Matthews v. State
| Decision Date | 25 July 2013 |
| Docket Number | NUMBER 13-12-00051-CR,NUMBER 13-12-00056-CR,NUMBER 13-12-00052-CR |
| Parties | SHANE JERMAINE MATTHEWS, Appellant, v. THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee. JOHN LAWRENCE MATTHEWS, Appellant, v. THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee. DAVID LEWIS HAYWOOD, Appellant, v. THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee. |
| Court | Texas Court of Appeals |
On appeal from the 1st District Court
of Jasper County, Texas.
MEMORANDUM OPINIONBefore Justices Garza, Perkes, and Longoria
A jury found appellants Shane Jermaine Matthews ("Shane"), John Lewis Matthews ("John"), and David Lewis Haywood ("David") guilty of capital murder and assessed punishment at life imprisonment, without parole, in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Institutional Division. See TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. § 19.03(a)(2) (West 2011). Appellants were tried together in a single trial. In each case, the trial court sentenced appellant in accordance with the jury's verdict and appellant timely appealed.1
Although no motion to consolidate these appeals has been filed, in the interest of judicial economy, we issue a single opinion herein disposing of all three appeals. We do so because our review of the records shows that the same facts and similar legal issues are involved in all three appeals. As set forth below, each appellant raises multiple challenges to his conviction. We will affirm each conviction.
Appellants are three brothers who were each indicted for the capital murder of Jessie Palomo, Jr., by shooting him with a firearm on or about December 13, 2009, in the course of robbing or attempting to rob Palomo. The evidence in this case shows a brutal murder in which Palomo crashed through a motel-room window with trauma to his head and multiple gunshot wounds. At the time, Palomo's pants were pulled down and he was shirtless with his hands wrapped in his shirt in front of him. The witnesses at trial testified as follows.
In the jury charge, the trial court instructed the jury that Miesha Kelly was an accomplice witness as a matter of law and that Jason Brown and Melissa Adams were accomplices as a matter of fact if the jury found them to be accomplices. We first summarize the testimony of Kelly, Brown, and Adams.
Miesha Kelly first told the jury that she was under indictment for the capital murder of Palomo. According to her testimony, she did not have any agreement with the State concerning her testimony, but she decided to testify truthfully and hoped to avoid a life sentence. She also testified that she had a prior forgery conviction.
Kelly testified she had known John, who also goes by "John Boy," since 1999. They had a daughter together and, at the time of the murder, they lived in Galveston, Texas. She had known Shane since 2007 and David since early 2000. Kelly identified John, Shane, and David in open court.
On December 13, 2009, Kelly, John, Shane, and David drove from Galveston to Kirbyville, Texas, in a gold Equinox sports-utility vehicle ("SUV") that belonged to David's girlfriend. John and David told her that morning the purpose of their trip was to buy marihuana and a car. During the drive, they smoked marihuana and they also stopped at a gas station in Baytown, Texas. At that time, David was driving the SUV. Kelly's cousin, Jason Brown, Melissa Adams, and Brown and Adams's minor daughter were at that gas station.
When they left the gas station, Kelly drove and followed Brown, who was leading them to meet the man who had the drugs for purchase. After stopping at a carwash in Kirbyville, Kelly and appellants drove to the convenience store next to the Gateway Motel in Kirbyville. Kelly pulled up to the gas pump, David got out of the SUV to pay for the gas, and he bought a can of soda and a bag of chips.
Kelly then drove appellants to the motel and parked in front of a room. There was already a car parked directly in front of the door to the room. Brown, Adams, and their daughter were outside the car. Kelly exited the Equinox and went into the motel room to use the restroom. Appellants were still in the Equinox. When Kelly entered the room, there was no one else in the room, and she did not recall anything being on the back of the toilet. Kelly did not see a drink or bag of chips in the bathroom.
When she exited the bathroom, Brown and appellants were all inside the motel room. A clerk from the motel called and told Brown there were too many people inside the room. Kelly was going to leave and return to Galveston. Kelly was standing in the doorway of the motel room, leaving, when Palomo pulled up in a gray or blue Cadillac and parked right in front of the doorway. She remembered a woman wearing a red shirt seated in his car. Kelly entered the Equinox and drove away. Soon after, Shane used the walkie-talkie feature of her cell phone and told Kelly to return to the motel. When she returned to the motel, Palomo was lying in front of the motel room and the girl from the Cadillac was coming out with a towel trying to help him.
