Crum v. State

• Decision Date: 27 November 2019
• Docket Number: No. 06-18-00202-CR,06-18-00202-CR
• Parties: AARON TYLER CRUM, Appellant v. THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

AARON TYLER CRUM, Appellant v. THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee

No. 06-18-00202-CR

Court of Appeals Sixth Appellate District of Texas at Texarkana

Date Submitted: August 22, 2019

November 27, 2019

On Appeal from the 8th District Court Hopkins County, Texas

Trial Court No. 1826585

Before Morriss, C.J., Burgess and Stevens, JJ.

Memorandum Opinion by Chief Justice Morriss

Concurring Opinion by Justice Burgess

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Not long before dawn in late February 2018, after a long night of drinking, game playing, and socializing with a group of acquaintances, Aaron Tyler Crum shot and killed Josh Cowling at Crum's house in Hopkins County. Evidence conflicted regarding the events that immediately led to the shooting, as it did regarding which of the two men was the primary aggressor and whether Crum shot Cowling in self-defense. The jury rejected Crum's claim of self-defense, found him guilty of murder, and assessed a fifty-year sentence. On appeal, Crum urges ten points of error, including alleged errors in admitting unqualified expert testimony and evidence of Crum's prior bad acts, in limiting his cross-examination of a witness, in allowing certain jury argument by the State, in charging the jury, in finding against his claim of self-defense, and in injuring him with the cumulative effect of the alleged errors.

We affirm the judgment of the trial court because (1) notwithstanding Crum's self-defense claims, his murder conviction is supported by this record, (2) admitting blood-spatter testimony was harmless error, (3) admitting evidence suggesting Crum's aggressiveness was not an abuse of discretion, (4) limiting impeachment cross-examination of Horton was not error, (5) permitting the State to argue good versus evil was not error, (6) none of the four challenged jury instructions constituted error, and (7) cumulative error cannot occur without multiple errors.

(1) Notwithstanding Crum's Self-Defense Claims, His Murder Conviction Is Supported by this Record

In the hours before the shooting, Tadarius Johnson went to a local Sulphur Springs bar with his friend, David Brantley. Crum, who had met Johnson at the bar a couple of weeks earlier, joined the pair there. The three of them had a few drinks, played pool, and visited with some other patronsin the bar. Around the time the bar closed, Crum and Johnson took an Uber to Crum's house so they could continue drinking and visiting. A short time later, Desiree Pharis, Kelsey Cullins, Roy Taylor, Summer Sanders, and Brantley arrived at Crum's house.¹ Also, Jessica Horton's brother, Cowling,² dropped her off at the get-together. According to Johnson, Cowling came inside the house briefly, had a beer, and then left.

While at Crum's house, the group "was just drinking, playing beer pong, talking, stuff like that." Johnson said that he had not had much to drink, but that the others drank a "fair amount." The group drank throughout the night, including vodka and beer. According to Johnson, things were fairly normal during the night, but eventually, "things changed." Johnson explained, "[Crum] was making advances toward [Sanders], and she -- she wasn't really buying it at the time. And, also, [Pharis'] boyfriend, [Taylor], was . . . intervening because I -- I'm assuming he didn't really trust [Crum] that well. . . . And then that's when [Crum]'s demeanor really started to change . . . ." When asked what that meant, Johnson stated, "[Crum] was just getting really quiet, a blank stare like something had made him mad, you know."³ Johnson said he had never seen Crum act like that.

Sanders, Pharis, and Taylor then left Crum's house. Johnson stated that, at that point, Crum still had a blank stare on his face and was saying "off the wall stuff." According to Johnson, Crum said, "[I]f I ever see that . . . guy again, I'm going to kick his ass . . . ."⁴ Johnson stated that, although Taylor had been "interfering," he had not been loud. Johnson said, "I could just -- just see that [Crum] was angry. It . . . was pretty clear. Nobody knew what he was angry about." Johnson stated that it took "a little bit" of time to get Crum settled. By that point, the party had begun to drag "[b]ecause . . . the -- mood was just gone." As the party was winding down, Cowling returned to Crum's house to pick up his sister, Horton. Horton introduced Cowling to Crum, and they shook hands.

Johnson explained further that, during the evening, people would step out onto the patio to smoke or "chill[] out." Johnson said that he recalled Cowling being outdoors on the patio. According to Johnson, Cowling's demeanor toward Crum was "pretty normal." At around 4:15 a.m., while the group was outside on the patio, Crum went inside the house and shut and locked the door. Johnson then realized that "some people had some stuff up in the house, and that's when everyone was trying to get hold [sic] of [Crum]."

