of a responding officer. Neighbors directed officers to a particular address and a SWAT team was summoned.

John noticed police outside the house and awakened appellant. John apologized to Moody without stating a reason. When Moody asked why the police were outside John responded, “It’s best that you don’t know.” Responding to a police “call out,” the six occupants of the house exited and were taken into custody. Upon subsequent execution of a search warrant at the house, police located Raando Arpero’s wallet and the stereo taken from Eddie Arpero’s truck.

2 In describing the electronic location procedure, the terms “geolocate” and “ping”

were used at trial but without significant explanation. On proper authority, a wireless service provider may signal or ping a cellphone directing the phone to compute its current GPS coordinates and communicate the data to the provider for transmission to law enforcement personnel. In re Application of the United States, No. 10-2188-SKG, 2011 U.S. Dist. Lexis 85638, at *3 (D. Md. Aug. 3, 2011); 18 U.S.C.A. § 2703(c)(1)(A) (West Supp. 2013).

Bishop and Raando Arpero identified appellant as a participant in the robberies, through photographic lineups. He was indicted for aggravated robbery. Before trial, appellant filed a motion seeking to suppress “appellant’s identification.” The trial court denied the motion after a hearing.

Analysis

By issues one and two, appellant argues the photographic lineups in which Bishop and Raando Arpero identified him were impermissibly suggestive.

Whether the trial court erred in admitting into evidence a witness’s identification of the accused involves a mixed question of law and fact. Loserth v. State, 963 S.W.2d 770, 772 (Tex.Crim.App. 1998); Williams v. State, 243 S.W.3d 787, 789 (Tex.App.-- Amarillo 2007, no pet.). The factors used to determine whether an impermissibly suggestive identification procedure gives rise to a substantial likelihood of irreparable misidentification are treated as historical issues of fact and are viewed in the light most favorable to the trial court’s ruling. Loserth, 963 S.W.2d at 773. We, therefore, afford great deference to the trial court’s resolution of the historical facts pertinent to the case; however, whether the historical facts render the identification unreliable is reviewed de novo. See id. at 773-74; Williams, 243 S.W.3d at 789; Tijerina v. State, 334 S.W.3d 825, 837 (Tex.App.--Amarillo 2011, pet. refused).

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