Pieringer v. State

• Decision Date: 17 June 2004
• Docket Number: No. 2-03-017-CR.,2-03-017-CR.
• Citation: 139 S.W.3d 713
• Parties: Deborah Lynn PIERINGER, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, State.
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

139 S.W.3d 713

Deborah Lynn PIERINGER, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, State.

No. 2-03-017-CR.

Court of Appeals of Texas, Fort Worth.

June 17, 2004.

Appeal from the Criminal District Court No. 1, Tarrant County, Sharen Wilson, J Lisa Mullen, Fort Worth, for Appellant.

Tim Curry, Criminal District Attorney, Charles M. Mallin, Debra Ann Windsor, Lloyd Whelchel and Alana Minton, Asst. Criminal District Attorneys, Fort Worth, for State.

Panel B: HOLMAN, GARDNER, and WALKER, JJ.

OPINION

DIXON W. HOLMAN, Justice.

Appellant Deborah Lynn Pieringer appeals her capital murder conviction, arguing that 1) her trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance of counsel and 2) the evidence is factually and legally insufficient to support her conviction.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Loyd Courtney worked for the Fort Worth Police Department for approximately fifty years. He first served as a member of the police department and later became a fingerprint expert. On November 2, 2001, neighbors noticed that Mr. Courtney did not leave for his afternoon shift at the police department. At approximately 5:30 p.m., Officer Mike Galusha was called out to the Courtneys' home to perform a welfare check. After obtaining entry into the home with a neighbor's key, Galusha discovered the bodies of Mr. Courtney and his wife Agnes, which had been beaten with four cast-iron skillets, stabbed, and cut with a knife. Mr. Courtney was found on the kitchen floor near the dining room table with a typed note resting on his thigh. The note, implying that the murders were revenge for Mr. Courtney's role in sending a defendant to prison in his capacity as a fingerprint analyst with the Fort Worth Police Department, had a paring knife inserted through it. Mrs. Courtney was found in a back bedroom lying face down in a pool of blood. The medical examiner testified that Mr. Courtney suffered at least seven cut wounds, twelve stab wounds, and seventeen blunt force trauma injuries on his body. Likewise, Mrs. Courtney had seven cut wounds, fifteen stab wounds, and seventeen blunt force trauma injuries.

The police found the pieces of four cast-iron skillets, which were shattered in the attacks, as well as a broken end table. There were no signs of forced entry into the home and all the doors were locked. In the kitchen, the wire to the telephone had been cut, and in one of the bedrooms, the wire to the caller identification box had been cut and the computer dumped on the floor. An analysis of the computer showed that Microsoft Word was accessed at 9:57 a.m., that it was the only program used on the computer that day, and that a document was sent to the printer at 10:01 a.m. The computer was shutdown at 11:19 a.m.

The police found grocery bags, with the groceries still inside, sitting on the kitchen floor and the contents of Mrs. Courtney's purse spread out on a credenza in the kitchen. The Courtneys' trash was dumped out onto the floor in the utility room and the liner from the trash can was missing. Back in one of the bedrooms where Mr. Courtney apparently kept his things, the room was undisturbed except for one dresser drawer that was pulled out and dumped onto the floor. Although the police found several wallets in that room, they did not recover a wallet with a driver's license or insurance card that would indicate the wallet was being used by Mr. Courtney at the time of his murder. No blood was found in any of the sinks or bathtubs in the house. Crime scene search unit officer Patrick Gass also testified that all of the sinks and bathtubs were dry, leading him to conclude that if the killer washed up after the murders, it was not in the bathrooms or the kitchen sink.

Appellant is the Courtneys' daughter. According to Appellant, she arrived at her parents' home around 8:15 or 8:30 on the morning of the murders to collect a receipt for some trees purchased by Mrs. Courtney as a gift for Appellant's husband, Paul Pieringer. When she arrived, Mr. Courtney was playing on the computer and Mrs. Courtney was away from home running errands. Mrs. Courtney returned home around 9:30 a.m. and Appellant left about an hour later.

Dr. Maria Abalos, a veterinarian living behind the Courtneys, worked overnight shifts and typically slept during the day. On November 2, 2001, Dr. Abalos went to sleep around 10:00 a.m. only to be awakened sometime before 1:00 p.m. by her two dogs' constant barking. Despite being well-trained dogs, they would not come to Dr. Abalos when she called them. After several attempts to call the dogs, Dr. Abalos walked to the edge of her backyard to retrieve one of the dogs. When she reached the dog, she noticed that it was barking at a man in the Courtneys' backyard wearing blue coveralls. After the Courtneys' bodies were discovered, Dr. Abalos assisted police in drawing a composite of the man she saw in the backyard.

