Campos v. State
| Decision Date | 26 August 2015 |
| Docket Number | No. 07–13–00264–CR,07–13–00264–CR |
| Citation | 473 S.W.3d 907 |
| Parties | Mario Ballesteros Campos, Appellant v. The State of Texas, Appellee |
| Court | Texas Court of Appeals |
Darrell R. Carey, Law Offices of Darrell R. Carey, Canyon, for Appellant.
Warren L. Clark, Asst. Criminal District Attorney, Canyon, for The State of Texas.
Before QUINN, C.J., and CAMPBELL and HANCOCK, JJ.
Appellant Mario Ballesteros Campos appeals from his conviction by a jury of the capital murder1 of Fred Charles Moseley and the resulting life sentence. He presents two issues. We will affirm the judgment of the trial court.
Fred Charles Moseley, seventeen, lived with his parents in Canyon, Texas. He disappeared on July 25, 1998. His parents were out of town at the time. Two days later, Moseley's Dodge Neon was found on a country road outside Canyon. Canyon police began a missing persons investigation a few days later after Moseley's parents returned home and reported their son was missing.
Moseley was not located.2 His father died in 2004 and his mother in 2008.
Campos was indicted in 2012, by an instrument alleging that on or about July 25, 1998, in Randall County, he "did then and there, in the course of committing and attempting to commit the robbery of Fred Charles Moseley, intentionally commit murder by intentionally causing the death of an individual, to-wit: Fred Charles Moseley, by strangling him with a deadly weapon, to-wit: a cord, that in the manner of its use and intended use was capable of causing death and serious bodily injury to Fred Charles Moseley." The case was tried in July 2013.
The State's case against Campos began with the testimony of Moseley's brother who testified no one saw or heard from Moseley after his disappearance, and government records showed no earnings reported for his Social Security number.3 He testified also that he obtained a death certificate for Moseley in 2013 for the purpose of allowing distribution of their mother's life insurance proceeds.
Evidence showed also that police had re-opened the investigation into Moseley's disappearance in 2008 after Aaron Savage of the Canyon police department and other officers took an interest in the cold case. They began re-interviewing Moseley's friends and acquaintances. Two of Moseley's acquaintances were Campos and Gerald Dooley, and the 1998 investigation had shown that Dooley was among the last to see Moseley.
In 1998, Campos lived in Canyon about five blocks from the Moseley residence. Dooley lived with his mother Kathy Turner in a trailer at the Willow Creek Trailer Park west of Canyon. Dooley and Campos grew up in Canyon and had been friends since childhood. In 1998, both were about 24.
During his investigation, Savage spoke with Campos in an attempt to locate Dooley, but Campos told him he had not talked with Dooley in "quite some time."
Canyon police located Dooley, who was living in Colorado. Detective Savage and a Canyon police sergeant traveled to Colorado to interview Dooley in September 2011, and made a second trip in October. Dooley eventually told them that he and Campos had killed Moseley and disposed of his body.
In his trial testimony, Dooley told the jury that on July 25, 1998, he spent the afternoon with Fred Moseley and Les Sparks. The three smoked marijuana and rode around in Moseley's vehicle.
Dooley testified Moseley dropped him off at Campos's house. There, he and Campos smoked more marijuana. They discussed a shotgun Moseley owned. Dooley testified they decided to take the shotgun and, at Dooley's suggestion, decided to kill Moseley to do so. Dooley said he and Campos took an electrical cord from a portable radio and went to Moseley's home, where the three smoked marijuana in the backyard. As they walked toward the home's back door, Campos strangled Moseley with the cord. Dooley testified once Moseley was on the ground, he put his knee over Moseley's mouth to muffle any sound. When Moseley stopped struggling, Dooley and Campos placed his body in the trunk of Moseley's car. The two then went through the Moseley house, took the shotgun and other items, took Moseley's car and drove to Campos's house. There Campos got some clothes and they then went to Dooley's trailer, where he also got clothing.
Dooley testified when they left his trailer, they drove to Rockwell Road,4 found a dumpster and threw away the clothes they had been wearing. The two then drove to Amarillo and put Moseley's body in a dumpster in northwest Amarillo.5 Dooley told the jury he and Campos then drove in the night to Graham, Texas, where Dooley's grandfather and other relatives then lived but stayed only one day. After cleaning the car in Graham, the two returned to Canyon that night. Dooley said they went to his trailer and he hid the shotgun under his bed. While they were at the Willow Creek trailer, Dooley said, Campos threw some items into the dumpster. The two then drove the Neon to a dirt road south of Canyon and left it there. They walked back to Dooley's residence, retrieved the shotgun and buried it at a location along the railroad tracks outside Canyon.
