Urias v. State

104 S.W.3d 578, 2003 Tex. App. LEXIS 353, 2003 WL 125007
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJanuary 16, 2003
Docket08-01-00355-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 104 S.W.3d 578 (Urias 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
Urias v. State, 104 S.W.3d 578, 2003 Tex. App. LEXIS 353, 2003 WL 125007 (Tex. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinion

OPINION

ANN CRAWFORD McCLURE, Justice.

In April 2000, Tomas Urias was arrested and charged with possession of marijuana. While detained on these charges, he was questioned by an officer of the Ector County Sheriffs office. During one of the investigative interviews, Appellant was asked about a homicide in which he had been a primary suspect since 1996 and he ultimately confessed to the crime. He was charged with the murder of Adrian Areni-vas and pled not guilty. His motion to suppress the confession was denied by the trial court. A jury found him guilty and assessed a punishment of 48 years, to be served in the Institutional Division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. On appeal, Appellant contends his confession was involuntary.

FACTUAL SUMMARY

The following facts are essentially un-controverted. Appellant worked for Raul Gardea, a known drug dealer. 1 He lost a load or two and ended up owing Gardea some $60,000. Afraid for his own life and that of his family, Appellant shot Adrian Arevinas and stole his Jeep. He gave Gar-dea the Jeep in partial payment of the money owed. The victim’s body was found in Ector County, Texas in September 1996; his Jeep was found near Ojinaga, Mexico.

Appellant and Billy Campbell were linked to the homicide and stolen vehicle. Campbell was located shortly thereafter. However, Appellant could not be found at the time and it was determined that he had fled to Mexico. His whereabouts were unknown until he was arrested on marijuana charges and placed in the Ector County Detention Center in late April 2000.

Appellant was indicted for possession of marijuana (more than five pounds, but less than fifty pounds). Jason Leach was appointed as his counsel. Appellant told the narcotics officers that he wanted to talk about some unrelated matters that could possibly be beneficial to the amount of time he served. Leach and Appellant both called the Texas Department of Public Safety, Narcotic Services, and spoke with Sergeant Investigator Mario Tinajero about setting up an interview for that purpose. 2 Leach told Tinajero that he wanted to be present during any questioning of his client.

While at the jail on May 10, 2000, Sergeant Tinajero ran into Carl Rogers, a homicide investigator with the Ector County Sheriffs Department, and told him he planned to talk with Appellant regard *581 ing the drug investigation. Rogers recognized the name and indicated he wished to question Appellant about a homicide investigation. The next day, Tinajero and Rogers visited Appellant at the jail. Leach was not notified and did not attend. Rogers was told at some point that Appellant was represented by Leach, but he made no effort to contact him. Tinajero testified that he called Leach afterward and apologized for forgetting to notify him of the meeting. 3

Tinajero and Rogers brought a tape recorder to the interview. Appellant gave Tinajero information about a counterfeit money operation in Albuquerque, New Mexico and other drug related information. He hoped that the information he provided on the drugs, guns, or counterfeit money operations would help him receive a more favorable plea offer. Tinajero questioned him for about thirty minutes but did not record the conversation. Rogers then conducted the remainder of the interview. He told Appellant that he was investigating a homicide that had occurred around August 1996. Rogers showed him a picture of the victim and proceeded to question Appellant for about twenty-five minutes. Rogers then started recording the interview, stated the names of the persons present, and read Appellant his Miranda 4 warnings. Appellant stated that he understood his rights. The following exchange ensued:

ROGERS: Okay. And understanding what those rights are, are you willing to waive those rights at this time? And talk with us about this investigation? Understanding that, that you can stop the interview at this time?
APPELLANT: I want to stop. I want to stop right now.

The tape recorder was turned off for about eight minutes and then Rogers began recording again.

At this point, the versions of the story change. At the suppression hearing, Ti-najero did not recall that Appellant had asked to stop the interview. When presented with the transcript of the tape recording, he testified as follows:

Q: Now then, it says, T want to stop right now,’ and the time is 11:28. Now then, we have restarted this voluntary statement at it is 11:36. Does that sound about right, that y’all turned the tape off for about eight minutes?
A: I guess that’s correct, yes.
Q: Well, as best as your recollection is, eight to ten minutes—
A: Yes, sir.
Q: —you turned the tape off. What did you talk about?
A: To tell you the truth, I don’t actually recall exactly what we talked about because I am not a homicide investigator so I never directed any questions to Mr. Urias about the homicide. I never really actually spoke to him about the homicide once Mr. Rogers took over.
Q: Did you make any statements to him that if he would talk about this, you would help him like you did in Pecos?
A: No sir. I never related anything about helping him on the homicide like we did in Pecos.
Q: Did you ever mention anything at all about ‘helping him like we did in Pecos’ concerning anything during that eight minutes?
*582 A: No, sir, I didn’t. I don’t recall. Carl Rogers was handling the interview at that time and, like I said, I am not a homicide investigator so I didn’t even know what to ask him about a homicide.
Q: I am not asking you what you asked. What did you hear? What was said by Mr. Rogers?
A: I don’t recall.
Q: So we have got eight minutes that you completely forgot what happened?
A: I know that at one time I went to get him a drink. I offered and it could have been at that time. When we initially began the interview, I asked him if he wanted something to drink and he declined. Later on he said he would take that drink now. I stepped out to go get him a Coke and brought it back.
Q: And that’s when the tape wasn’t going?
A: That’s possible. I don’t really recall. I didn’t take any notes regarding that statement so it is possible that that’s when that—
Q: So we will just have to listen to the tape real close and we can hear the door on when you came and went; right?
A: Well, no.

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Related

Urias, Tomas v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2006
Urias v. State
155 S.W.3d 141 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2005)
Millslagle v. State
150 S.W.3d 781 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2005)
Urias, Tomas
Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2004
Randall Millslagle v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2004
Licon, Jr., Ernesto v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2003

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
104 S.W.3d 578, 2003 Tex. App. LEXIS 353, 2003 WL 125007, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/urias-v-state-texapp-2003.