Terrish Jermaine Garmon v. State

Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided May 12, 2015·No. 05-13-00702-CR·Published

Opinion

AFFIRM; and Opinion Filed May 12, 2015.

Court of Appeals S In The

Fifth District of Texas at Dallas No. 05-13-00702-CR

TERRISH JERMAINE GARMON, Appellant V. THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee

On Appeal from the Criminal District Court No. 3 Dallas County, Texas Trial Court Cause No. F-1234332-J

MEMORANDUM OPINION Before Justices Lang-Miers, Brown, and Schenck 1 Opinion by Justice Brown Terrish Jermaine Garmon appeals his conviction for burglary of a habitation in Irving,

Texas, owned by Jude Garcia. A jury found appellant guilty and assessed his punishment at

fifteen years’ confinement and a $10,000 fine. In two issues on appeal, appellant contends the

trial court abused its discretion in admitting evidence of four extraneous offenses and contends

the evidence is insufficient to prove he committed the charged offense. For reasons that follow,

we affirm the trial court’s judgment.

BACKGROUND

Appellant was indicted for burglary of Garcia’s habitation under two alternative theories.

The indictment alleged he intentionally and knowingly entered the habitation without Garcia’s

1 Justice David Schenck succeeded Justice Michael O’Neill, a member of the original panel, following Justice O’Neill’s retirement. Justice Schenck has reviewed the briefs and the record before the Court. See TEX. R. APP. P. 41.1(a). effective consent, with the intent to commit theft. It also alleged appellant intentionally and

knowingly entered the habitation without Garcia’s effective consent and committed and

attempted to commit theft. See TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. § 30.02(a) (West 2011). Appellant

entered a plea of not guilty.

Before voir dire, the State asked the trial court to allow it to present evidence of

unadjudicated extraneous offenses under the theories of doctrine of chances and modus operandi.

The prosecutor described three unadjudicated offenses committed in a manner similar to the

charged burglary and asserted those offenses were admissible to prove appellant committed the

instant offense. The trial court made a preliminary ruling that the evidence was relevant and that

its probative value outweighed its prejudicial effect, subject to the State proving up the

allegations. After jury selection, the trial court held a hearing outside the presence of the jury at

which the State put on evidence of the unadjudicated extraneous offenses — two burglaries in

Grand Prairie and Fort Worth and one attempted burglary in Coppell. 2 The State also presented

evidence of appellant’s 2005 conviction for unauthorized use of a motor vehicle that it wished to

introduce at guilt/innocence. Appellant objected to the evidence under rules of evidence 404(b)

and 403. The court reaffirmed its earlier ruling allowing the evidence of the unadjudicated

offenses and also ruled it would allow evidence of the prior conviction.

The Irving Burglary/Charged Offense

At trial, Jude Garcia testified that in 2012, he owned a motorcycle, described as a

“supersport” bike, that he wanted to sell. Garcia posted an ad on Craigslist with a description

and pictures of the bike. The ad included Garcia’s cell phone number, but not his address. Only

one person called Garcia in response to the ad, and that man wanted to come look at the bike.

Garcia gave the man his address in Irving, but he did not show up or call to cancel. The next

2 At this pretrial hearing, there was also evidence of a similar incident in Garland, but the State never presented this offense to the jury.

–2– morning, May 26, 2012, Garcia called the man back to ask if he was still interested. The man

said he was no longer interested and “kind of laugh[ed]” at Garcia and hung up. When Garcia

left his house later, he noticed two holes in his garage doors. When he opened the garage, his

bike was gone. The holes were cut near an emergency latch. Someone could reach in through

the hole, pull the emergency latch, and roll the door up. Garcia called the police.

Garcia’s wife, Patricia Garcia, testified that after the police left and without their

knowledge, she decided it would be a good idea to contact the man who had called about the

motorcycle. The mobile number for the person she contacted was (972) 800-4920. Using her

cell phone, Patricia Garcia texted his phone number, pretending she had met him before and was

interested in him. She also spoke with the person over the phone. Patricia asked if he had a

motorcycle, and he said he did. He identified himself to her as “Terry.” He also texted Patricia a

picture of himself. Patricia identified appellant in court as the person in the photograph, and the

photo was admitted into evidence. Appellant and Patricia texted back and forth for about a

week.

While Patricia Garcia was on the stand, the State introduced into evidence State’s Exhibit

No. 5. The documents contained in that exhibit were provided by T-Mobile in response to a

subpoena duces tecum asking for phone records for (972) 800-4920, the number of the person

who called to inquire about Garcia’s motorcycle. T-Mobile’s records show that number

belonged to a “Terrytish J. Garmon.” The exhibit also included a list of calls and texts made to

and from (972) 800-4920 in May and June 2012. Exhibit No. 5 shows two calls from appellant’s

cell phone to Jude Garcia’s phone on May 25, 2012. The records also showed Patricia and

appellant had exchanged phone calls and text messages.

Irving Police Officer Philip Pearson responded to Jude Garcia’s call to police about the

missing motorcycle. He testified that the holes in Garcia’s garage doors were in the upper

–3– panels, about six inches from the ceiling. Pearson stated you could reach in through the holes to

pull an emergency release rope to allow you to open the garage door. It was like someone used a

power saw to cut a circle out of the door. Pearson did not find any fingerprints on the doors.

Pearson had never seen holes cut in a garage in that part of town and had not seen that method

used for stealing a motorcycle. Garcia gave Pearson the phone number of the person who had

contacted him about the Craigslist posting.

Detective Rocky Bailey was assigned to follow up on the case. He testified that he ran

the cell phone number Garcia provided through a computer program. The number came back to

a Terrish Garmon. Bailey also had the photograph that had been texted to Patricia Garcia.

Bailey searched the name Terrish Garmon on Facebook and found a Facebook page in that name

that included the same photograph. Next Bailey found an address for Terrish Garmon. Bailey

had been investigating vehicle thefts since 1998 and had not seen holes cut in a garage before.

He testified it was “very unique.” Because of the unique cutting of the holes in Garcia’s garage,

Bailey shared information about the burglary with other law enforcement agencies in the area.

Detective Bailey obtained a search warrant for appellant’s residence. He did not find the

motorcycle or any stolen motorcycle parts. Bailey did find a piece of cardboard on which about

thirty motorcycle descriptions were written, along with phone numbers and cities. Bailey said it

was likely this information was from Craigslist ads. Bailey began to call the phone numbers

listed. When Bailey called a Mark Menkiena in Grand Prairie, Menkiena told Bailey his

motorcycle had been stolen.

Unadjudicated Extraneous Offenses

Coppell Police Detective Steve Hayes testified that in March 2012, he investigated an

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Terrish Jermaine Garmon v. State, (Tex. Ct. App. 2015).

Terrish Jermaine Garmon v. State (Terrish Jermaine Garmon v. State) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Jackson v. Virginia
443 U.S. 307 (Supreme Court, 1979)
Brown v. State
96 S.W.3d 508 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2002)
Hooper v. State
214 S.W.3d 9 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2007)
Fischer v. State
268 S.W.3d 552 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2008)
Segundo v. State
270 S.W.3d 79 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2008)
Casey v. State
215 S.W.3d 870 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2007)
Gigliobianco v. State
210 S.W.3d 637 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2006)
Martinez v. State
327 S.W.3d 727 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2010)
Gaytan v. State
331 S.W.3d 218 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2011)
De La Paz v. State
279 S.W.3d 336 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2009)
Carrizales v. State
414 S.W.3d 737 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2013)
Temple, David Mark
390 S.W.3d 341 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2013)