Johnson unsuccessfully tried to contact Crum with his cell phone.⁵ Johnson said that, while other people were attempting to text Crum, he heard a glass break, so he went back to the porch to see what had happened. Johnson stated, "There was glass all over the floor. Cowling was standing -- [Cowling] and [Horton] were both standing in that area where the glass was broken, and that'swhen [Crum] came to the door with the gun." Johnson said that Crum was pointing the gun at Cowling, "[a]nd we were just talking -- you know, [Horton and Cowling] were like, hey, the door is going to get paid for . . . ." It was Johnson's impression that Cowling broke the glass door on purpose in order to get their belongings from inside the house.

Johnson testified that, after the glass broke, Crum "was just saying stuff like, I am a . . . Marine, stuff like that." According to Johnson, Crum then went back inside the house, put the gun down, then returned outside and began hitting Cowling. Johnson said that they began to scuffle, and he attempted to separate the two of them.⁶ Eventually, Johnson was able to separate Crum and Cowling.⁷ When asked which individual had been the aggressor, Johnson said, "I would have said [Crum] . . . because, like I said, at the time, he walked out and started hitting . . . Cowling." About that time, Johnson told Brantley to go get in his truck. Johnson then turned around to go see about Cowling, when he heard a gunshot and "saw [Cowling]'s body hit the ground."⁸ Seconds later, Johnson ran to the truck. Kelsey Cullins also got in the truck with Brantley and Johnson, and they left Crum's house. From there, Johnson, Brantley, and Cullins stopped briefly at a gasoline station and then went to Cullins' mother's home and contacted 9-1-1. They waited there until the police arrived and took their written statements.⁹ Johnson said that the reason he leftCrum's house so quickly was because he was in fear for his life. When asked who he was afraid of, Johnson stated that he was afraid of Crum.

According to Johnson, during the incident, he never saw Cowling go inside Crum' house, attempt to go inside Crum's house, or say anything about going inside his house. Johnson said he never saw Cowling being aggressive or doing anything that might have made anyone fearful for their life. When asked if Cowling acted in an apologetic demeanor after the glass shattered, Johnson said that he had.

Cowling's sister, Horton, testified that everything seemed normal while the group was at the bar and that Brantley had asked her to stop by Crum's house when the bar closed. Horton explained that Cowling dropped her off at Crum's house, but that he came in the house only "for a second."¹⁰ According to Horton, Cowling did not meet Crum before leaving the house.

In addition, Horton explained that Cowling had struggled with addiction for a fair amount of his life. She stated that his problem centered around his use of alcohol, but that he had used "marijuana, some meth here and there, you know.¹¹ Just about . . . anything that I know of, he's tried or has done." Horton said that, although Cowling had issues with drugs and alcohol, the only person he had ever harmed was himself. "He would get real down, depressed about himself." But, according to Horton, Cowling was not "a guy looking to fight people."

Horton also stated that everybody was drinking inside the house that night, but that when they wanted to smoke cigarettes, they would go outside on the porch. In her opinion, everyone at the party was over the legal limit of intoxication, including Crum.¹² When asked about Crum's demeanor that night, Horton said,

I mean, at first he seemed fine. He was happy. We were all playing a game together. Then something went on. I am not sure exactly what happened because they were all in another room, and I was in the living room area. But then he came out and he was -- he was angry. He was upset, ready to fight somebody.

She stated that, when some of the party-goers left, Crum "was still really angry. We all tried to console him, but he had his fists clenched and kept saying, you know, I want to kill that guy." Horton said that she told Crum to "chill out" and that "[h]e seemed to calm down a little bit more than what he was." Around that time, Horton texted Cowling, asking him to come pick her up at Crum's house. When Cowling arrived, he entered Crum's house for a second time and, at that time, Horton introduced Cowling to Crum.¹³ The pair shook hands and, shortly after that, everyone, with the exception of Crum, went back outside to the porch to smoke.

Horton explained that, while the group was outside talking and smoking, they noticed that Crum had locked the door, despite the fact that their personal belongings were still inside his house. Horton sent a text message to Crum, asking him to let them in so they could get their belongings.¹⁴She also tried to contact Crum by calling his telephone several times. Horton stated that they intended to leave as soon as they got their belongings. According to Horton, Crum never indicated to them that he wanted them to...