Woodard v. State

322 S.W.3d 648, 2010 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 1238, 2010 WL 3894601
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Texas
DecidedOctober 6, 2010
DocketPD-0130-10
StatusPublished
Cited by44 cases

This text of 322 S.W.3d 648 (Woodard v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Woodard v. State, 322 S.W.3d 648, 2010 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 1238, 2010 WL 3894601 (Tex. 2010).

Opinions

OPINION

HERVEY, J.,

delivered the opinion of the Court

in which KELLER, P.J., PRICE, WOMACK, JOHNSON, KEASLER, HOLCOMB, and COCHRAN, JJ., joined.

In appellant’s trial for the indicted offense of murder, the trial court submitted a jury instruction on an unindicted conspiracy to commit aggravated robbery offense, which does not meet the definition of a lesser-included offense of the charged murder offense under Article 37.09(1), Tex. Code CRIM. Proc., and under this Court’s decision in Hall v. State, 225 S.W.3d 524 (Tex.Cr.App.2007). The jury convicted appellant of this conspiracy to commit aggravated robbery offense. The court of appeals decided that this was jury-charge error that “egregiously harmed” appellant under this Court’s decision in Almanza v. State1 by depriving appellant “of his valuable constitutional right to notice of the criminal charges brought against him.”2 We exercised our discretionary authority to review this decision.3 We will reverse.

Appellant’s murder indictment alleged that appellant murdered the complainant either by intentionally or knowingly causing the complainant’s death or by committing an act clearly dangerous to human life with the intent to seriously injure the complainant. The trial record reflects that the State voir dired the venire on party liability under Section 7.02(b), Tex. Penal Code, which provides that conspirators to a felony are criminally responsible for felonies committed by other conspirators in furtherance of the conspiracy if the other felonies should have been anticipated.4 For example, the State presented the following hypothetical to the venire:

[STATE]: Usually somebody will raise their hand and say, you know, like in a bank robbery. Somebody will use that example if you’re the getaway driver. You know, let’s say that, Juror Number 7, you and I enter into an agreement [650]*650with a couple of other people that we’re going to go rob the First National Bank of Lake Jackson. And the agreement is that you and your brother and your cousin and somebody else, they are going to go into the bank with guns and I’m going to stay outside and I’m going to be in the car. I’m the getaway driver. I’m going to be the lookout and the getaway driver. I’m going to stay there and wait for y’all to rob the bank. Okay?
Now do you think if you go into that bank and we’ve all agreed to commit this felony of Aggravated Robbery in that case, robbing a bank with a deadly weapon, if you were to kill somebody, if you were to kill the clerk or the security guard or somebody like that, do you think that me out in the car should be charged with the murder as well?

The defense also voir dired the venire on party liability under Section 7.02(b). For example, the defense presented the following hypothetical to the venire:

[DEFENSE]: Well, let’s go to 702(b). 702(b), [the State] is talking about, says that, “If in the attempt to carry out a conspiracy to commit one felony another felony is committed by one of the conspirators, all conspirators are guilty of the offense actually committed, though having no intent to commit it, if the offense was committed in furtherance of the unlawful purpose and was one that should have been anticipated as a result of carrying out a conspiracy.”
You have to find a conspiracy. An example of a conspiracy would be three guys who go into McDonald’s after hours. They have got a torch and they are going to burglarize the safe. The place catches on fee and a fireman comes out there to fight the fire and the roof caves in and kills the fireman. That’s a conspiracy. Conspiracy to commit burglary of a building and another felony could have been anticipated, the place catching on fire, the firemen coming out and treating it. That’s an example of a conspiracy.
Anybody have any problems with that example of a conspiracy? By show of hands, you’ve got no problems. You understand what conspiracy is. But you have to have some evidence of a conspiracy. Would you agree? Just because two people are there or two people are together doesn’t mean a conspiracy. If in the attempt to carry out a conspiracy. So you’ve got to find that there is a conspiracy to start with. If you don’t find a conspiracy to commit a felony in the first place, who cares what happens later on? It’s not part of a conspiracy?

Evidence presented at appellant’s trial shows that the complainant in this case (Hien Van Ha) was murdered on the Miss Carolee shrimp boat at the docks in Free-port, Texas. Someone placed a loaded pistol against the complainant’s head and pulled the trigger. The complainant’s wallet was located in a field about two miles away. After initially denying any involvement in the offense, appellant eventually told the police that he and several individuals, including a person named Kevin Pip-kins, went to the docks in a borrowed car to sell the complainant fake cocaine — i.e., “Tylenol crushed to resemble powdered cocaine.”5 According to appellant’s statement to the police, Pipkins and an unidentified person boarded the shrimp boat while appellant remained at the car. Appellant heard a gunshot just before Pip-kins and the unidentified person returned to the car. Pipkins threw the complainant’s wallet out of the car soon after they left the docks.

[651]*651The State’s theory, however, was that there never was any plan to sell the complainant fake cocaine. The State presented evidence that appellant and at least two other individuals, including Pipkins and another person named Sherman Myers, conspired to rob the complainant by using a gun and that either Pipkins or appellant shot the complainant.6 The State presented the testimony of Debra Evans, who testified that she saw appellant at her home with a gun while appellant, Pipkins, and Myers conspired to rob the complainant on the night that he was murdered.

Q. [STATE]: And this person that you refer to as Blue, the Defendant here in the courtroom today, this person was at your house on August 8th of 2006?
A. [EVANS]: Him and Kevin [Pipkins] showed up later that evening.
Q. And what was the purpose of their visit?
A. They had found out about some Chinese man that supposedly had some money and was looking for a woman and they were going to go see him.
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They were going down there [to the docks] to roll him, to rob him, to get some money from him.
Q. And what did the Defendant say specifically that gave you that impression?
A. They pulled a gun out. He pulled a gun out. It was an automatic weapon.
Q. And when you say he pulled a gun out, are you referring to the Defendant?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. And can you sort of show the jury, describe how that occurred?
A. I walk in. Okay. I’m a convicted felon. I’m not supposed to be around firearms. I walked into my living room and he was pulling a gun out. He said, “This is how we can get him.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
322 S.W.3d 648, 2010 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 1238, 2010 WL 3894601, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/woodard-v-state-texcrimapp-2010.