Kelly did not see Brown. She also did not see appellants, but they were still talking to her via the walkie-talkie feature on her phone. When she saw appellants, they were running from the side of a house on the street just south and behind the motel. Kelly picked them up, and they drove back to Galveston. According to her testimony, she was not told she would be the driver of a "get away car" and she did not know of any plan to commit a robbery.
Kelly testified further that John was dressed in a black hood. David was wearing a black hood with some Dickey-brand shorts. Shane was wearing a white thermal shirt, jeans, and gloves. Kelly described their clothes as baggy and as "hoodie" jackets.
As they were leaving Kirbyville, they passed some police officers with their lights and sirens on. Shane told Kelly to keep going. Shane threatened her. As they drove back to Galveston, Brown called asking where they were, and said he was stuck at the store. Later, Brown called again and told Kelly to dispose of her phone and to get a new phone number.
As they drove, Kelly said that Shane and David talked about shooting Palomo. Shane said he shot Palomo in the back before he went out the window. David said healso shot Palomo. Shane talked about duct tape, and asked David why he did not duct tape Palomo. David said he did, but that Palomo broke loose. Kelly testified that John and Shane also talked about cleaning the car. John was quiet and did not talk to her about the incident while they were driving. Later, John did not tell her anything about a robbery, but he apologized to her for what had happened. She described John as "not shocked or surprised," but nervous.
On the drive back to Galveston, John and David threw out their undershirts. Kelly later took an investigator to the area where the shirts were thrown, but to her knowledge, nothing was found. Once they were back in Galveston, Kelly saw two small guns. Shane had one of the guns, and John gave Shane the gun he had. At least one of the guns was wrapped in clothes. Kelly saw that Shane wore gloves when he exited the car with the guns in Galveston. Up to that point, Kelly had not seen Shane wearing gloves. Kelly testified she did not know that they had the guns when they were driving to Kirbyville. She also did not see duct tape or masks.
In Galveston, they first dropped off Shane. David then dropped Kelly and John off at their house. Rather than returning to their own home, Kelly and John had a woman rent them a motel room in Galveston. Kelly testified that Galveston police arrested them the following morning and that they were taken to the Jasper County Jail. Kelly testified that she gave a false statement to the police in which she talked about a fourth man nicknamed "North Carolina," but that she had invented this person because she was scared.
Kelly testified that she is familiar with John's handwriting, and she identified State's Exhibits 64 and 65 as two letters he wrote and sent to her at the jail. When she received these letters, she gave them to her attorney, who then gave them to the District Attorney. In State's Exhibit 64, dated May 14, 2010, John wrote that he needed to "get out to get them tools." Kelly testified that John's reference to "tools" in the letter was about the guns. John also wrote in the letter that he hoped she had not said anything about the "spot," because that is where "dumb took the tools, not swimming." Kelly testified the "spot" was a place where John and Shane hung out. Kelly understood the statement "not swimming" to mean that the guns had not been thrown into the water. John also asked that she please keep her mouth shut about the "spot," and that he really needed her. In State's Exhibit 65, dated May 18, 2010, John again asked Kelly to please keep her mouth shut about the "spot."2
When confronted with an earlier statement she made to the police, Kelly affirmed that Shane said he thought Palomo had a gun, or was reaching for a gun, or something; that appellants wrestled with Palomo; and that Shane said he shot Palomo in the back when Palomo was trying to get away by jumping out the window. In discussing her prior statements, Kelly testified that appellants were wiping their hands and faces after theincident. John had blood on his mouth, and appellants got blood all over the stereo and the seat belts of the car.
Jason Dayton Brown testified that he was 32 years old, that he lived in Houston, Texas, and that Melissa Adams was his girlfriend. Brown had known Palomo since he was 14 or 15 years old. Kelly is his cousin, and John was Kelly's boyfriend. Brown identified John in court and testified that he had known John for at least five years. Brown also identified Shane and David at trial. Brown testified that he did not go into the motel room with appellants, and denied that he came out of the room after Palomo...
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