Cervantes Salazar v. Dretke, Civ.SA-03-CA-175-FB.
| Decision Date | 27 September 2005 |
| Docket Number | No. Civ.SA-03-CA-175-FB.,Civ.SA-03-CA-175-FB. |
| Citation | 393 F.Supp.2d 451 |
| Parties | Luis CERVANTES SALAZAR, TDCJ No. 999285, Petitioner, v. Douglas DRETKE, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division, Respondent. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Western District of Texas |
Michael Clark Gross, Law Office of Michael C. Gross, San Antonio, TX, for Petitioner.
Fredericka Sargent, Assistant Attorney General, Office of the Attorney General, Austin, TX, for Respondent.
Petitioner Luis Cervantes Salazar filed this federal habeas corpus action pursuant to Title 28 U.S.C. Section 2254 challenging his September, 1998, Bexar County capital murder conviction and sentence of death. For the reasons set forth below, petitioner is not entitled to federal habeas corpus relief from this Court but is entitled to a Certificate of Appealability on a single claim.
There is no genuine dispute as to the operative facts of petitioner's offense. During the early morning hours of October 11, 1997, petitioner crawled through the front window of the home of Martha Sanchez and Danny Ochoa at 250 Future in San Antonio, Texas, went into the kitchen where he obtained a pair of knives, and then proceeded to Martha's bedroom where he stabbed her multiple times, at least twice fatally.1 When Martha's ten-year-old son Erick Martinez awoke to the sound of a struggle, he went to his mother's bedroom, where he observed the petitioner, whom Erick recognized as a former neighbor, stabbing his mother.2 As petitioner stabbed her, Martha screamed 3 When Erick attempted to grab one of the knives, the petitioner turned and stabbed Erick in the chest.4 At that point, Martha yelled for Erick to go get help.5 Fleeing the house, Erick banged on the doors of several neighbors before he awoke Sylvia Montenegro.6 Sylvia sent her daughter's boyfriend, Adrian Gonzales, to the victim's house and telephoned the authorities.7 Adrian opened the screen door at the front of the victim's house and coaxed Erick's two-and-a-half-year-old sister Brianna from the front hallway out through the front door.8 Sylvia then arrived and directed Adrian to enter the house and attempt to locate Erick and Brianna's six-month-old brother Timothy.9 When he entered the back bedroom, Adrian found a bloody knife laying on top of the apparently dead Martha on the floor between her bed and Timothy's crib.10 Adrian picked up the knife and placed it on a paper towel on the coffee table in the living room, where police later found it.11
Adrian next removed a twisted blanket that was wrapped around Timothy's neck and carried the still-breathing baby out to the front porch as police arrived.12 At the scene, Erick identified petitioner as his mother's assailant to Sylvia, to another neighbor who arrived shortly thereafter, to a police officer, and to a paramedic.13 Emergency medical personnel then took Erick to the hospital where he was treated for his chest wound and where Erick gave a homicide detective a formal statement in which he once again identified petitioner as the person who had stabbed both himself and his mother.14
Petitioner telephoned police on the evening following the murder from the home of a relative and surrendered without incident.15 Following his arrest, petitioner asked one police officer how the victim was doing and, when informed that she was dead, petitioner inquired whether he would receive life or death.16 Petitioner spontaneously asked another police officer whether someone who killed another person would "get the needle."17
On December 18, 1997, a Bexar County Grand Jury indicted petitioner in cause no. 97-CR-6077 on a single count of capital murder, alleging two theories of that offense: that petitioner intentionally and knowingly murdered Martha Sanchez by stabbing her with a deadly weapon, i.e., a knife, while in the course of committing or attempting to commit the predicate offenses of aggravated sexual assault and burglary.18
The guilt-innocence phase of petitioner's trial began on September 8, 1998.
Petitioner admitted during his trial testimony he had stabbed both Martha Sanchez and Erick Martinez but claimed he had mistakenly entered their home on the night in question due to his intoxicated condition and acted solely in self-defense.19 Petitioner denied possessing any intent to kill, denied the intent to burglarize, and denied that he had attempted to sexually assault Martha.20 Petitioner also testified he had fled the crime scene on a bicycle all the way to his residence in another part of the city.21
However, petitioner admitted that several months before he moved out of the house adjacent to the victims' home, he had made a sexual advance toward Martha which she rebuffed and resulted in Martha's husband rebuking petitioner and warning him to stay away from Martha's home.22 Petitioner also admitted he had told his wife that violence made him feel good and he had thought about killing people.23
The prosecution offered uncontested testimony from Martha's husband that (1) at approximately 12:30 a.m. on the date of the murder he had telephoned Martha from his place of employment and the phone had worked perfectly but (2) the day after the murder, when he returned to remove items from the home, the phone was not working and (3) he noticed that both of the telephone lines leading into the house from a box in the back of the house had been cut or pulled loose.24 One of Martha's neighbors also testified that both the phone lines at the back of Martha's house had been cut.25 A San Antonio Police Officer testified that on October 12, 1997, he observed and photographed the telephone lines hanging loose at the rear of the house where he also observed and photographed a pair of footprints in the mud directly below the window into Martha's bedroom.26 The prosecution also presented testimony and photographs showing the exterior fronts of the victim's house and petitioner's former residence next door were completely dissimilar.27
On September 11, 1998, the jury returned its verdict, finding petitioner guilty of capital murder as charged in the indictment.28
The punishment phase of petitioner's trial commenced on September 21, 1998.
