Terrance Monte Lewis v. the State of Texas

CourtTexas Court of Appeals, 11th District (Eastland)
DecidedJuly 2, 2026
Docket11-25-00018-CR
StatusPublished

This text of Terrance Monte Lewis v. the State of Texas (Terrance Monte Lewis v. the State of Texas) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Texas Court of Appeals, 11th District (Eastland) primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Terrance Monte Lewis v. the State of Texas, (Tex. Ct. App. 2026).

Opinion

Opinion filed July 2, 2026

In The

Eleventh Court of Appeals __________

No. 11-25-00018-CR __________

TERRANCE MONTE LEWIS, Appellant V. THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee

On Appeal from the 118th District Court Howard County, Texas Trial Court Cause No. 16810

MEMORANDUM OPINION A grand jury indicted Appellant, Terrance Monte Lewis, for the murder of Neziah Xavier Turner. See TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. § 19.02(b)(1) (West Supp. 2025). The jury found Appellant guilty of the charged offense, found both enhancement allegations to be “true,” and assessed his punishment at life imprisonment in the Institutional Division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. The trial court sentenced him accordingly. In two issues, Appellant contends that: (1) the evidence does not support his conviction; and (2) the trial court erred when it prematurely assessed a time payment fee. We modify and affirm the trial court’s judgment. I. Factual Background On August 28, 2023, Appellant, Turner, and Mobey Lewis traveled from Big Spring to the Midland-Odessa area to purchase drugs; they drove there in a gray- silver Toyota Prius that was owned by Turner’s girlfriend, Sidney Patterson. After they returned to Big Spring that afternoon, at some point the Prius struck a tree in the 100 block of Cottonwood Street. Thereafter, several people were seen running away from the Prius. John Phillip Shober testified that he was inside his camper when he heard a couple of gunshots and then saw a gray Toyota Prius drive by and “wreck[] into the neighbor’s yard.” Three black males exited the Prius; one of them was a “bigger guy . . . kind of heavyset” and he was wearing a red shirt. Shober testified that he saw another black male run by the front of his camper in a “dead sprint” because he was being chased by others. After that, he heard screaming and shouting, “I’m gonna get you, m----------r. I’m gonna get you, n----r. I’m gonna get you.” As the group ran toward land owned by Jerry Edmondson, Shober heard another gunshot. Rose Stanhope was sitting in her car at her residence, located at 108 Carey Street, when a “young man” wearing a black hoodie approached her and asked for a “ride.” The “young man” appeared to be nervous. Stanhope obliged and drove him to where the Prius was located. Katherine Cheyenne Rawls witnessed the Prius crash into the tree and saw a person exit the vehicle before it crashed. Shortly thereafter, a black male wearing a white muscle shirt ran up to the Prius, reached through an open window, removed a bag, and then ran away. After Appellant was arrested, a search warrant for the Prius

2 was executed, and a .22 caliber casing was recovered from the driver’s side floorboard. Grace Windham testified that she was sitting on her back patio when a black male, who she described as “a little heavier set” and wearing a white shirt and red shorts, entered her property. According to Windham, this person was “[h]eavier” than Appellant. A .22 caliber handgun was later found hidden inside a tire outside of her home. At the time, Brandee Leann Castillo was renting the home located at 100 Cottonwood Street. Castillo testified that after the Prius struck the tree, Appellant ran to her home, went inside, and asked for a ride because he needed to “get away.” Appellant was wearing a white muscle shirt. He later ran away. Officer Kevin Barker with the Big Spring Police Department received a dispatch for a “shots-fired call” and drove to the neighborhood where the Prius had crashed into the tree. Upon his arrival, he noticed several people run away from the Prius, across a field, and into a house. According to Officer Barker, a neighbor saw Appellant reach into the Prius, purportedly to retrieve something, and run away. Officer Barker testified that Appellant and a female ran into Castillo’s home; Appellant was wearing a white shirt and holding a black hoodie. Officer Barker also observed that a different male and female were in the bed of a pickup that was parked in front of Castillo’s residence, and another male and female were inside the pickup. Officer Barker approached Castillo’s residence and saw Appellant “peeking around the corner.” When he walked to the back of the residence, Appellant was no longer there. Alfonso Alonzo, a FedEx driver and former law enforcement officer, saw a person wearing a white shirt running away and “looking back” as he ran; he told Officer Barker that a black male wearing a white tank top was “headed that way.” Appellant was later seen jumping into a gray GMC Yukon while holding a black 3 hoodie. Lyndell Knox, the owner of the Yukon, testified that Appellant told him to “[d]rive, just drive.” Appellant was later apprehended, and a black hoodie was recovered from the Yukon. The next day, Turner’s body was found by Edmondson behind a travel trailer on his property. A 9mm casing was found next to Turner’s body. Dr. Thomas Parsons, a forensic pathologist, performed Turner’s autopsy and concluded that Turner’s death was caused by three gunshot wounds—one to his upper back, one to the back of his right shoulder that penetrated one of his lungs, and the other entered through his right ear and transected his brain stem; it was also determined that the three gunshot wounds were caused by two different caliber weapons. The wounds to Turner’s upper back and right shoulder were from a small caliber weapon—likely a .22 caliber—while his head wound was caused by a medium-sized caliber weapon—likely a 9mm firearm. A search warrant for Castillo’s residence was executed and a 9mm Springfield XD firearm was recovered inside her home. A black bag with the Springfield manufacturer’s logo on it was found in Castillo’s home; the 9mm firearm and magazines were inside the bag. A different firearm was also found hidden in a recliner. Darrell Morgan, a firearm and toolmark examiner with the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), determined that the 9mm casing found near Turner’s body had been fired from the 9mm firearm that was recovered from Castillo’s home. Forensic analyses were performed by Sarah Hall, Marcos Rivera, Ann Zischkau, and Jason White, forensic scientists with DPS. Because blood stains were observed on the 9mm firearm, the blood stains and the firearm were swabbed by Zischkau and later tested by White for DNA profile identification and analysis, the results of which indicated that Appellant was a possible contributor to the DNA profile found on the 9mm firearm, and Mobey was excluded as a contributor. DNA analysis further 4 indicated that Appellant and Turner were at some point near the 9mm firearm. Forensic analyses also confirmed the presence of Turner’s blood and gunshot primer residue particles on the black hoodie, which indicated that the hoodie had been near a firearm when it was discharged or contacted a surface that contained gunshot primer residue particles. Law enforcement subpoenaed Appellant’s cell phone records and reviewed the “jail calls” made by Appellant while he was confined in the Howard County and Garza County jails after his arrest. Detective Chase Clanton with the Big Spring Police Department listened to the calls and testified that Appellant called Mobey and asked him about the firearms that were used in the murder. II. Sufficiency of the Evidence In his first issue, Appellant contends that the evidence is legally insufficient to support his conviction. Specifically, Appellant contends that the evidence of identity is lacking and does not show that he was the person who shot Turner. A. Standard of Review We review a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence, regardless of whether it is framed as a legal or factual sufficiency challenge, under the standard of review set forth in Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (1979). Brooks v. State,

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Terrance Monte Lewis v. the State of Texas, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/terrance-monte-lewis-v-the-state-of-texas-txctapp11-2026.