Burrell v. State
| Decision Date | 19 May 2021 |
| Docket Number | NO. 09-19-00452-CR,09-19-00452-CR |
| Parties | DIANTE MALIK BURRELL, Appellant v. THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee |
| Court | Texas Court of Appeals |
On Appeal from the 252nd District Court Jefferson County, Texas
Javonte Jack died from a gunshot wound he received on November 7, 2017. A grand jury indicted Appellant Diante Malik Burrell for "intentionally and knowingly caus[ing] the death of an individual, namely: Javonte Jack, [] the Complainant, by shooting Javonte Jack with a firearm[.]" Burrell pleaded "not guilty," and a jury found Burrell guilty of the murder and assessed punishment at ten years of imprisonment.1 Burrell timely filed a notice of appeal. In two issues, Burrell challenges the sufficiency of the evidence supporting the jury's verdict. We affirm.
Shannon Meaux, an officer with the Port Arthur Police Department, testified that on the night of November 7, 2017, police received a call of shots fired at the Avery Trace Apartments. The call reported that a person had possibly been hit, and when he arrived, a young man was lying in the grass near Building 4120. According to Meaux, near the man was a breezeway that separated the apartments in the building. Fire department and EMS personnel also arrived at the scene.
Meaux testified that he worked to secure the scene and protect evidence from contamination, and bystanders pointed out spent shell casings to the police at the scene. Meaux thought the casings were .38 caliber but he later learned they were .223 rifle rounds. Meaux also talked with Latoya,2 a witness at the scene, who directed Meaux to the parking lot where Meaux found "a small, blue plastic baggie, like a Ziplock baggie [and] what appeared to be a wadded up receipt." According to Meaux, the receipt was later determined to be from a Dollar General store in Nederland.
Leesa Bigelow, a civilian crime scene investigator with the Port Arthur Police Department, testified that she was dispatched to the Avery Trace Apartments on November 7, 2017, to collect evidence. Bigelow identified the crime scene as Building 4120 and the parking lot. She identified State's Exhibit 1 through 13 as photographs of the scene that night, and she testified that the photos depict three shell casings. Bigelow also identified State's Exhibit 12 as a receipt from a Dollar General store and Exhibit 14 as a still photograph made from video obtained from the Dollar General, and she identified Diante Burrell as the person in the photograph. Bigelow testified that the receipt was found in a parking lot at the scene, and it was time-stamped 10:42:56 on November 7, 2017 and reads "[h]and towel, gray." Bigelow identified a gray hand towel in the photograph in Exhibit 14. Bigelow identified State's Exhibit 15 as a video of the scene she made about a week before trial, and she testified that the video depicts what she saw while crossing a parking lot and walking through a breezeway between apartments 106 and 108 to another parking lot and a grassy area where Javonte Jack was found.
Tina testified that she was living in apartment 106 at the Avery Trace Apartments on November 7, 2017, and that Javonte Jack—her children's uncle—had come to her apartment that night at about 8:00 p.m. Tina testified that Javontehad a black backpack with him that night and several hundred dollars. According to Tina, at one point, Javonte stepped outside, she could hear two people arguing just outside her apartment door, she heard Javonte say "You ain't got to fire me up[]" twice, and then she heard about fifteen gunshots. Tina testified that her grandmother opened the sliding glass door in the bedroom and found Javonte lying on the ground. Tina saw that Javonte had been shot, he looked scared, but he could not talk. According to Tina, Javonte was fully dressed but his pants were around his ankles and he did not have his backpack. Tina did not know whether Javonte had a gun that night or who shot first.
Tina's cousin Latoya testified that on November 7, 2017, she lived at the Avery Trace Apartments. Latoya testified that she looked out her window that night and saw a white Camaro pull up, and a Caucasian woman was driving. Latoya recalled that she saw the woman get into the back seat of the car and she saw two Black men got out of the car. According to Latoya, one of the men had a low top haircut and wore a black hoodie and black pants, and the other had dreadlocks and wore camouflage. The man with the short hair had a long gun, the other man had a handgun, she saw the men run toward one of the apartment buildings and go into the breezeway by Tina's apartment, and then she heard gunshots. After the gunshots, Latoya saw the two men run across the parking lot back to the white car and thendrive away fast. Latoya recalled that the man with the long gun had something covering the gun that might have been a towel, and she agreed that the towel pictured in State's Exhibit 14 looked like the towel she saw. After the car sped away, Latoya called 911, and when she went to check on Tina, she saw Javonte lying on the ground. When the police arrived, she spoke with them.
