Carrasco-Flores v. State

• Decision Date: 14 May 2015
• Docket Number: No. 08-13-00231-CR,08-13-00231-CR
• Citation: Carrasco-Flores v. State, No. 08-13-00231-CR (Tex. App. May 14, 2015)
• Parties: MANUEL CARRASCO-FLORES AKA NELSON FLORES-CARRASCO, Appellant, v. THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee.
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

MANUEL CARRASCO-FLORES AKA NELSON FLORES-CARRASCO,Appellant, v. THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee.

No. 08-13-00231-CR

COURT OF APPEALS EIGHTH DISTRICT OF TEXAS EL PASO, TEXAS

May 14, 2015

Appeal from 362nd District Court of Denton County, Texas

(TC # F-2012-2660-D)

OPINION

In this capital murder appeal, Appellant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence for the predicate criminal acts which elevate the crime from murder to capital murder. He also contends the trial court erred in failing to charge the jury with a self-defense instruction. For the reasons that follow, we affirm.¹

FACTUAL SUMMARY

Appellant was charged with capital murder for the death of Norma Gomez. The indictment charges that the murder occurred while Appellant was committing burglary of a habitation, or retaliation against the victim, either of which elevates murder to capital murder.TEX.PEN.CODE ANN. § 19.03(a)(2)(West Supp. 2014). The jury returned a guilty verdict on the capital murder charge and the trial court assessed the statutorily required life without parole sentence. TEX.PEN.CODE ANN. § 12.31(a)(2)(West Supp. 2014). In the same trial, which is the subject of a related appeal, Appellant was charged and convicted of causing serious bodily injury to Osman Matute-Gomez, Norma's son, by stabbing him with a knife.²

Appellant is described throughout the record as either Norma's boyfriend or common law husband. He had been seeing her for about three years. Three to four months before the murder, Appellant and Norma moved in together at the Basswood Manor Apartments. Appellant contends the apartment was put under Norma's name because he could not read or write, but he paid the rent. Appellant claimed he signed a lease, but the apartment's record show only Norma's signature on the lease and related disclosure documents. Appellant was listed as an "occupant."

Norma's seventeen-year-old son, Osman, was also sharing the apartment. He never liked Appellant and tried to get him to leave. There was undisputed testimony that about a week prior to the murder, Osman told Appellant's brother that if he did not come for Appellant, Osman would kill Appellant. Appellant recalled another instance where Osman told him to stay out of his life or else he was going to "knife" him. Norma told Appellant about three days prior to the murder that Osman had once put a knife to Appellant's neck as he was sleeping, but Norma coaxed him out of following through.

The jury heard two differing accounts of the events on the morning of the murder. The version most favorable to the verdict suggests that Norma awoke and sent Osman off to school. She was in the kitchen making breakfast. Appellant walked in and asked what she was making him for lunch and she told him to make his own lunch. That started an argument leading toAppellant grabbing a kitchen knife and threatening her. She reached for her cell phone, but he grabbed it and told her she was not calling anybody. He then showed her some sort of image of a gun on the cell phone and threatened to kill her. He took the knife and stuck it into an air mattress that was on the floor of the living room. A downstairs neighbor heard the argument and what sounded like Appellant using the word "regret."

Norma then ran out of the apartment and across the street to where she knew police officers were routinely stationed for traffic enforcement. An officer called a regular patrol unit which took Norma's report of events. The responding officers found Norma crying, scared, and she appeared shaken. They noted she had bruises on her arm. The officers went into the apartment and found it empty. They found a knife on the kitchen counter, but did not see the air mattress.

By this time, Norma's boss and friend, Idalia Mata, arrived. While Norma and Mata were talking to the officers, Mata received a call on her cell phone from Norma's cell phone, which Appellant had apparently taken with him. An officer told Mata to put the call on speaker phone. She answered, and the caller identified himself as Appellant. He asked to speak to Norma. Norma told Appellant she did not want him back in the apartment. Appellant responded that Norma would have to leave. The two continued to argue, and when the officer took the phone and identified himself as a police officer, Appellant disconnected the call.

