Menefee v. State

• Decision Date: 28 December 2006
• Docket Number: No. 06-05-00204-CR.,06-05-00204-CR.
• Citation: 211 S.W.3d 893
• Parties: Michael D. MENEFEE, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee.
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

211 S.W.3d 893

Michael D. MENEFEE, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee.

No. 06-05-00204-CR.

Court of Appeals of Texas, Texarkana.

Submitted November 30, 2006.

Decided December 28, 2006.

Lew Dunn, Law Office of Lew Dunn, Longview, for appellant.

W. Ty Wilson, Asst. Dist. Atty., Longview, for appellee.

Before MORRISS, C.J., ROSS and CARTER, JJ.

OPINION

Opinion by Chief Justice MORRISS.

Someone strangled Jacqueline James to death and left her body, naked and in an unnatural position, in her own bed. In a Gregg County jury trial, James' recent ex-boyfriend, Michael D. Menefee, was convicted of murdering James and was sentenced to forty-five years' imprisonment. Menefee appeals. His appeal largely centers on the question of whether the evidence supports his conviction.

Because we find that (1) the evidence is legally and factually sufficient to support the conviction, (2) the trial court did not err in admitting evidence of Menefee's fingerprints at the murder scene, (3) the State did not violate the rules of disclosure stated in Brady v. Maryland,¹ and (4) admitting the victim's hearsay statements did not affect Menefee's substantial rights, we affirm the trial court's judgment.

(1) The Evidence Is Legally and Factually Sufficient to Support the Conviction

In four points of error, Menefee challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to support his conviction.²

Our factual sufficiency review looks to all the evidence in a neutral light and determines whether the evidence supporting the verdict is so weak that the jury's verdict is clearly wrong and manifestly unjust, or whether the great weight and preponderance of the evidence is contrary to the verdict. Watson v. State, 204 S.W.3d 404 (Tex.Crim.App.2006); Johnson v. State, 23 S.W.3d 1, 7 (Tex.Crim.App. 2000); Clewis v. State, 922 S.W.2d 126, 134 (Tex.Crim.App.1996). We review the legal sufficiency of the evidence by determining whether a rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt after viewing the evidence in a light most favorable to the prosecution. Cates v. State, 102 S.W.3d 735, 738 (Tex.Crim.App.2003) (citing Jackson, 443 U.S. at 318-19, 99 S.Ct. 2781).

Menefee had a good alibi—that is, until his alibi started unraveling. Menefee maintained he was home with his current girlfriend, Anita Owens, when James was killed, not long after 1:00 a.m. January 15, 2004. Though Owens originally confirmed Menefee's alibi to investigators, she later recanted, relating at least two different stories. Menefee's alibi was also debunked by Menefee's former neighbor, Craig Hawkes, who testified that on the night of January 14 he had given Menefee a ride to within six houses of James' home, where she was later found dead. Owens testified that later that same night, when she thought Menefee was home, he called her from a few blocks away from James' house for a ride back to his house.

James' body was found the morning of Friday, January 16, 2004, by family members. Some degree of decomposition had set in, leading to the conclusion she had been dead for at least twelve hours and as long as five days.³ Three witnesses commented on the cleanliness of James' home.⁴ Perhaps owing to such tidiness, forty-one discrete fingerprints were found in James' home. Several were identified as James'. Although police compared prints found in the home to those of Ruben Mananita (James' coworker who had been in James' house within a week before the murder, and with whom she had lunch plans for Friday, January 16) and Rodney Frasier (an acquaintance of James about whom little is found in the record other than his name was found in James' purse)-neither matched. Two fingerprints on the headboard of James' bed were positively identified as Menefee's. Menefee admittedly had had a romantic relationship with James, but said he had last been in her house on Christmas 2003, about three weeks before her death.

When James' family members discovered her body, she was naked in her bed, with the covers pulled up to her chin. Longview police officers described the position of James' body as having her head "pushed up against the headboard in an unnatural position." James' "head was pushed up against the headboard, kind of cocked off to one side. Her left shoulder was sort of slanted to the left and pulled back behind her. Her left arm was up under her back. Her left hand was under her buttocks and actually sticking up between her legs and her right arm was laid over on top of her pubic area," and "her left leg was picked up to the left side also, bent at the knee." One officer opined it "appeared that someone had killed her and placed her in bed and covered her up." James' fingernails had been clipped very short, and twelve or thirteen nail clippings were found in the drain of her bathtub. Detective Dan Reigstad opined the nails had been cut postmortem; and pathologist Janice Townsend-Parchman testified that, had the nails been cut while James were still alive, it would have been "quite painful."

