Martin v. State

• Decision Date: 28 February 2019
• Docket Number: No. 11-17-00040-CR,11-17-00040-CR
• Citation: 570 S.W.3d 426
• Parties: Richard Joseph MARTIN, Appellant v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

570 S.W.3d 426

Richard Joseph MARTIN, Appellant

v.The STATE of Texas, Appellee

No. 11-17-00040-CR

Court of Appeals of Texas, Eastland.

Opinion filed February 28, 2019

Discretionary Review Refused June 12, 2019

Michael Bloch, Assistant, R. N. (Bobby) Bland, District Attorney, Odessa, TX, for Appellee.

M. Michele Greene, Attorney at Law, Odessa, TX, for Appellant.

Panel consists of: Bailey, C.J., Willson, J., and Wright, S.C.J.¹

JOHN M. BAILEY, CHIEF JUSTICE

The jury convicted Richard Joseph Martin of murder and assessed his punishment at confinement for life in the Institutional Division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Appellant brings five issues on appeal. In addition to challenging the sufficiency of the evidence supporting his conviction, Appellant contends that the trial court erred by instructing the jury on the law of parties, admitting a photograph of Appellant’s tattoo, and sustaining the State’s objections to Appellant’s closing arguments. We affirm.

Background Facts

Appellant was indicted for the murder of D'Quay Harris. The indictment alleged that Appellant intentionally and knowingly caused the death of Harris on or about January 31, 2013. See TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. § 19.02(b)(1) (West 2011). The indictment also alleged that Appellant intentionally caused serious bodily injury to Harris by intentionally and knowingly committing an act clearly dangerous to human life by shooting Harris. See id. § 19.02(b)(2).

Ervin Terry testified that he, Appellant, and Harris were in a gang known as the "Rolling 60s Crips." Appellant was considered to be a leader in the gang. Terry testified that Appellant shot at him and Harris on January 31, 2013. Terry testified that Appellant shot at them because Terry and Harris "supposedly had robbed [Appellant]." Specifically, Terry testified that Appellant told him that someone had kicked in his door, robbed him, and hit his stepdaughter with a pistol. Appellant asked Terry and Harris to help him search for the people who had robbed him. Appellant told Terry not to bring any guns. Appellant and three others picked up Terry and Harris. When he picked up Terry, Appellant asked Terry if he had a gun, and Terry said that he did not. Terry suspected that Appellant believed that Terry and Harris were the people that robbed Appellant earlier in the day.

Terry testified that the group pulled over to the side of Rochester Street near Seminole Street to go to the restroom. After they got out of the cars, Appellant started shooting at Terry. Harris asked Appellant why he was shooting at Terry, and Terry saw Appellant turn toward Harris and point his gun at Harris. As soon as Appellant turned toward Harris, Terry ran off. He heard two different types of guns but did not see anyone actually shoot Harris. However, Harris was shot multiple times, including being shot in the chest. Harris was left lying on the ground.

Andre Boyd testified that he and Terry saw Appellant a couple of days after the shooting. When they saw Appellant, Appellant hollered at Terry: "[Y]'all ... got me nervous riding around strapped. I know [Terry] wants to try to seek revenge." Boyd testified that the next time he saw Appellant was when they were incarcerated together. Boyd discussed the shooting with Appellant, and Appellant told Boyd that he "felt messed up about the whole situation" when he learned that Harris was not the person who had robbed him. Boyd told Appellant the names of the individuals who had actually robbed Appellant, and Appellant responded that, if he could, he would "smoke" them right in front of Harris. Appellant asked Boyd, hypothetically, if a person had hurt Boyd’s daughter, would Boyd have reacted in anger or "would [Boyd] just wait around and try to like investigate it like the law, or something."

The State offered a photograph of Appellant’s tattoo into evidence during the guilt/innocence phase. During his opening statement, the prosecutor had described the tattoo in the following manner:

Under his nice suit on his left side, he has tattooed a trophy of his kill.

This event happened at the intersection of Seminole and Rochester. He has a tattoo of a bent stop sign at Seminole.

D'Quay Harris got shot in the chest. From this bent stop sign hangs a rat with its mouth taped shut, shot in the chest.

D'Quay Harris was paralyzed, couldn't use his legs. This rat has no legs. They've been torn off.

To the side of the rat is a woman going like this [holding her index finger in front of her lips] and on her eyebrow is the name Ke Loc, which is what Kevorick Shedwin goes by. He was there that night.

And, finally, on the other side is the name Desi. Desi is his stepdaughter who got robbed that night.

Thus, the jury was able to see that Appellant’s tattoo reflected many of the details and circumstances surrounding the shooting.

