Adams v. State

• Decision Date: 08 December 2005
• Docket Number: No. 13-04-028-CR.,13-04-028-CR.
• Citation: Adams v. State, 180 S.W.3d 386 (Tex. 2005)
• Parties: Megan Mae ADAMS, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee.
• Court: Texas Supreme Court

180 S.W.3d 386

Megan Mae ADAMS, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee.

No. 13-04-028-CR.

Court of Appeals of Texas, Corpus Christi-Edinburg.

December 8, 2005.

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Oscar Rene Flores, Edinburg, for Appellant.

Amy Howell Alaniz, Asst. Dist. Atty., Theodore C. Hake, Asst. Crim. Dist. Atty., Edinburg, for Appellee.

Before Chief Justice VALDEZ and Justices CASTILLO and GARZA.

OPINION

Opinion by Justice CASTILLO.

After the juvenile court waived and then transferred jurisdiction to the district court, appellant Megan Mae Adams, and co-defendants Frank Macias and Christopher Lozano were indicted for murder.¹ The trial court granted the State's motion for joinder of three co-defendants for trial. A jury convicted each of the three of murder and assessed punishment at a term of life imprisonment in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice — Institutional Division for Macias and Adams, and a term of fifteen years for Lozano. By six issues, Adams appeals the judgment.² We affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

A. The Strangulation of Jan Barnum³

On or about March 5, 2003, at approximately 5:00 p.m., Adams and co-defendants Macias and Lozano, juveniles, were detained by juvenile investigator Miguel Hernandez for criminal trespass at a vacant house near Adams' residence. After being released, the three put into motion plans to run away to Louisiana where Adams had relatives. They initially intended to travel by bus, but then decided to use Jan Barnum's car. Barnum was Adams' maternal grandmother.⁴ Their plan was to wait for Barnum to fall asleep before taking the car. When it took too long for Barnum to fall asleep, a plan developed to kill her. As Macias waited in the bathroom, Adams led Barnum through the hall of the apartment they shared. Adams was present while Macias used a ribbon to strangle Barnum. At some point, Lozano entered the apartment and observed Macias strangling Barnum. Neither Adams nor Lozano took any action nor attempted to prevent or stop Macias from strangling Barnum. With Adams driving, the three fled in Barnum's car and drove first to a truck stop, then to the residence of J.R., Macia's girlfriend, and then to a convenience store.

Bernardo Aguilar, an employee of the convenience store, was working the night shift. He reported to police officer John Vargas, who was at the scene,⁵ that three juveniles at the store looked nervous and suspicious. Aguilar indicated the juveniles had come into the store for gas and an atlas. Officer Vargas recognized the juveniles from earlier in the day and suspected they were again runaways. He called dispatch to report three possible runaways and requested that another officer be sent to the location. Officer Javier Gallegos was dispatched to the location and confirmed that all three juveniles had been reported as runaways. Officer Gallegos placed the juveniles in the patrol car to take them to their residences. Macias was released to his stepfather. Lozano was released to his aunt. Adams attempted to stay with Lozano; however, Lozano's aunt refused because Adams had not been staying with Lozano as Adams stated to Officer Gallegos.

Adams asked to be taken to the home of her "uncle," Andrew Narvaez, who informed officer Gallegos that Adams was staying with her grandmother and that he knew where her apartment was located.⁶ Officer Gallegos followed Narvaez to Adams' grandmother's apartment. En route, Adams repeatedly insisted that she needed to speak with Narvaez privately, which Officer Gallegos permitted when they arrived at the apartments where Barnum lived. Adams whispered to Narvaez that an intruder had broken into the apartment and strangled Barnum. Narvaez then told this to Officer Gallegos who then requested an ambulance, a supervisor and backup. He obtained a key to the residence from a security guard on duty because the windows and doors were locked. Once inside the apartment, office Gallegos found Barnum's body facedown in a bedroom. It appeared that she had been strangled. When juvenile investigator Santiago Solis arrived at the scene, he found, among other things, four to five strands of brown hair about two inches long, grasped in Barnum's right hand.⁷

Officer Michael Mata was also dispatched and arrived at Barnum's apartment where he found Adams inside Officer Gallegos' patrol car. Mata read Adams her Miranda⁸ warnings. Adams volunteered that an intruder strangled her grandmother. Officer Mata transported Adams to the police department. Adams was taken before the juvenile magistrate and then returned to the police station where she gave a statement to police. Macias and Lozano also appeared before the magistrate and gave statements regarding the events of that evening, up to and including Barnum's death. The three statements were admitted in evidence.