Connie testified that she stayed at Diante Burrell's mother's home on the night of November 7, 2017, and she slept on the couch. Connie recalled that seven or eight people stayed at the house that night, including Kirsten, Diante's mother, and three men. When Connie woke up the next morning, she heard Diante run out the front door, she saw that he was carrying a small black gun, and police officers were outside the house. Connie did not recall seeing Walter Jones at the house that night.
Kirsten testified that in the timeframe of November 7-8, 2017, she was dating Diante Burrell. Kirsten recalled that, on November 7, while she and Diante's mother were at a nail salon, she received a call from Walter Jones asking her to pick him up because an altercation had occurred at the Avery Trace Apartments. Kirsten testified that she told Walter she could not come just then, but after returning home, Diante told her they needed to pick up Walter. According to Kirsten, she drove her white Camaro to the apartments, and Diante and Ethan went with her to pick up Walter.Kirsten testified that she pulled into the parking lot, and after talking with Walter and another friend, she got into the back seat, and Diante, Ethan, and Walter "kind of jogged[]" to a different section of the apartment complex and through a breezeway. Kirsten then heard five or six gunshots, and then a couple more gunshots, and she thought it sounded like different guns had been fired. Kirsten testified that Walter, Ethan, and Diante then ran back to her car, and she saw they were carrying pistols, she knew that Diante carried a pistol, but she did not recall seeing guns when they drove to the apartments. According to Kirsten, Diante told her a shooting had happened and after she received calls from people saying her car had been involved in a shooting, she moved her car to her own home in Groves but returned to the Burrell home. Kirsten recalled that at some point, someone picked up Walter, and the next morning, police were at the house. Kirsten gave a statement to police at the police station. She also testified that Walter is just over six feet tall and has long dreads.
Javonte's mother testified that she dropped Javonte off at the Avery Trace Apartments on the night of November 7, 2017. She testified that it was common for Javonte to carry a backpack, Javonte was saving money to buy his son a car, and she had given Javonte $100 that day.
Detective Terry Cater, with the Port Arthur Police Department, became involved in this case after a briefing on November 8, 2017, and to assist with a cell phone dump of Javonte Jack's phone. At the briefing, he learned that two Black males and a White female had been located at a specific residence, and upon arriving at the residence, he saw a white vehicle, but not the Camaro officers were looking for. Cater observed Diante Burrell running out of the front door of the house carrying a black semiautomatic handgun. Cater ordered Diante to drop the gun and stop, but Diante did not, and Cater followed Diante through an alley and ultimately observed Diante throw the gun over the seawall into the ship channel. Cater testified that two other officers arrested Diante, and a dive team ultimately retrieved the gun.
Sergeant John Fontenette with the Port Arthur Police Department testified that on November 8, 2017, he was called to transport Diante Burrell. Fontenette identified State's Exhibit 17 as a recording made from his body camera that depicted him getting ready to transport Diante to the county jail when Diante was in custody, and the exhibit was published to the jury. Fontenette testified that, in the video, he could see news reporters standing outside the door waiting for Fontenette to walk outside with Diante. On cross-examination, Fontenette agreed that in the video, he could hear Diante say Also in the video, Diantecan be heard to say and "They're hating on me. [] I got something they don't have."
Detective LaKeisha Thomas, with the Port Arthur Police Department, testified that she became involved in this case after a briefing on the morning of November 8, 2017. After the briefing, she drove to an address on 4th Street where she observed a white vehicle and two people who matched descriptions given during the briefing—a Black male with dreadlocks and a White female. Thomas recalled that she called for backup, and after someone inside the home fled the residence, Major...
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