Cabrera v. Commonwealth
| Docket Number | 1694-22-4 |
| Decision Date | 22 August 2023 |
| Parties | VINCENT ANTHONY CABRERA WESLEY v. COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA |
| Court | Virginia Court of Appeals |
FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF FAIRFAX COUNTY Robert J. Smith, Judge
Zachary J. Stafford (Lawrence Smith & Gardner, on brief) for appellant.
Jason A. Faw, Assistant Attorney General (Jason S. Miyares Attorney General, on brief), for appellee.
Present: Judges Humphreys, Malveaux and Fulton Argued at Fredericksburg, Virginia
Following a bench trial, the trial court convicted Vincent Anthony Cabrera Wesley of strangulation and aggravated malicious wounding and imposed an active sentence of five years for each conviction, to be served concurrently. Wesley argues that the evidence was insufficient to establish aggravated malicious wounding because the Commonwealth did not prove that the victim's injury was "permanent and significant" as required by Code § 18.2-51.2. Wesley also contends that because he "established by a preponderance of the evidence that he was insane at the time of the offense," the trial court erred in denying his motions to strike the two charges. We find no trial court error and affirm the judgment.
"In accordance with familiar principles of appellate review, the facts will be stated in the light most favorable to the Commonwealth, the prevailing party [below]." Poole v. Commonwealth, 73 Va.App. 357, 360 (2021) (quoting Gerald v. Commonwealth, 295 Va. 469, 472 (2018)). In doing so, we discard any of Wesley's conflicting evidence, and regard as true all credible evidence favorable to the Commonwealth and all inferences that may reasonably be drawn from that evidence. Gerald, 295 Va. at 473.
A grand jury indicted Wesley for aggravated malicious wounding strangulation, and abduction. Wesley filed written notice under Code § 19.2-168 that he intended to challenge his sanity at the time of the charged crimes and to present expert testimony to support his claim of insanity. Wesley also provided notice under Code § 19.2-271.6 that he intended to present evidence concerning "his mental condition at the time of the alleged offense, including expert testimony" tending to show that he "did not have the intent required for the offense charged and is otherwise admissible pursuant to the general rules of evidence."
The evidence proved that on May 13, 2020, Meredith Carrington was visiting a friend who lived in Fairfax County. Although she resided in Ohio, Carrington was familiar with the area because she had lived there until 2016. That morning, Carrington left the house by herself for a walk. That same morning, Wesley texted the supervisor at his job as a maintenance worker with Fairfax County Park Authority and obtained approval to take the day off.
On her walk, Carrington proceeded down a bike path through a wooded area near a group of townhomes. As she was turning right at the end of the path, Carrington saw Wesley behind her walking toward her down a hill. Wesley wore a mask over his face and appeared to be looking down at his phone. Carrington continued walking for about ten more minutes, then turned onto a fitness trail that made a loop.
After Carrington exited the fitness loop to return to the main trail, Wesley appeared at the entrance of the loop. She noticed him take a "quick left" toward her. Wesley reached down with his right hand. As she crossed paths with Wesley, he struck her on the head with a hard object. Carrington screamed for help, but Wesley continuously struck her in the head and face. She tried to fight him off, to no avail. Carrington resisted when he tried to take her to the ground, and she used her hands behind her so that he could not "push [her] all the way down." Wesley put both of his hands around Carrington's neck and yelled, "Shut up, shut up." While Wesley squeezed her neck, Carrington tried to scream for help but "no words were coming out." At that point, she could "feel [her] vision tunneling." Carrington kicked Wesley as hard as she could, and he took a few steps backward. She begged him to stop the beating; she believed that she was pleading for her life. Wesley then appeared a "little shaken" and said that he was sorry.
John Shorter lived in a townhouse near the woods where Wesley attacked Carrington. On the morning of May 13, 2020, he ran from his home into the woods after he and his wife heard a woman screaming for help. Shorter also heard a male voice yelling.
Following the sound of the screams, Shorter spotted Wesley standing over Carrington and attacking her. Wesley appeared to have an object in his hand. Shorter yelled at Wesley to stop and to "leave her alone." Wesley raised his head, looked in Shorter's direction, and then fled into the woods.