Appellant was arrested after DNA tests revealed that her blood was found in six different places inside the Courtneys' house. Police officers testified that in their discussions with Appellant, and later at the Courtneys' funeral, they noticed cuts on her hand and bruises on her arms consistent with someone grabbing Appellant's arms. Appellant explained the bruises by claiming that she fell down the stairs as she was leaving her home to pick up her daughter from school on the day of the murders. Appellant testified that the blood came from a cut on her hand received while doing dishes at her home and reopened while doing dishes at the Courtneys' house. The State did not produce any evidence that it found blood in Appellant's vehicle, on her clothes, or in any other location that would further connect her to the crime.

The State produced a handwritten itinerary found in Appellant's home that outlined her activities on the day of the murders. Appellant wrote in the itinerary that she arrived at her parent's home around 10:00 a.m. and left shortly thereafter, contradicting her testimony that she arrived at the Courtneys' house between 8:15 and 8:30 a.m. In the itinerary, Appellant stated that she cut her finger on a knife while washing dishes and then later ripped the cut open while picking up rocks in her yard. The police also searched Appellant's car and found a book in the trunk entitled, "How to Live and Die with Texas Probate."

Appellant and her husband admitted that they relied on the Courtneys for financial support for many years. The State, contending that Appellant was motivated by money, offered evidence that Appellant was a beneficiary of the Courtneys' estate and stood to inherit approximately $225,000. After a four-day trial, a jury found Appellant guilty of capital murder and the trial court sentenced her to life in prison.

INEFFECTIVE ASSISTANCE OF COUNSEL

In Appellant's first issue, she argues that her trial counsel was ineffective in 1) failing to discuss any area of law applicable to the case or probation eligibility during voir dire, 2) failing to ask questions during voir dire that were designed to enable an intelligent exercise of peremptory strikes or challenges for cause, 3) failing to properly investigate defenses, obtain expert witnesses, and examine the State's evidence, 4) failing to request the lesser included offense of murder in the jury charge, and 5) failing to object to numerous objectionable and inadmissible items throughout the trial.

We apply a two-pronged test to ineffective assistance of counsel claims. Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 687, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 2064, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984); Thompson v. State, 9 S.W.3d 808, 812 (Tex.Crim.App.1999). First, Appellant must show that her counsel's performance was deficient; second, Appellant must show the deficient performance prejudiced the defense. Strickland, 466 U.S. at 687, 104 S.Ct. at 2064.

In evaluating the effectiveness of counsel under the first prong, we look to the totality of the representation and the particular circumstances of each case. Thompson, 9 S.W.3d at 813. The issue is whether counsel's assistance was reasonable under all the circumstances and prevailing professional norms at the time of the alleged error. Strickland, 466 U.S. at 688-89, 104 S.Ct. at 2065. "[C]ounsel is strongly presumed to have rendered adequate assistance and made all significant decisions in the exercise of reasonable professional judgment." Id. at 690, 104 S.Ct. at 2066. An allegation of ineffective assistance must be firmly founded in the record, and the record must affirmatively demonstrate the alleged ineffectiveness. Thompson, 9 S.W.3d at 814. Our scrutiny of counsel's performance must be highly deferential, and every effort must be made to eliminate the distorting effects of hindsight. Strickland, 466 U.S. at 689, 104 S.Ct. at 2065.

The second prong of Strickland requires a showing that counsel's errors were so serious that they deprived the defendant of a fair trial, i.e., a trial whose result is reliable. Id. at 687, 104 S.Ct. at 2064. In other words, appellant must show there is a reasonable probability that, but for counsel's unprofessional errors, the result of the proceeding would have been different. Id. at 694, 104 S.Ct. at 2068. A reasonable probability is a probability sufficient to undermine confidence in the outcome. Id. The ultimate focus of our inquiry must be on the fundamental fairness of the proceeding whose result is being challenged. Id. at 697, 104 S.Ct. at 2070.

The defendant bears the burden to prove ineffective assistance of counsel by a preponderance of the evidence. Thompson, 9 S.W.3d at 813. A defendant must overcome the presumption that, under the circumstances, the challenged action might be considered sound trial strategy. Gamble v. State, 916 S.W.2d 92, 93 (Tex.App.-Houston [1st Dist.] 1996, no pet.). The defendant's burden is even more difficult when, as in this case, the defendant does not file a motion for new trial asserting ineffective assistance of counsel. See Jackson v. State, 973 S.W.2d...