The officer called the number back several times and Appellant finally answered. The officer asked Appellant to return to the apartment so he could obtain his side of the story. Appellant declined saying he was working and was on his way out of town. Appellant would not say where he was, and the officer finally told him "not to come back to the apartment." The officer suggested that Norma leave the apartment and stay with friends or family. When sherefused, an officer went to the leasing office to check the lease and investigate changing the locks.

Appellant's version of these events was far different. He agreed they had a fight, but it stemmed from Norma's jealously over a young woman at the apartment complex who would try and talk to Appellant. He claimed that as he left for work, Norma said she was not going to allow him to be with another woman and would rather call the police and have him deported to Honduras. He acknowledged taking her phone. His brother, Jose Flores³, picked him up about 7:20 am to drive him to work. When he heard his brother honk the horn from the parking lot, he left the apartment and knew nothing about Norma walking across the street to flag down an officer. Jose recalled seeing Norma and Appellant leave the apartment at the same time. He described her as crying and his brother was "sad." When Appellant entered Jose's car, Jose saw Norma walk across the street to talk to a policeman. Both brothers then exited Jose's vehicle and climbed into a co-worker's vehicle. They all then left for their jobsite. Appellant agreed that he later spoke with a person on the phone who identified himself as a police officer.

After the police left, Norma and Mata went to the leasing office to arrange for changing the locks. Norma asked that Appellant be removed from the lease and that her son be added. Norma paid the fee to accomplish the paperwork change and the locks were changed that morning She dropped the new key at her son's school and then went to work. She finished work at 5 p.m. and Mata dropped her off at the apartment.

During the course of the day, Appellant called Mata's phone and left several voice mail messages. In one, he asked her to tell Norma to give him back all of his things, or if she wanted to keep his belongings, she could pay him a $1,000. In another, he suggested their argument was over his drinking beer on Saturday and he asked Mata to tell Norma he loved her. He also saidthat "everyone is angry" that Norma called the police and "she should not have done that." In yet another, Appellant sounded as if he were crying and apologizing for the fight that morning.

Appellant also recalled talking with Norma about four times that day, but these conversations were more like arguments. In one, she told him to pick up his things. But according to Jose, Appellant related to his co-workers that Norma had agreed to give him another chance.

There are also several versions of the details of the murder. We begin with the evidence supporting of the jury's verdict. Part of the State's version comes from Osman's testimony. Osman arrived home from school about 4 p.m. and Norma got home from work about 6 p.m. Osman secured both the lock on door knob and the inside deadbolt. Later, he heard someone trying to use a key to get in and saw Appellant through the peephole. Appellant started knocking hard at the door and when that did not get a response, he kicked in the door. A crime scene photograph shows the door frame broken with the door locks still engaged.

Appellant was upset that they had not opened the door. He asked Norma why she had gone to the police. Norma told him to get his belongs. He asked for his television which Osman went to get. As Osman left, he heard a "thud" behind him and turned to see Appellant striking Norma and then throwing her to the floor. Appellant got a knife from the kitchen and stabbed Osman in the chest. He then stabbed Norma. Osman went to the bedroom to find something he could use as a weapon. He returned with a ceramic ornament and broke it on Appellant's head while Appellant was on top of Norma. He pulled Appellant off his mother. She fled the apartment first with Osman running after her. Norma collapsed near the bottom of the stairs and Osman was just barely out the door when he collapsed. Osman saw Appellant go down the stairs and then stab his mother several more times.

The State also relied on an independent eye-witness, Carlos Dominguez, who lived downstairs. He heard shouting and went outside to check on his own daughter. He then saw Norma stumble down the stairs. Appellant followed shortly thereafter with a knife in his hand and stabbed Norma several more times. Osman then came out of the apartment and fell, holding an apparent wound. Dominguez could not see any injuries on Appellant at that time. Appellant headed toward his brother who was waiting in a vehicle in the parking lot. Appellant and Jose then began fighting over the knife. Jose got the knife and threw it away, and the pair left in Jose's car. The knife was found sticking into the ground across from the parking lot.

Another part of the State's case came in through Jose, who recanted some of his statements to the police the night of the stabbing. Jose had dropped his brother off from work and was in the parking lot. Two minutes later, Appellant called him in tears, asking if he was still there. Three to four minutes later, Appellant emerged from the apartment. Jose had told a police officer that he saw his brother stabbing himself. He also reported that he tried to get the knife away from his brother. Appellant told him that he would rather die than...