Dooley's mother Kathy Turner testified Campos and her son were close friends. She told the jury she learned of the day-trip the two made to Graham in July 1998, and that she did not see Campos after that time until 2011, when he came to her home looking for Dooley.
Les Sparks testified he knew Moseley because they worked together at a Dairy Queen in 1998. He testified to the events of the afternoon in July 1998 when he, Moseley and Dooley spent the day drinking, smoking marijuana and riding in Moseley's Neon. Sparks said Moseley took him home in the evening, and drove away with Dooley.
Sparks told the jury that he grew bored later that night and talked with Moseley by phone, "close to midnight." Sparks "wanted to hang out" with him but Moseley "was just going to stay home and go to bed." He said that was the last time he talked with Moseley. Sparks also testified he was familiar with Moseley's shotgun, which had a pistol grip. Moseley had mentioned to him that he was interested in selling the shotgun.
Another witness, Kory Keith, said that Moseley was "probably my best friend." He said he made several attempts to contact Moseley after July 25, 1998 and could not reach him.
Toni Barler Mercer, who was Moseley's girlfriend in 1998, testified she last saw him on July 25. She said they were "supposed" to go to her cousin's house that evening but Moseley decided to go with Dooley instead. She said Moseley's Dodge Neon was "his prized possession" and he would not have abandoned it. She further testified to his close relationship with his mother and expressed the opinion he would not have abandoned her.
Mercer also testified that at the time Dooley weighed "maybe 115, 120 pounds," and that Moseley weighed "30 to 40 pounds probably" more than Dooley, and was "a couple of inches taller." She testified Campos at the time was "probably 6' 2?, 215, 220 pounds." She also said Campos was Dooley's best friend.
Barbara Anne Teltow testified that in July 1998 she and her husband managed the trailer park where Dooley and his mother lived. Their home was across the street from Teltow's trailer. Teltow said she recalled the time of Moseley's disappearance and agreed it was around that same time in July 1998 that she heard a loud noise in the early morning hours near a dumpster at the trailer park. She recalled stepping outside because of the "super loud" noise that came from the dumpster. When she looked out,
Later that morning, Teltow looked in the dumpster and found a spare tire, a car jack, a cassette box, a cigarette ashtray and some school supplies. Teltow said the dumpster was emptied the day before. She removed the car jack and handle from the dumpster. Teltow was not able to identify any occupant of the "fairly new looking small dark car" she saw parked next to Dooley's trailer and did not actually see anyone in the car put items in the dumpster. When shown a photograph of Moseley's Dodge Neon, she agreed the car she saw was "similar."
That evening, Teltow said, she and her husband went to a local restaurant for dinner. While there, they discussed the items she found in the dumpster. Teltow told an employee of the restaurant, Jeff Schiller, what she had found. Schiller was a friend of Moseley's, and they discussed Moseley's disappearance. Schiller suggested the items from the dumpster might be connected and that police should know about them. Teltow testified she gave Schiller the car jack and handle and he later gave them to Canyon police.
Sparks testified he went with Schiller to the trailer park "a couple of days" after July 25, and they took the jack and "tire iron" to police. By that time, Sparks testified, he knew that Moseley's car had been found, and that property was reported missing from the car. On cross-examination, Sparks told the jury that the items he saw had come from Moseley's car.6
Testimony showed that after Dooley's confession in October 2011, officers dug for the shotgun where Dooley told them it was buried. In November, they uncovered a pistol-grip shotgun buried there. At trial, Sparks was shown a photograph of the shotgun and identified it as Moseley's. Kory Keith also agreed the shotgun in the photograph "does look like [Moseley's] shotgun."
The State also presented the testimony of Amber Bates, Dooley's former girlfriend. Bates testified they were together from 2000 to 2007 and had a daughter together. After she and Dooley broke up, she and her child continued to live with his mother Turner. Bates also knew of Campos. He was a friend of her cousins and she knew he was a friend of Dooley's. During the years she was with Dooley, however, Campos and Dooley did not associate.
Bates testified to an event that occurred...
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