In the back of James' house, a bathroom window had been broken out, dirt was found on the toilet seat, and items in the area had been knocked over. Outside the bathroom window, in the yard, were imprints from shoes, from which castings were made. In the hallway of James' house, leading to her bedroom, was found a clump of hair consistent with a patch of missing hair on James' scalp; also in the hallway was a diamond earring stud matching the stud found in her left ear, apparently the stud missing from her right ear.

Police contacted Menefee the day James' body was found. Menefee agreed to accompany police to the station and be interviewed. According to Detective Vanover, Menefee said he knew that James was dead, but never asked officers what had happened to her. Vanover described Menefee's behavior that morning as extremely nervous, though not upset or distraught at the news of James' death. "[Menefee] was evasive, real short in his answers. He was visibly shaking," said Vanover of Menefee's demeanor. Menefee told Vanover that, on the night of Wednesday, January 14, he had been home with his girlfriend Anita Owens, who had left his place at 5:00 a.m. Thursday, January 15. Menefee acknowledged having dated and having had a sexual relationship with James, but denied harming her.

Initially, Owens corroborated Menefee's story. Between her initial statement to police following James' killing, though, and Menefee's trial, Owens changed her story at least twice. Her testimony at Menefee's trial came while she was under indictment for aggravated perjury,⁵ and the trial court admonished her that her testimony could be used against her.

At trial, Owens said she was at Menefee's house the evening of January 14; she went to bed around 9:30 p.m., and Menefee was still up playing video games. Around 2:00 a.m. (January 15), Menefee telephoned Owens, asking her to pick him up at the intersection of Birdsong and Mobberly in Longview. From a map of the area introduced into evidence, this intersection appears to be approximately six to eight blocks from James' house. The State introduced cellular telephone records showing Menefee called Owens at 1:42, 2:37, and 2:38 a.m. January 15. Owens said that, when she brought Menefee home, he carried a bag with him.

Craig Hawkes, at the time of James' death, lived next door to Menefee. On January 14, Menefee asked Hawkes if Hawkes, around 10:30 p.m. that night, would give Menefee a ride to Menefee's mother's house. Menefee had never asked Hawkes for a ride before. Around 10:30 that night, Menefee came to Hawkes' door, dressed in a dark outfit and carrying some kind of travel bag. Menefee told Hawkes that he was going to his mother's house because Menefee had had a fight or trouble with his girlfriend. Hawkes thought it odd that Menefee would leave his own house rather than have the girlfriend leave. Hawkes also thought it odd that Menefee did not have Hawkes drop him at a specific location, which Hawkes offered, but rather at a street corner. Hawkes testified he thought he dropped Menefee around the corner of 12th and Raney. Raney does not appear on the maps introduced in evidence. In the course of the investigation, Hawkes took a detective to the intersection where he had dropped Menefee. Detective David Cheatham testified that intersection was about six houses north of James' house. Another map shows that 1114 Hutchings, home of Menefee's mother, is about 1.1 miles from James' home.

The jury was presented with evidence that Menefee's fingerprints were found within inches of James' body, on the headboard of her bed. Menefee uncharacteristically asked his neighbor to take him to within a block of James' house at 10:30 at night, then later asked that neighbor not to tell anyone he had given Menefee that ride. Although Menefee claimed he had been with Owens all night on the night of January 14-15, she testified she had previously lied about being with Menefee, and in fact that he had called her in the wee hours of the morning to pick him up from the neighborhood of the murder.

Viewing this evidence in a light most favorable to the prosecution, we find a rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. The evidence is legally sufficient to support the jury's verdict.⁶

Menefee appropriately emphasizes the circumstantial nature of the evidence in this case, and urges that there are other reasonable potential scenarios in which Menefee was not the killer. When the evidence suggests the existence of a reasonable alternative hypothesis, the reviewing court must consider it in our factual sufficiency analysis. Harris v. State, 133 S.W.3d 760, 763-64 (Tex.App.-Texarkana 2004, pet. ref'd); Richardson v. State, 973 S.W.2d 384, 387 (Tex.App.-Dallas 1998, no pet.). The existence of an alternative reasonable hypothesis may be relevant to a factual sufficiency review,...