Stobaugh v. State

• Decision Date: 23 January 2014
• Docket Number: No. 02–11–00157–CR.,02–11–00157–CR.
• Citation: 421 S.W.3d 787
• Parties: Charles STOBAUGH, Appellant v. The STATE of Texas, State.
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

421 S.W.3d 787

Charles STOBAUGH, Appellant

v.The STATE of Texas, State.

No. 02–11–00157–CR.

Court of Appeals of Texas, Fort Worth.

Jan. 23, 2014.

Wm. Reagan Wynn, Kearney Wynn, Fort Worth, for Appellant.

Paul Johnson, Criminal District Attorney, Charles E. Orbison, Cary Piel, Susan Piel, Assistant Criminal District Attorneys, Denton, for the State.

Panel: WALKER, McCOY, and GABRIEL, JJ.

OPINION

SUE WALKER, Justice.

I. Introduction

A jury found Appellant Charles Stobaugh guilty of the offense of murder for causing the death of Kathy Stobaugh and assessed his punishment at 25 years' confinement; the trial court sentenced him accordingly. The State contended at trial that the murder occurred on December 29, 2004, the date that Kathy disappeared. Charles perfected this appeal, raising six points. His first point challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to support his conviction; he points out that Kathy has never been located—dead or alive, either during the seven years before his 2011 trial or since—and contends that no physical, forensic, or direct evidence was presented at trial linking him to the alleged offense of murder. That is, there is no body, no murder weapon, no witnesses, and no blood or DNA evidence; there are no fibers or hairs or any type of forensic evidence establishing that a murder occurred or linking Charles to a murder; and there is no confession or directly incriminatory statement by Charles. Charles argues that the circumstantial evidence presented by the State at trial is insufficient to establish beyond a reasonable doubt that he acted with the requisite mens rea to commit the offense of murder. Charles argues that insufficient evidence exists that he committed any act directed toward Kathy on or about December 29, 2004, much less that, “with intent to cause serious bodily injury to an individual, namely Kathy Stobaugh, [he] commit[ted] an act clearly dangerous to human life that caused the death of said Kathy Stobaugh, by manner and means unknown,” as alleged in the indictment, or that he intentionally or knowingly caused Kathy's death by a manner and means unknown as alleged in the indictment. We hold that, viewed in the light most favorable to State, the cumulative force of the circumstantial evidence and any reasonable inferences from that evidence that could be considered incriminating are insufficient to convince any rational factfinder beyond a reasonable doubt that Charles acted with the requisite mens rea necessary to support his conviction for murder. Accordingly, we sustain Charles's first point and render a judgment of acquittal.

II. The Facts Presented at Trial¹

A. The Family

Charles and Kathy married in 1984. Their daughter Charee was born in 1988, and their son Tommy was born in 1991. Before Tommy was born, the family purchased a farm and approximately 105 acres of land just outside Sanger, Texas. The farm was their home until Kathy left Charles in 2004. They planted a family garden every summer. They raised and harvested various crops. In addition to the family's house, there were several barns and outbuildings on the farm and several pieces of large farm equipment.

Kathy grew up in Gatesville and has two brothers, Mark Munday and Chris Munday; Mark is the oldest, then Kathy, then Chris. Charles has two brothers: Tim Stobaugh and Toby Stobaugh. Charles is the oldest, then Tim, then Toby. The Stobaugh brothers grew up on a dairy farm in Cooke County; their mother Helen still lived there at the time of trial.

B. Charles and Kathy's Marriage and Separations

In 1989, after Charee was born, but before Tommy was born, Kathy filed for divorce and left Charles. She did not tell Charles where she was going; she lived with her brother Chris for a few days, stayed with her mother and father in Gatesville for a few days, and then lived in Chilton in a rent house that was owned by her brother Mark. Kathy and Charles reconciled, and later that year Tommy was born.

In 2002, Kathy worked at North Central Texas College (NCTC). She told at least one co-worker, Toni Evans, that she was going to complete her college degree, get a job, and divorce Charles. Toni agreed that Kathy had been planning the divorce for two years prior to leaving Charles in 2004. During the next two years—prior to September 2004—Kathy graduated from college with a degree in education,² rented a house in Sanger, bought all new furniture for the rent house, took half (approximately $39,000) of the money in the couple's bank account, bought appliances for the rent house, filed for divorce, had Charles served, moved into the rent house, and obtained a job as a kindergarten teacher in Nocona.

