Pyles v. State
| Decision Date | 01 June 1988 |
| Docket Number | No. 69091,69091 |
| Citation | 755 S.W.2d 98 |
| Parties | Johnny Dean PYLES, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee. |
| Court | Texas Court of Criminal Appeals |
Appellant was convicted of capital murder. See V.T.C.A., Penal Code Sec. 19.02(a)(1). After the jury made affirmative answers to the three special issues submitted under Art. 37.071, V.A.C.C.P., the trial court imposed the penalty of death by lethal injection. This case is before us on direct appeal.
The appellant presents us with fifteen points of error. A review of the facts is necessary.
During the early morning hours of June 20, 1982, Dallas County Sheriff's officer Ray Kovar was shot to death while investigating a suspected burglary. Kovar and his partner, Dwaine Crain, arrived at Landers Grocery Store in response to a call for a backup from Officer Charles Mitchell. The time was approximately 1:00 a.m. After Kovar and Crain secured the building, the three officers began a search of the area.
Mitchell saw Kovar walk around the east side of the building, with a flashlight in his left hand and his pistol in his right hand. Crain took a shotgun and went to the west side of the building to search there. Mitchell and Crain both heard Kovar tell someone, "Halt, get up." Then a series of gunshots were fired. Mitchell ran to help Kovar, and found Kovar lying face down.
Crain heard Mitchell shout that Kovar was down. Crain called in a report on his radio, of an officer being down, to his dispatcher before joining Mitchell. Crain noticed that Kovar's flashlight was turned on. Crain watched two Mesquite Police Officers unsuccessfully attempt to resuscitate Kovar, who had a gunshot wound to the chest. Crain believed that Kovar was dead at the scene. Several officers searched the scene of the shooting, but they were unable to locate a suspect.
Richard Hart was a reserve deputy sheriff who was called out to assist in the search for the person who killed Officer Kovar. He set up surveillance in an unmarked car almost two miles from the scene of the shooting. Around 4:00 a.m., Hart saw a white male, the appellant, walking toward him on Collins Road. He immediately radioed a description of the man to the dispatcher (muddy and torn clothing), and then left the car, pointing his flashlight and pistol at the appellant and ordering him to halt. At first, the appellant turned around and took several steps back the way he came. Hart again ordered appellant to stop, saying, "One more step and that's it." Appellant turned around and raised his hands. He told Hart that he was not armed. Hart ordered the appellant to lie face down on the road. He noticed that appellant's right hand was swollen, and that the appellant was bloody and covered with mud. Hart handcuffed the appellant and placed him in the back seat of the car so that appellant was lying face down. Hart recited the appellant's Miranda warnings to him on the way to the Sunnyvale Substation. The appellant indicated that he understood his rights. At the substation, Hart turned his prisoner over to Lieutenant Walter Potts, who took charge of the investigation.
Tom Boardman was a Dallas County Night Magistrate at the time of the shooting. At 4:00 a.m. he was called and requested to go to the Sunnyvale Substation. Upon arrival, Boardman noticed that the area was crowded with automobiles and police officers. Boardman found the appellant in the library. To the magistrate, the appellant was disheveled and looked like he'd been "run through a couple of barbed wire fences." The appellant told Boardman his name and date of birth. Boardman then gave the appellant his Miranda warnings. He advised the appellant that he was being charged with capital murder, which was punishable by life imprisonment or death.
The magistrate asked the appellant if he was in pain and if he wanted to go to the hospital. The appellant did not ask for medical attention and did not complain of being in pain. Boardman observed a paramedic take the appellant's blood pressure, then bandage the appellant's hand and elevate his arm. Boardman asked the appellant if he was up to talking to the police. The appellant responded affirmatively and Boardman left for a brief period.
Boardman returned to witness the signing of a statement by the appellant. He informed the appellant that he did not have to sign the statement. According to Boardman, the appellant replied, The appellant then signed the statement with his left hand. This was the appellant's first signed statement, which was admitted into evidence as State's Exhibit No. 44.
