Willie Hurst v. State of Texas

406 S.W.3d 617, 2013 WL 1342080, 2013 Tex. App. LEXIS 4282
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedApril 4, 2013
Docket11-12-00010-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 406 S.W.3d 617 (Willie Hurst v. State of Texas) 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
Willie Hurst v. State of Texas, 406 S.W.3d 617, 2013 WL 1342080, 2013 Tex. App. LEXIS 4282 (Tex. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

OPINION

MIKE WILLSON, Justice.

Willie Hurst, Appellant, appeals his capital murder conviction, for which he received a life sentence. In two issues, he complains that the trial court abused its discretion when it admitted an investigator’s lay opinion of Appellant’s involvement in the murder and when it admitted evidence of weapons and ammunition that police discovered during valid searches of Appellant’s residences. We affirm.

I. Background and Trial Evidence

At the time of the murder, Appellant was squatting in an apartment after being evicted, and he was driving a Chevrolet Cavalier that he had recently stolen. Appellant lived with his girlfriend — Heather Mitchell — and another couple — Derek Elms and Kathleen Newberry. The group, along with Michael Organ — an occasional roommate — and Albert Levario — a neighbor, hatched a plan to rob Robert Thornhill. Mitchell had dated Thornhill for about a month, and it was common knowledge that Thornhill was still in love with her. Mitchell took advantage of Thornhill’s feelings and used him for things like money, gas, rides, and cigarettes. The plan was for Mitchell to call Thornhill and offer him sex in order to lure him to a specified location. Then, when Thornhill arrived, the rest of the group was to appear, take anything of value, and beat him up. Appellant knew of a “chop shop” in San Angelo where the group could sell Thornhill’s pickup.

Mitchell contacted Thornhill one night and asked him for gas money; she asked him to meet her in a church parking lot. While Mitchell waited in the stolen Cavalier, Appellant, Elms, Newberry, Organ, and Levario hid behind a nearby building. Elms was armed with a crossbow, and Appellant had a bowie knife. They waited for Thornhill for almost an hour, but he never showed. Appellant and Elms were furious. Now, the plan escalated — they decided to rob Thornhill and then kill him.

After Mitchell dropped off Newberry, Organ, and Levario, they tried again. This time, Mitchell went to Thornhill’s house. The plan was for her to get Thorn-hill outside so that Appellant and Elms could rob him. Once again, however, Mitchell was unsuccessful.

But the group was not deterred. After cashing their paychecks, Appellant, Mitchell, Elms, and Newberry went out for dinner together. During dinner, Thornhill *620 began texting Mitchell. Mitchell read each of his text messages to the group; Appellant and Elms told her how to respond to Thornhill’s text messages throughout dinner. Appellant told Mitchell to say that she would sleep with Thorn-hill. When the group learned that Thorn-hill rented a room at the Great Value Inn, they finished dinner and set their next plan in motion. Appellant drove the group in the stolen Cavalier to find the perfect spot for their murder. After rejecting two locations because there were people nearby, Appellant and Elms settled on a secluded alley. Mitchell left them in the alley and drove the stolen Cavalier to the motel. This time, Elms had the bowie knife, and Appellant had the crossbow.

According to plan, Mitchell asked Thornhill to ride with her to sell marihuana to Elms. Mitchell drove; Thornhill was in the passenger seat. When they reached the alley, Elms tapped on the window, got into the backseat, and bought marihuana. Elms then reached into the front passenger seat, pulled back Thornhill’s head, and sliced his throat down to the bone. Mitchell jumped out of the car, and Appellant leaned in and shot Thornhill with a crossbow. Mitchell said that she could hear Thornhill gasping for air as Appellant and Elms dragged him from the ear. Mitchell said it sounded like Thornhill was drowning in water. Because Thornhill was still alive, they found a television nearby and slammed it on his head. Appellant and Elms took Thornhill’s cell phone, pickup keys, and the key to his motel room. Then, using Thornhill’s cell phone, Appellant took pictures of Thornhill’s bruised and bloody body. They hid Thornhill’s body under a nearby carport.

When Appellant and Elms joined the women in the stolen Cavalier, Appellant excitedly told them, “[Tjhis is addicting.” Appellant drove the group to the Great Value Inn. Mitchell knew that Thornhill kept cash in the console of his pickup, and she told Elms; they split the cash. Appellant, Mitchell, and Elms searched Thorn-hill’s motel room for “anything that they wanted.” The couples returned to the apartment they shared; Elms and New-berry drove Thornhill’s pickup, and Appellant and Mitchell drove the stolen Cavalier.

While they cleaned out the trunk of the stolen Cavalier and placed a blanket in the trunk, Appellant and Elms bragged to the women, Organ, and Levario about killing Thornhill. Appellant was “excited” and “bouncing” after the murder. Appellant and Elms drove the stolen Cavalier back to the alley where they had left Thornhill’s body. Appellant and Elms retrieved Thornhill’s body, burned it, and left it in a field. Thornhill’s body was not found and identified until a month later.

Meanwhile, Appellant continued to brag about killing Thornhill. Appellant made phone calls and sent text messages from Thornhill’s phone. Appellant showed the postmortem pictures he had taken with Thornhill’s cell phone to several people and then claimed that Thornhill had a small penis. Appellant wanted to use Thornhill’s house keys to break into and rob the home where Thornhill had lived with his parents. In spite of the bragging, Appellant and Elms were worried about getting caught. Appellant called an ex-girlfriend a few hours after the murder, told her that he had “f-d up,” and asked if they could talk, although Appellant never showed up. Appellant hid the bowie knife used to murder Thornhill at his grandmother’s house, and everyone agreed to say that Elms had bought Thornhill’s pickup for $1,000. Appellant also threatened to “beat the shit out of’ Mitchell if she said anything. On another occasion, at a party where everyone knew *621 about the murder, Appellant announced that “under no circumstances was he going to go back to jail.” Before the police interviewed Mitchell, Appellant and Elms threatened to kill her and her family. No one ever came forward.

After many unanswered calls, voice mails, and text messages left for Thornhill, his family reported him missing and began posting flyers throughout Odessa. When Appellant saw one of the posters on the window of a local restaurant, Appellant tore it down, crumpled it up, and laughed. When Appellant passed a car that was plastered with the missing posters, he leaned out the window and exclaimed that “he did it.” After the murder, the two couples moved out of the apartment and lived with Organ and his mother. Before long, Organ and both couples moved again. This time, they lived with Organ’s friend, Douglas Reeves. Elms told Reeves about the murder, and Appellant admitted to killing Thornhill when Reeves asked.

One night, Elms and Organ were stopped for speeding; they were in Thorn-hill’s pickup. Elms and Organ gave the agreed story and told police that Elms had bought the pickup from a friend who was moving out of town. The officers arrested them and impounded the pickup. Investigators interviewed over twenty people and settled on four suspects. They executed a search warrant at Organ’s mother’s home and found the stolen Cavalier in the backyard. Investigators found blood in the car and sent samples to the lab for testing.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
406 S.W.3d 617, 2013 WL 1342080, 2013 Tex. App. LEXIS 4282, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/willie-hurst-v-state-of-texas-texapp-2013.