William Paul Langrum v. State

Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided February 4, 2015·No. 05-13-01489-CR·Published

Opinion

AFFIRMED; Opinion Filed February 2, 2015.

S In The

Court of Appeals

Fifth District of Texas at Dallas No. 05-13-01489-CR

WILLIAM PAUL LANGRUM, Appellant V.

THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee

On Appeal from the Criminal District Court No. 5 Dallas County, Texas

Trial Court Cause No. F11-60330-L

OPINION

Before Justices Bridges, Lang-Miers, and Myers Opinion by Justice Myers

Appellant William Paul Langrum was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to life

imprisonment without the possibility of parole. In two issues, he argues (1) the evidence is insufficient to support the conviction; (2) the trial court erred by overruling appellant’s objection to the use of evidence of an aggravated robbery allegedly committed by appellant approximately 45 minutes after the instant offense. We affirm.

BACKGROUND

Sophia Dorian lived at a condominium complex located at the 9800 block of Royal Lane, in Dallas, Texas. The complex’s designated parking area was on the street directly in front of the upstairs unit where Dorian lived, and decedent Shearl Bennett’s assigned parking space was next to Dorian’s. On the night of September 21, 2011, Dorian was in her condo with a guest when she heard what “sounded like squabbling” outside. Dorian testified that this squabbling “kind of

grew louder.” She ran to her front door and heard Bennett say, “Oh, my God. Somebody help me. Somebody please help me.” Dorian “ripped the door open” and “flew down the steps,” where she saw the headlights of a car. At first, she thought “somebody had just had a squabble with their boyfriend or something.” Dorian started to retreat, but the car continued to slowly roll forward until she saw Bennett bent over in the open driver’s side window of the car. The car drove off, and then Bennett sat down in the grass. Dorian asked Bennett if she was okay. Bennett looked up, closed her eyes, and “just kind of rolled over on her side.” Dorian soon noticed her hand was moist from touching Bennett. After realizing Bennett was injured, Dorian looked up at her friend and said, “She’s bleeding. She’s bleeding.”

The vehicle had to turn around to get out of the complex, so it came back towards Dorian and passed in front of her. Dorian told her friend to call 911, and she flagged down the police officers when they arrived. Dorian testified that it was 10:25 p.m. when she and her friend called 911. Dorian described the car she saw as “a metallicy [sic] blue four-door kind of smaller boxy car.” She could not see an individual in the car but caught a glimpse of what looked like “a patch of a white shirt” in the driver’s seat.

Bennett died at the scene from multiple stab wounds. Her brother, Richard Sapp, testified that she was fifty years old at the time of her death. Some keys, a Bible, and miscellaneous papers were found near the body. Bennett was still wearing her wristwatch and earrings.

The medical examiner, Dr. Nathaniel Patterson of the Southwestern Institute of Forensic Sciences (SWIFS), testified that Bennett suffered stab wounds to the chest, the left side of the upper chest (by the collarbone), and the upper abdomen. The wounds near Bennett’s collarbone and to her abdomen were consistent with stab wounds from a single-edged blade. The stab wound to her chest, which was fatal, went into the right atrium of Bennett’s heart and through

the right pulmonary vein and into the right middle lobe of her lung, and this caused approximately 740 milliliters of blood to leak into Bennett’s chest cavity. Dr. Patterson found no defensive wounds to Bennett’s arms or hands.

Nicole Green, who lived next door to Bennett at the condominium complex, testified that on September 21, 2011, she was in bed when she heard a woman hollering for help. She looked out her window and saw a small, older-model four-door Honda Accord 1 drive by. Green knew the car was an Accord because she used “to drive a car like that back in the day.” She could not see the driver’s face but noticed he was black and wore a white t-shirt. Green ran outside and saw Bennett laying on the ground. A black satchel bag, various cards, Bennett’s wallet, and other personal belongings were “kind of all just scattered on the ground,” so Green gathered them up and put them in the satchel, which Green believed may have been Bennett’s purse. Green stayed with Bennett until the police arrived.

Dallas Police Officer King Seng was the first officer to arrive at the crime scene. He talked to some witnesses and obtained a possible description of the suspect vehicle, which he broadcasted over his police radio. Later that evening, at around 11:10 or 11:13 p.m., Dallas police officer Russell Barrett was at 2800 Douglas, near Lemon Avenue, in an undercover capacity when he witnessed appellant and another individual, Jeremy Francis, involved in an altercation with a third man, Charles Starks. Appellant was the taller individual and wore a white t-shirt; Francis was shorter and wore a blue t-shirt. The undercover officer saw appellant holding a “large-styled hunting knife” in his hand, and he appeared to be trying to take a bag from Starks. Appellant swung the knife at Starks, causing him to fall backwards. Appellant took the bag, after which he and Francis fled on foot, got into a vehicle in a nearby parking lot, and

1 Green did not know the vehicle’s color. She testified: “It was like a little four-door Honda Accord, an older model. It could have been black, could have been blue, it could have been green. I don’t know. I couldn’t tell.”

quickly drove away. Officer Barrett called for assistance from uniformed police officers.

A squad car got behind the suspect vehicle and followed it as it headed north on Maple.

Officer Barrett saw the squad car turn on its lights and sirens and attempt to pull the vehicle over, but appellant, who was driving, “started evading them at an even higher speed.” Police pursued the car for a few miles until it stopped at Fairmount and Claire. Appellant and Francis got out of the car and fled on foot, were chased by police, and then got back in the car and drove away. By this point, Officer Barrett caught up with the pursuing squad cars, and he and another undercover officer joined the chase. Officer Barrett heard over the police radio that a robbery had occurred at 2800 Douglas; he responded that he had seen the robbery.

The officers followed the suspect vehicle for approximately five miles to the 7100 block of Lemon Avenue, where it was disabled after hitting a curb. Appellant and Francis got out of the car and fled in opposite directions. Officer Barrett pursued appellant, who was still carrying the large knife. Officer Barrett yelled at appellant, “Stop. Police. Drop the knife.” Appellant fled in a northeastern direction on Lemon until he reached the edge of a car dealership, where he dropped the knife and continued running. Officer Barrett pursued appellant until he stopped him at gunpoint at the dealership. Appellant was handcuffed and taken into custody. Officer Barrett retrieved the knife appellant threw away, which was admitted at trial.

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