In connection with Kathy's filing for divorce, Charles was served with notice of a hearing, an original petition, and a temporary restraining order. The hearing never occurred because Kathy told her lawyer that she was going to try to work out the terms of the divorce with Charles. Charles did not file an answer.

After Kathy rented and furnished the house in Sanger, Charee—who could drive—and Tommy traveled freely between the two households; they could “show up anytime.” There was no court-ordered visitation schedule. The rent house was less than a ten-minute drive from the farm.

All through the summer of 2004, Charee never told anyone that her parents were separated or getting a divorce. Charee testified that she did not feel it was her place to say anything about it.

Charee testified that, during a typical day in the summer of 2004, she and Tommy would spend their days at the farm because there was more to do there. Tommy had a dirt bike, there were three-wheelers to ride, and Tommy enjoyed the farming activities. Charee and Tommy usually went to Kathy's rent house for dinner and to spend the evenings because Kathy was a better cook than Charles, because Kathy's house had cable and high-speed Internet service, and because Charee and Tommy had big screen televisions in their bedrooms at Kathy's house. Charles's house at the farm had only an old box television with an antenna attached to it. Charee testified that she and Tommy also enjoyed having pizza delivered at the rent house because the pizza places did not deliver to the farm.

In the fall of 2004, after Tommy's football season was over, the usual daily schedule followed by Charee and Tommy was as follows: they would spend nights with Kathy; Kathy would leave for her work as a kindergarten teacher in Nocona at about 6 a.m.; and Charee would get up later and drive herself and Tommy to school. After school, Charee and Tommy would go to the farm, do their homework, and “mess around outside.” Charee said that she would drive herself to the rent house later, after Kathy got home from work. Charles would bring Tommy over to the rent house later—either before dinner or sometimes on his way to his job as a machine operator on the night shift at Tetra Pak. Charee said that Kathy often took Tommy—who was thirteen and could not drive yet—out to the farm. Charee said that Kathy was out at the farm two to three times per week. Linda Janoe, one of Kathy's closest friends and a former co-worker, testified that Kathy allowed Tommy to go to the farm every day.

Charee testified, and Charles said in his statements, that he never set foot in Kathy's rent house because he believed that the restraining order served on him with the divorce papers prohibited him from being anywhere near Kathy's house.

By September 2004, Kathy had taken no further action concerning the divorce. That month, Kathy's attorney sent her a letter asking about the status of the divorce because she had not heard from Kathy since June. Kathy communicated with her lawyer the week after Christmas 2004 and indicated that she wanted to finalize the divorce that week. Kathy went to her lawyer's office for an appointment on December 28, 2004, and her lawyer explained that Kathy needed to determine how she wanted to divide the assets and that they could then obtain a default judgment because Charles had not filed an answer. They planned to meet at the courthouse on the morning of Thursday, December 30 to obtain the default divorce judgment. Kathy communicated her proposed asset division to her attorney's office on December 29, 2004, via an email sent at 11:17 a.m.

Linda Janoe testified that she had spoken with Kathy on either Monday, December 27 or Tuesday, December 28 and that Kathy had told her Charles had finally agreed to the divorce. Kathy had called Linda and relayed to her the conversation she had with Charles concerning the divorce:he was going to agree to it and wanted to sell everything and split the money. Linda said that this was a change of position by Charles because he had always indicated that he wanted the land and did not want the divorce. Linda said that Kathy was not excited about selling the land and wanted to keep it because Tommy loved the farm. Kathy considered Charles's proposal to just sell everything and split the money, and in a conversation with Linda on Wednesday, December 29, Kathy told Linda that she had decided that she was going to do it a different way—she would keep the land for Tommy and split everything else down the middle.

C. Evidence that Kathy Was and Was Not Afraid of Charles

Mark Munday testified that once in 1989 when Kathy was separated from Charles and living in Mark's rent house in Chilton, she called Mark and asked him to come over because Charles was coming to visit her. Mark said that Kathy wanted him to be there while she talked with Charles because “she was afraid of him.” While Mark was there, Charles and Kathy talked, and Charles left without incident.

Toni Campbell, a kindergarten teacher who taught at the same school as Kathy and had known Kathy approximately three and one-half months prior to Kathy's disappearance, testified that Kathy had expressed to her that she felt very afraid of, very skittish of, and very uncomfortable with Charles. Toni had never met...