In his statement, Macias admitted he murdered Barnum but explained that he did so at Adams' request. Macias stated that Adams gave him the ribbon he used to kill Barnum. In her statement, Adams admitted she was present during the attack but stated that the decision to kill Barnum was solely Macias' decision. Lozano admitted in his statement that he walked in during the attack and although he told Macias to stop, he did nothing to attempt to stop Macias. He admitted that, prior to the attack, as the two waited for Adams outside the apartment, Macias told him that Adams wanted Macias to kill Barnum. Lozano did not believe Macias had the courage to kill Barnum and did nothing.

At trial, Macias testified in his defense. He admitted he killed Barnum. He testified that, while Lozano and he waited for Adams outside Barnum's apartment, Adams gave him a ribbon with an attached medal, to use in the assault. Macias removed the medal, threw it on the lawn, entered the apartment, and waited in the bathroom. Adams walked through the hall and Barnum followed her as the two argued. Macias sprung from the bathroom and, using both hands and the ribbon, strangled Barnum until "her hands stopped moving." He testified that, at one point, he momentarily stopped, but Adams threatened to call the police and accuse Macias of attempting to kill Adams if Macias did not finish what he started.

B. Prior Confrontations Between Adams and Barnum

In addition to the evidence concerning the strangulation of Barnum, the record contains evidence of prior confrontations and ill will between Adams and Barnum. The testimony of J.R., Macias' girlfriend and Adams' friend, relates an earlier plan of Adams and J.R. to murder Barnum by putting cockroach poison and Nyquil in Barnum's drinking water. J.R. testified that, on February 28, 2003, she was present when Adams and Barnum argued and Adams said that she "hated [Barnum] and she wanted her to die." J.R. asked "Why not kill her?" and Adams agreed. Macias and Lozano were present in the apartment at the time.⁹ Adams put the poison in Barnum's Sprite but did not give it to Barnum. At 3:00 a.m. the following morning Narvaez drove the four of them to a store where Adams stole Nyquil pills. At the apartment, Adams made holes in the pills with a needle and put the medicine in a glass of water that Adams told Barnum to drink. A.G., another friend of Adams corroborated the testimony of J.R.

The resident who lived in the apartment above Barnum's testified that he heard arguments every day between Adams and Barnum. On the night of the murder, he heard the two arguing again. The apartment complex manager testified she was aware of Barnum's problems with Adams.

II. JURISDICTION

Adams' first two issues challenge the trial court's jurisdiction. She asserts: (1) the State did not comply with summons requirements as mandated by section 53.06 of the family code, see Tex. Fam.Code Ann. § 53.06 (Vernon 2002);¹⁰ and (2) the juvenile court did not provide the statutory admonition in section 54.03(b) of the family code, see Tex. Fam.Code Ann. § 54.03(b) (Vernon 2002),¹¹ thereby invalidating the transfer of jurisdiction to the criminal district court.¹²

A. Issuance and Service of Summons

By her first issue, Adams essentially asserts that because of a defect in the issuance and service of summons on her, a juvenile, the juvenile court never acquired jurisdiction to transfer and, thus, the district court never acquired jurisdiction to try her for the transferred offense. Further, she adds, the criminal district court did not have jurisdiction because the juvenile court did not effect issuance or service of summons of the petition for transfer.¹³

The juvenile proceedings in this case were governed by family code section 54.02, which states, among other things, that (1) the petition and notice requirements of sections 53.04, 53.05, 53.06, and 53.07 of the family code must be satisfied, and (2) the summons must state that the purpose of the hearing is to consider discretionary transfer to criminal court. Tex. Fam.Code Ann. § 54.02(b) (Vernon Supp.2004-05). Failure of the summons to comply with section 54.02(b) deprives the juvenile court of jurisdiction to consider discretionary transfer. See Grayless v. State, 567 S.W.2d 216, 219 (Tex.Crim.App.1978) (citing Johnson v. State, 551 S.W.2d 379 (Tex.Crim.App.1977); In re D.W.M., 562 S.W.2d 851 (Tex.1978)). Absent a valid waiver of jurisdiction by the juvenile court, it does not have jurisdiction over the accused. Tex. Pen.Code Ann. § 8.07 (Vernon Supp.2004-05); See Grayless, 567 S.W.2d at 220. Thus, an order of the juvenile court waiving jurisdiction when it does not have jurisdiction is a nullity and deprives the district court of jurisdiction to try the accused for a criminal offense. Id. at 220; Tex. Pen.Code Ann. § 8.07 (Vernon Supp.2004-05).

Section 53.06 states in clear and unambiguous terms that summons shall be issued to the child, among other persons. Tex. Fam.Code Ann. § 53.06 (Vernon 2002). In the absence...