As a result of his gunshot wounds, Harris was paralyzed from the chest down. Harris was released from the hospital on April 12, 2013. On May 29, 2014, however, Harris returned to the hospital with a urinary tract infection, which caused severe sepsis. Harris subsequently died on November 15, 2014.

Sufficiency of the Evidence

In his fourth issue, Appellant contends that the trial court erred in denying his motion for a directed verdict. In his fifth issue, Appellant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence supporting his conviction for murder. We treat a challenge to the trial court’s denial of a motion for a directed verdict as a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence. Williams v. State , 937 S.W.2d 479, 482 (Tex. Crim. App. 1996). Accordingly, we address Appellant’s fourth and fifth issues together.

We review a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence under the standard of review set forth in Jackson v. Virginia , 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979). Brooks v. State , 323 S.W.3d 893, 912 (Tex. Crim. App. 2010). Under the Jackson standard, we review all of the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict and determine whether any rational trier of fact could have found the elements of the offense beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson , 443 U.S. at 319, 99 S.Ct. 2781 ; Isassi v. State , 330 S.W.3d 633, 638 (Tex. Crim. App. 2010). When conducting a sufficiency review, we consider all the evidence admitted at trial, including pieces of evidence that may have been improperly admitted. Winfrey v. State , 393 S.W.3d 763, 767 (Tex. Crim. App. 2013) ; Clayton v. State , 235 S.W.3d 772, 778 (Tex. Crim. App. 2007). We defer to the factfinder’s role as the sole judge of the witnesses' credibility and the weight their testimony is to be afforded. Brooks , 323 S.W.3d at 899. This standard accounts for the factfinder’s duty to resolve conflicts in the testimony, to weigh the evidence, and to draw reasonable inferences from basic facts to ultimate facts. Jackson , 443 U.S. at 319, 99 S.Ct. 2781 ; Clayton , 235 S.W.3d at 778. When the record supports conflicting inferences, we presume that the factfinder resolved the conflicts in favor of the verdict and defer to that determination. Jackson , 443 U.S. at 326, 99 S.Ct. 2781 ; Clayton , 235 S.W.3d at 778.

A person commits the offense of murder if he intentionally or knowingly causes the death of an individual. PENAL § 19.02(b)(1). A person also commits murder if he intends to cause serious bodily injury and commits an act clearly dangerous to human life that causes the death of an individual. PENAL § 19.02(b)(2). Under either of these provisions, murder is a result-oriented offense—meaning that the proscribed conduct must have caused the death of the victim. See Fraser v. State , 523 S.W.3d 320, 328 (Tex. App.—Amarillo June 9, 2017, appellant’s pet. ref'd, State’s pet. granted). Appellant focuses his evidentiary challenge on the element of causation. Specifically, he contends that there is insufficient evidence that Harris’s gunshot wounds caused Harris’s death almost two years later.

"A person is criminally responsible if the result would not have occurred but for his conduct, operating either alone or concurrently with another cause, unless the concurrent cause was clearly sufficient to produce the result and the conduct of the actor clearly insufficient." PENAL § 6.04(a). In a murder prosecution, the State must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the injuries inflicted by the defendant caused the death of the decedent. Reeves v. State , 131 Tex.Crim. 560, 101 S.W.2d 245, 246 (1937) ; Hutcherson v. State , 373 S.W.3d 179, 187 (Tex. App.—Amarillo 2012, pet. ref'd). If the injuries caused by the defendant contributed to the death of the deceased, he is responsible even though other contributing causes existed. Wright v. State , 388 S.W.2d 703, 706 (Tex. Crim. App. 1965). This is true even if complications arise during treatment of the victim, unless the evidence shows that those complications can be attributed to gross neglect or improper treatment. See Jones v. State , 582 S.W.2d 129, 134 (Tex. Crim. App. 1979) (citing Turner v. State , 505 S.W.2d 558, 560 (Tex. Crim. App. 1974) ).

Dr. Susan Roe, the medical examiner who performed an autopsy of Harris’s body, testified that the cause of Harris’s death was complications from multiple gunshot wounds. She classified the manner of death as a homicide, which she defined as "death at the hands of another person." Dr. Roe did not find anything that would have caused Harris’s death outside the succession of events that happened as a result of his gunshot wounds. Harris suffered paralysis and an injured lung as a result of the gunshot wounds. Dr. Roe testified that Harris was susceptible to infections because of the paralysis and the lung injury. Harris suffered pneumonia, multiple urinary tract infections, and infections from "pressure sores." Dr. Roe testified that these infections resulted in Harris suffering from sepsis at the time of his death. Specifically, she testified that "[t]he cascade of events that started due to the multiple gunshot wounds, and ultimately ended in...