Shorter helped Carrington get up and walk out of the woods to Shorter's home, and his wife called the police. Carrington was "covered in blood." When the police arrived, they noticed a large gash on Carrington's head. An ambulance transported Carrington to the hospital.
At around noon that day, after receiving information about the attack on Carrington and while searching the area for the perpetrator, Lieutenant Michael Johnson saw Wesley from the end of a wooded walking trail. Wesley was about 20 to 30 yards from Lieutenant Johnson; Wesley carried a cell phone and was breathing heavily. When the officer asked what he was doing, Wesley said he was out jogging. Lieutenant Johnson noticed what appeared to be blood on Wesley's pants. The officer handcuffed Wesley and detained him. Wesley appeared nervous, but he asked no questions about the detention.
As soon as Lieutenant Johnson placed Wesley beside the police cruiser, Wesley started yelling that he had "screwed up" or "messed up" or "fucked up." Wesley said he needed to defecate, but the officer replied that Wesley needed to wait. Wesley started yelling, defecated in his pants, and thrashed about. He also told the officer to "[j]ust shoot" or "just hurt" him. Eventually, the police restrained Wesley on the ground and had to prevent him from banging his head on the road. Wesley was removed from the scene by ambulance.
At the hospital, Wesley banged his head against the hospital bed. When an officer tried to photograph him, Wesley "stuck his finger in his butt" and "flicked poo" at the officer across the room. When another officer arrived to obtain blood and buccal samples from Wesley, he commented, "I did a bad thing."
A police canine tracked a scent from the location where Wesley attacked Carrington through the woods to the place where Lieutenant Johnson detained him. The distance from the starting point to the end of the track was about one-half of a mile. It took the tracker about 15 minutes to cover the distance. The police found a red-stained stick near the area of the attack. The police also found in the woods a green sweatshirt and white work gloves; the items were stained with blood. Both Carrington's and Wesley's DNA were found on the shirt.
During the attack, Wesley hit Carrington at least five times in the head, and she suffered more blows to the face and "[v]arious other places too." She sustained a concussion. She had a laceration on the top of her head, injuries to her mouth, and her head was swollen to about twice its normal size. The injuries on her neck were consistent with strangulation. Carrington's medical treatment for her head wounds included twenty-eight staples in her head and stitches in her mouth and forehead. Carrington suffered black eyes and a "significantly bruised" nose. She also had scrapes and bruises on her legs and elbows. Carrington suffered nerve damage in her right hand that took six to eight months to resolve. At trial, Carrington exhibited the scar she sustained to her forehead and indicated her other scars in her hairline that remained sensitive to the touch.
The Commonwealth introduced recordings of calls Wesley made from jail on May 13, 14, and 20, 2020. In one call, Wesley stated that he had "snapped" and that he "lost it." He said he thought the victim "was a guy," but he was wrong about that. He expressed reluctance to discuss the incident in detail because he knew the phone calls were recorded and asked his girlfriend to retrieve his car. In a call on May 14, Wesley lamented that he had been "stupid" because he "ran back in" the perimeter the police were searching and could have avoided detection by laying down and hiding in place. Later, Wesley provided his girlfriend more specific information about the location where he had left his car, near a clubhouse and some tennis courts.
Testifying on Wesley's behalf, his mother Roselynn Wesley (Roselynn) described his childhood medical history and learning disabilities. Wesley had family members who suffered with bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and autism. Roselynn said that a therapist diagnosed Wesley with depression, but claimed that he had never demonstrated aggressive tendencies.
During an episode in 2019 when Wesley threatened to hang himself with a belt, Roselynn tried to restrain him, and he responded by biting her. Wesley's then girlfriend urged Roselynn to call 911, and Wesley told her to go ahead because he was going to "die by cop." Following the incident, Wesley was voluntarily committed for ten days. Wesley was prescribed medication after his release, but he stopped taking it because it interfered with his ability to help care for his infant daughter.
On a subsequent occasion, as Roselynn was taking Wesley's girlfriend and her baby to her parents' home after an argument, Wesley ran in front of Roselynn's car and she hit him. On May 7, 2020, just days before the attack Roselynn said that she found Wesley "banging" his head against the steering wheel of his car...
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