Afterward, Sergeant Larry Williams of the Dallas County Sheriff's Office, interrogated the appellant. A second statement was prepared based on the conversation between appellant and Sergeant Williams. Appellant signed this statement, which was admitted into evidence as State's Exhibit No. 46.
The medical examiner testified that the cause of death of Officer Kovar was a gunshot wound to his chest. A .38 calibre bullet was removed from the body of the deceased. An officer from the Physical Evidence Section of the Sheriff's Office testified about the scene of the shooting. He explained that a .357 magnum pistol was found where Officer Kovar fell. There were six fired hulls in the weapon. A .38 calibre pistol, found twenty-seven feet from Officer Kovar, contained four fired hulls and one empty chamber. Both weapons had been completely emptied by firing.
The appellant testified in his own behalf, explaining that he was not aware at the time of the shooting that the deceased was a police officer. Appellant claimed that he acted in self-defense, after he saw a flashlight and a gun pointing at him and after he heard a voice telling him to "halt," when he began exchanging gunfire with the deceased.
We will affirm the conviction.
In his sixth point of error, the appellant argues that the trial court erred when it failed to make findings of fact and conclusions of law concerning the admissibility of the appellant's two confessions. This Court granted the State's motion to supplement the record with the findings of fact and conclusions of law, which were filed with the Clerk of this Court on March 26, 1986. This point of error is now moot.
In his tenth point of error, the appellant argues that the trial court erred when it failed to sustain his challenges for cause to venireperson W.P. Ricamore. Appellant states that Ricamore was unable to consider the full range of punishment for the offense appellant was charged with. This argument results from an answer by Ricamore during voir dire that he could not consider the minimum punishment of five years unless the accused was convicted of committing an accidental murder. The State concedes that Ricamore made those statements early during his voir dire, but argues that Ricamore was rehabilitated so that he could consider the full range of punishment.
To assess a prospective juror's capacity to consider the full range of punishment, we must examine the juror's testimony as a whole. Pierce v. State, 604 S.W.2d 185 (Tex.Cr.App.1980); Cuevas v. State, 575 S.W.2d 543 (Tex.Cr.App.1978); Vigneault v. State, 600 S.W.2d 318 (Tex.Cr.App.1980); and Porter v. State, 623 S.W.2d 374 (Tex.Cr.App.1981).
In reviewing the testimony of the venireperson, we must determine if Ricamore's view of the range of punishment amounted to a bias or prejudice against the law. See Art. 35.16(b)(3) and (c)(2), V.A.C.C.P. The following exchanges and statements occurred during the voir dire of Ricamore:
"Q. (State's Counsel): You know, it might be a one-in-a-hundred case or a one-in-a-thousand case, but if it came down the pipe and you saw that case and you said to yourself, , could you do it?
A. Yes.
Q. Or a ten or a fifteen?
A. Whatever it warrants.
Q. Or an eighty or a ninety or whatever it warrants? Are you with me there on how we're talking about open mindedness?
A. Yes.
Q. Do you have any problem with that?
A. No."
Later, the attorney for the appellant asked more questions regarding Ricamore's impression of the range of punishment.
"Q. (Defense Counsel): I'll not go through the whole question again with you, but I think you see what I'm asking. Having found the Defendant guilty of the offense of murder for the voluntary, intentional killing of a Deputy Sheriff but having a reasonable doubt or believing the State has failed to prove that the Defendant at the time of the shooting knew the deceased was a Deputy Sheriff, could you in the proper case and under the proper circumstances after hearing all the facts brought out by either side consider and give a sentence of the minimum five years in the Texas Department of Corrections if you believed it to be the proper thing to do?
* * *
* * *
A. No. If it's murder, I think he should have more than five years period.
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Q. (Defense Counsel): Also in a murder case having found the defendant guilty of murder could you, after taking all the facts and circumstances into consideration and if you thought it proper, could you in the proper case consider and give the minimum of five years in the Texas Department of Corrections?
A. No."
The State then attempted to question Ricamore further on the range of punishment. After the State's attorney began the attempt at rehabilitation, Ricamore made the following statement:
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