Toddrick Matthews v. State

CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJanuary 16, 2020
Docket06-19-00039-CR
StatusPublished

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Toddrick Matthews v. State, (Tex. Ct. App. 2020).

Opinion

In The Court of Appeals Sixth Appellate District of Texas at Texarkana

No. 06-19-00039-CR

TODDRICK MATTHEWS, Appellant

V.

THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee

On Appeal from the 5th District Court Bowie County, Texas Trial Court No. 18F0588-005

Before Morriss, C.J., Burgess and Stevens, JJ. Memorandum Opinion by Justice Stevens MEMORANDUM OPINION After a Bowie County jury found Toddrick Matthews guilty of murdering his girlfriend,

Sonjha Banks, he was sentenced to life in prison. In his sole issue on appeal, Matthews contends

there was insufficient evidence to support the jury’s verdict of guilt. Because we find there was

sufficient evidence to support the jury’s verdict, we affirm the trial court’s judgment.

I. Background

Banks, the victim here, was Karen Henderson’s first cousin. At trial, Henderson testified

that she was fairly close to Banks and that they spent their childhood summer vacations together.

According to Henderson, Banks and Matthews saw each other while they were both driving down

the interstate, pulled off the road, and exchanged telephone numbers. Later, they began a dating

relationship which lasted about a year.

Henderson described Banks as “a loving person, a kind person, [would] help anyone, do

anything for anybody.” She was always happy and had a smile on her face. Yet, Banks’s

personality changed when she began dating Matthews. Henderson stated, “It changed when things

started happening in her life, and things started going wrong and she started shutting down, and I

noticed that because she wasn’t a happy person [any]more.” Banks’s relationship with Matthews

was “deteriorating bad” and “wasn’t going good at all.” Henderson explained that Banks was

afraid of Matthews and that, when Matthews was present, Banks would become quiet. Henderson

testified, “She wouldn’t say anything.” Henderson also described one occasion when she heard

Matthews tell Banks that, “if he couldn’t have her, nobody will.” Matthews would also isolate

Banks from her family and yell at her to the point that she would become hysterical. Although

2 Banks never told Henderson directly that Matthews was stalking her, it was Henderson’s opinion

that Banks believed “[s]omeone was after her.”

According to Henderson, on the evening of Banks’s death, Henderson, Banks, and

Matthews went to church. Henderson testified that she could tell that something was wrong with

Banks. Henderson explained that “all of a sudden, [Matthews] gets up and he walked out behind

[Banks], and [Banks came] back in and [Matthews came] back in.”

Kim Slaughter testified that Banks was her hair stylist and that they eventually became

friends who shared confidences with one another. Slaughter testified, “We talked about each

other’s problems and what we had on each other -- what we had on our minds that maybe we didn’t

feel comfortable talking to anybody else about.” Slaughter explained that the pair did not go out

together, but they talked at the hair salon and on the telephone “[v]ery occasionally.” Slaughter

knew that Banks was in a relationship with Matthews and that Banks and Matthews had made

plans to get married at the beginning of their relationship. Slaughter explained that Banks and

Matthews’s relationship changed over time and that, toward the end of their relationship, Banks

did not intend to marry Matthews.

Slaughter said that one day, while she was at the beauty salon, Matthews came in and, after

meeting her, made “a very derogatory statement” to her. According to Slaughter, Matthews would

sit at the salon on other occasions, and if Matthews was not there, he would call Banks repeatedly,

“[o]ne [phone call] after another.” 1 She said Matthews would call “[o]ver and over again” and

1 Slaughter explained that, on the day before Banks’s death, Matthews made close to 100 telephone calls to Banks, either on her cell phone or the salon’s phone. According to Slaughter, Banks did not answer the calls, and she eventually turned off the phones’ ringers. 3 that Banks and Matthews’s relationship began to escalate to the point that Matthews would go to

the salon and stay there the entire day. Slaughter stated that, “if [Matthews came] up there and

[stayed] up there all day,” she would consider that to be stalking.

According to Slaughter, she had also seen bruises on Banks’s neck. 2 Slaughter believed

that Banks was “terrified” of Matthews. Eventually, Banks talked to Slaughter about leaving

Matthews. Banks made plans to leave him because their fighting was escalating. The day before

Banks’s death, she called Slaughter and asked her to spend the day with Banks at the salon. By

that time, according to Slaughter, Banks’s fear of Matthews had “reached an all-time high.”

Slaughter said that, when she learned of Banks’s death, she went to the scene to tell the

investigators what Banks had told her about her relationship with Matthews.

Banks’s mother, Alice Runnels, testified that, at the time of Banks’s death, Banks had no

plans to marry Matthews. Runnels said that Banks told her about the couple’s issues and that she

had seen for herself the trouble in their relationship. Runnels explained,

Well, he got to the point that he was -- she couldn’t go out with her friends. He always wanted to make sure if she went anywhere, he was always there with her, and if me and her would go somewhere on the weekends, he would ride around, find out where we is, and then he’d find where we was at, and then he’d just drive off.

Runnels was also at the beauty salon the day before Banks’s death, along with Banks and

Slaughter. When asked if Matthews called Banks at the salon, Runnels said, “Oh, he would call

2 The State alleged that the murder took place the early part of September. Slaughter believed she saw the bruising on Banks’s neck in August. 4 up there 24/7.” According to Runnels, if Matthews’s efforts to contact Banks did not succeed,

Matthews would “pop[] up . . . there.”

On the day of the incident, Runnels said that Banks was acting “kind of quiet” and that

“she wasn’t giggly.” Runnels explained that, after she went to bed that evening, she received a

telephone call from a person who claimed to be Matthews’s sister, who told Runnels that Matthews

told her to call Runnels and tell her that he could not find Banks. Runnels contacted her sister, and

then the two of them went to Matthews’s trailer, which was, by that time, a crime scene. When

they arrived at the trailer, Matthews was sitting at the back of his truck on the ground. According

to Runnels, Matthews did not speak to her. Runnels said that the last time she saw Banks that day,

she had no marks or bruising on her body.

Matthews’s step-brother, George Matthews (George), explained that he had been

subpoenaed and that he did not want to testify. Matthews and George had known each other since

the early nineties. According to George, he called Matthews his “brother,” and they got along

“[j]ust fine.”

George testified that, on the night of the incident, around ten or eleven o’clock, Matthews

arrived at George’s home, but had not called before his arrival. 3 George said he assumed Matthews

wanted to “take a ride with him.” According to George, Matthews was not crying and did not

appear to be upset. While Matthews was at George’s house, he went into the bathroom, and when

he came out, he handed George a 9mm pistol. Matthews did not tell George why he was giving

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