Willyam, Daniel v. State

Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided March 6, 2013·No. 05-11-01600-CR·Published

Opinion

AFFIRM; and Opinion issued March 6, 2013.

In The

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DANIEL WILLYAM, Appellant V.

THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee

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

Trial Court Cause No. F09-60944-L

OPINION

Before Justices O’Neill, FitzGerald, and Lang-Miers Opinion By Justice O’Neill

A jury convicted appellant Daniel Willyam of murder and sentenced him to life in prison.

On appeal, he argues the evidence is insufficient to support his conviction, and he was denied his constitutional right to confrontation by admission of his medical records. We affirm the trial court’s judgment.

Factual Background

In September of 2011, Samantha Nance, known by her friends and family as Shelley, was a student at the Art Institute of Dallas. She was serious about her school work and had a good head on her shoulders. She was easy to get along with and not the type to have enemies.

Shelley lived with another Art Institute student, Ashley Olvera, in The Falls apartment

complex. Shelley’s boyfriend at the time was Nathan Shuck, who was also an Art Institute student. People described Nathan as shy and a “mama’s boy” He did not drive much and relied on other people to take him places.

In September, he and Shelley had only been dating two months, and their relationship was not considered “superserious.” In fact, Ashley described it as “like one of those little high school crushes you have, at first.” It was an innocent relationship, which had not progressed beyond holding hands.

During this time, Nathan lived with appellant and their friendship was described as a big brother/little brother relationship. Appellant cooked for Nathan, washed his clothes, cleaned the apartment, and often drove him places. However, appellant was openly homosexual, and people in their circle of friends said he was romantically interested in Nathan.

Ashley had been friends with appellant for awhile and described him as dramatic, and while he was always looking out for others, he found ways to turn things around and make them about himself. It was also known within the circle of friends that appellant did not approve of Nathan’s relationship with Shelley. Appellant felt Nathan spent too much time with her, and his grades were suffering. Appellant shared these feelings with Ashley on several occasions. He even encouraged Ashley to talk to Shelley about cutting back on the amount of time she spent with Nathan. Nathan, however, said Shelley encouraged him to study and was not a bad influence on him.

In addition to talking with Ashley about the couple, appellant started texting her about them.

While the texts often started off about something else, they usually “always end[edj up talking about Nathan and Shelley.” He expressed to Ashley on more than one occasion he did not feel Nathan was considerate of all the things he did for him such as laundry, cooking, and cleaning.

Shelley was aware of appellant’s feelings towards her. She told Nathan she did not think appellant liked her. Ashley confirmed that appellant was not considered Shelley’s friend or someone she hung out with.

Appellant became increasingly more upset that Nathan was not hanging out with him, He bothered Ashley about the couples’ interactions, and it even progressed to the point he started asking if Shelley was in the apartment. Ashley said it seemed like he was trying to figure out if Shelley was home or with Nathan, Prior to September 10, 2011, Ashley saw appellant at The Falls apartment complex. She could not remember the exact date, but said it was during the time Nathan and Shelley were dating. Appellant said, “I’m here to see a friend, but don’t tell anybody because I’ve got a restraining order” Police records indicated there was no restraining order against him at the time. He did not provide any other information about why he was at the complex. That was the first time Ashley recalled seeing appellant in their complex, and she thought it was odd he repeatedly told her to keep it to herself.

During a separate incident around the same time, he also borrowed Ashley’s car. The keys he borrowed included a key to Shelley’s and Ashley’s apartment. He claimed he needed the car to pick up Nathan.

On Thursday, September 10, Ashley began receiving text messages from appellant at approximately 10 a.m. Appellant wanted to meet with her to talk, but he did not say exactly what he wanted. He repeatedly asked if she was at school or the apartment. She kept providing excuses of why she could not meet him. She said the amount of texts on this particular day was not normal. She continued receiving texts from appellant asking what she was doing and if she was in her apartment until 1:15 p.m. However, the texts stopped between 10:37 a.m. and 12:03 p.m.

Ashley returned to the apartment after lunch that afternoon. She stayed in the entire evening and did not see Shelley. She went to her usual Friday morning class the next day without seeing Shelley.

On September 10, Shelley’s parents left on a road trip to Yellowstone National Park. They texted their three daughters as they were leaving Texas but did not receive a response from Shelley. When they still had not heard from her on Friday morning, they contacted the Art Institute to see if she was in class. The school talked to Ashley, and she went home to check on Shelley.

When Ashley anived at the apartment, she stuck her key in the lock, turned it, and walked inside. Because she followed her usual routine, she could not say for sure whether the door was unlocked before she used her key. She recalled that the door seemed easier to open than it had in the past.

After she entered their apartment, she went to Shelley’s room. The door was slightly ajar, but she still knocked. When there was no response, she opened the door and immediately knew something was wrong because she saw Shelley’s toes poking out from the end of a blanket and they were “pale, as white as you can think of.” She saw blood on the blankets and assumed the worst. She then called a friend and 9-1-1.

When officers and paramedics arrived, they pronounced Shelley dead from multiple stab wounds. Detective Jason Gindrat with the Dallas Police Department investigated the crime scene.

He did not observe any signs of forced entry or a burglary, but the patio door was unlocked.

1

Because there were no signs of forced entry, he did not dust for any fingerprints on the front door but did lift fingerprints from the patio door. He recovered latent prints from the interior of the patio

The apartment was on the second floor.

door. A comparison to known prints of appellant and Nathan excluded them as possible contributors, Nothing in the record indicates the prints were compared to Shelley and Ashley.

Detective Gindrat noted a red substance on one of the sinks in the girls’ shared bathroom.

He also observed what he thought was a blood smear on the bathtub and a small amount of what appeared to be blood on the cabinet door underneath the sink. He recovered latent fingerprints from the medicine cabinet in the bathroom. After a comparison of the known fingerprints of appellant and Nathan, they were excluded as contributors to the medicine cabinet. He also observed the bath tub in the apartment was wet, Detective Gindrat described the position of Shelley’s body as laying face down, as if she was attacked while sleeping. He did not see any signs of a struggle. He observed and collected a piece

of blue material from her left hand and a piece of a green strap for forensic examination.

2 The

material did not appear to have come from anything inside her apartment. He also collected her blood-covered bedding for DNA testing.

In the kitchen, he observed blood on the outside of the trash can and on the refrigerator door.

He swabbed all these areas for further forensic testing. A large knife and a steak knife were missing from the kitchen.

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