A retired San Antonio Police Officer testified about a series of armed robberies of convenience stores in South San Antonio that occurred over a three-to-four-day period in late-January through early-February, 1988 involving the same vehicle.29 A convenience store employee testified he was robbed at gun point on January 31, 1988, by a ski-masked robber whom he saw remove his ski-mask as the robber left the store and whom he later identified in a photo array as the petitioner.30 Several San Antonio Police Officers testified regarding three armed robberies that occurred in rapid succession on February 2, 1988, and culminated in a high speed chase which ended only when the suspect vehicle went out of control at a construction site, spun out, and struck a utility pole.31 The prosecution also presented testimony from a pair of eyewitnesses to two of the armed robberies on February 2, 1988, during one of which petitioner failed to wear his ski mask.32 Photographs of the heavily-damaged station wagon, both the petitioner and his accomplice-brother at the scene of the wreck, and various items found inside the station wagon were also admitted into evidence.33 Petitioner was indicted on four counts of aggravated robbery arising from the robberies on January 31 and February 2, 1988, entered guilty pleas to all four charges, and received deferred adjudication probation.34
The prosecution also presented testimony from a mentally challenged young woman and others that, on May 17, 1991, the petitioner picked up the young woman, who was then an 18-year-old high school student, from her high school on the pretext of taking her to lunch, drove her to his home, and sexually assaulted her.35 Petitioner was indicted in cause no. 92-CR-0445 on a charge of sexual assault but, on April 11, 1994, entered a guilty plea to a lesser-included charge of misdemeanor assault with bodily injury and received a two-year, probated sentence.36
A San Antonio Police Bike Officer testified: (1) he believed it would be very difficult to ride a bicycle from the location of Martha Sanchez's murder at 250 Future to petitioner's residence at 122 Ashland if one were intoxicated and (2) it would be extremely difficult to do so if one were intoxicated and it was still dark.37 The neighbor of Martha Sanchez, who had custody of Brianna the morning of the murder, testified: (1) Brianna had blood on her face, hands, leg, and pajamas and (2) Brianna told her "Bad man hurt Mommie" and "Mommie has lots of owies" while Brianna gestured and forced her leg into the neighbor's stomach to illustrate what had happened.38 Martha's mother testified: (1) Martha's death had gravely affected their family, (2) since Martha's murder, Brianna often begged to be held at night, and (3) both Brianna and Erick had experienced bad dreams since their mother's murder.39 A clinical psychologist who had examined and treated Erick since his mother's murder testified: (1) she felt strongly that Erick needed psychological assistance and (2) since the loss of his mother, Erick had been separated from his sister and brother and felt great sadness and anger.40
A long-time friend of petitioner's family testified: (1) petitioner's father was extremely...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Vasquez v. Thaler, CIVIL NO. SA-09-CA-930-XR
...denied, 350 Fed.Appx. 854 (5th Cir. September 18, 2009), cert. denied, __ U.S. __, 130 S.Ct. 1698 (2010); Cervantes Salazar v. Dretke, 393 F.Supp.2d 451, 481-82 (W.D. Tex. 2006)(once more faulting a petitioner's failure to furnish statistical information regarding the Hispanic portion of Be......
-
Mass v. Quarterman
...that the selection of a jury is more art than science. Martinez v. Dretke, 426 F.Supp.2d 403, 461 (W.D.Tex.2006); Salazar v. Dretke, 393 F.Supp.2d 451, 495 (W.D.Tex.2005); Cordova v. Johnson, 993 F.Supp. 473, 530 (W.D.Tex.1998), appeal denied, 157 F.3d 380 (5th Cir.1998), cert. denied, 525 ......
-
Trevino v. Thaler
...to consider all mitigating evidence before it in so doing), CoA denied, 270 Fed.Appx. 277 (5th Cir.2008); Salazar v. Dretke, 393 F.Supp.2d 451, 488-91 (W.D.Tex.2005) (same), affirmed, 260 Fed.Appx. 643 (5th Cir.2007), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 128 S.Ct. 2963, 171 L.Ed.2d 893 (2008). Petit......
-
Bartee v. Quarterman
...mitigating evidence before it in so doing), Certificate of Appealability denied, 270 Fed.Appx. 277 (5th Cir.2008); Salazar v. Dretke, 393 F.Supp.2d 451, 488-91 (W.D.Tex.2005) (holding the same), aff'd, 260 Fed.Appx. 643 (5th Cir.2007), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 128 S.Ct. 2963, ___ L.Ed.2d......