Quinones v. State, 62117
Decision Date | 09 January 1980 |
Docket Number | No. 62117,62117 |
Citation | 592 S.W.2d 933 |
Parties | John Henry QUINONES, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee. |
Court | Texas Court of Criminal Appeals |
This is an appeal from a conviction for capital murder. The punishment is death.
Appellant raises various grounds of error stemming from the use of a tape recording of a conversation between appellant and an accomplice. Appellant also claims that the indictment is duplicitous, that the court erred in refusing to order discovery or independent examination of a pistol, that the charge to the jury on guilt failed to define the offense, that evidence of an extraneous offense was improperly admitted in the punishment phase, and that the charge to the jury on punishment was insufficient.
The evidence, which is sufficient to support the conviction, will be summarized so the matters discussed may be more clearly understood. On the afternoon of June 15, 1978, appellant and Robert Leal visited Simonia Sendejo at her home. Both Leal and Sendejo noticed that appellant was carrying a pistol. Appellant left the Sendejo house but soon returned in a neighborhood ice cream truck. The truck, which the appellant had hijacked, was being driven by Mohammed Ali Vahdat.
Appellant waved Leal and Sendejo over to the truck and told them to get in. Appellant forced Vahdat to begin driving to a Houston-area drive-in theater. During the drive, appellant pocketed the money in the truck, took Vahdat's money, watch and wallet, appropriated a tape player, and struck Vahdat with a gun. Appellant then told Leal to drive and forced Vahdat to the back of the truck. Appellant struck Vahdat repeatedly during the remainder of the trip to the theater.
At the theater, appellant told everyone that because he was on parole and did not want to return to jail he would have to kill Vahdat. Sendejo fled. Leal also abandoned the truck and saw it leave the theater. About thirty minutes later the appellant returned in the truck and informed Leal that he had sexually assaulted Vahdat. Other witnesses overheard Vahdat moaning and pleading for his life.
Appellant ignored attempts by the theater staff to dissuade him from killing Vahdat. Accompanied by Gilbert Mendez and Richard Wayne Collins, who both followed him in another vehicle, appellant drove the ice cream truck away from the theater. Late that evening the abandoned ice cream truck was found by police. The next day, the body of Mohammed Ali Vahdat was discovered in a wooded area outside the Houston city limits. The cause of death was a gunshot wound to the head. No weapon or bullets were found at the scene. Expert testimony indicated that the fatal bullet could have ranged from .25 to .38 in caliber.
News of the death appeared in the newspapers. After reading the news an acquaintance of appellant, Christina Rosas, asked appellant about it. She testified that appellant admitted the killing, laughed about it and stated:
On June 17, Richard Wayne Collins was apprehended on unrelated charges at a Houston motel. Collins gave the police a 7.65 mm. automatic pistol which he said did not belong to him. Other testimony identified this pistol as the one being carried by appellant on June 15, although the witness, Robert Leal, described the pistol as being a .32 caliber automatic pistol. During questioning, Collins began giving information about the Vahdat murder. On June 22, Collins agreed to wear a tape recorder in an effort to secure a taped conversation between Collins and appellant about the crime. After receiving the tape of this conversation, the police arrested appellant for capital murder.
Appellant was indicted on July 12. On July 20, the trial court held a hearing on appellant's pretrial motions. Paragraph (b) of appellant's motion for pretrial discovery asked for discovery of "all recorded statements allegedly made by the Defendant, if any continuing . . . ." At the hearing the court, in reviewing the motion, engaged in the following colloquy:
The discovery request was denied. Although appellant himself was aware of the existence of the tape from the time of his arrest, his attorneys first learned of the tape from Collins' attorney on September 13.
On September 18, the first day of trial, appellant attempted to move for production of the tape recording. The trial judge refused to hear the motion since he held that it was untimely filed. On September 25 the State introduced testimony about how the tape recording was obtained and made. The next day, appellant filed a motion for continuance, requesting additional time to examine the tape, and a motion for court appointment of an independent expert to examine the tape. Both of these motions were denied.
Portions of the tape were played before the jury during the guilt phase of the trial and the entire tape was played during the punishment phase. The tape contained a fifteen second tapeover which, according to the State's witnesses, was caused by an officer accidentally pressing the "record" button on the machine. The recorded conversation, in pertinent part and including the tapeover, was as follows:
To continue reading
Request your trial-
Smith v. State
...extraneous offenses are admissible at the penalty stage of a capital murder trial absent a showing of unfair surprise. Quinones v. State, 592 S.W.2d 933 (Tex.Cr.App.1980), cert. den. 449 U.S. 893, 101 S.Ct. 256, 66 L.Ed.2d 121; Crawford v. State, 617 S.W.2d 925 (Tex.Cr.App.1980); Rumbaugh v......
-
Smith v. State
...extraneous offenses are admissible at the penalty stage of a capital murder trial absent showing of unfair surprise. Quinones v. State, 592 S.W.2d 933 (Tex.Cr.App.1980), cert. den. 449 U.S. 893, 101 S.Ct. 256, 66 L.Ed.2d 121; Crawford v. State, 617 S.W.2d 925 (Tex.Cr.App.1980); Rumbaugh v. ......
-
Allridge v. State
...extraneous offenses are admissible at the penalty stage of a capital murder trial absent showing of unfair surprise. Quinones v. State, 592 S.W.2d 933 (Tex.Cr.App.1980), cert. den. 101 S.Ct. 256 ; Crawford v. State, 617 S.W.2d 925 (Tex.Cr.App.1980); Rumbaugh v. State, 629 S.W.2d 747 (Tex.Cr......
-
Nethery v. State
...stage of a capital murder trial absent a showing of unfair surprise. Smith v. State, 683 S.W.2d 393 (Tex.Cr.App.1984); Quinones v. State, 592 S.W.2d 933 (Tex.Cr.App.1980); Crawford v. State, 617 S.W.2d 925 (Tex.Cr.App.1980). Admission of these offenses does not render proceedings fundamenta......
-
Discovery
...is left to the discretion of the trial judge. McBride v. State, 838 S.W.2d 248 (Tex. Crim. App. 1992), citing Quinones v. State, 592 S.W.2d 933 (Tex. Crim. App. 1980). Appellate courts will not disturb a trial judge’s decision under Art. 39.14 absent an abuse of discretion. McBride. However......
-
Table of Cases
...2006), §§12:71.3, 12:71.4, 12:71.5 Quertermous v. State, 52 S.W.3d 862 (Tex.App.—Fort Worth 2001, no pet .), §22:10 Quinones v. State, 592 S.W.2d 933 (Tex. Crim. App. 1980), §§6:73.2, 13:12, 13:13.2, 13:35 Quiroz v. State, 764 S.W.2d 395 (Tex.App.—Fort Worth 1989, pet. ref’d ), §§15:24.2.6,......
-
Discovery Motions
...that a Defendant does not have a general right to discover evidence in possession of the state prior to trial. Quinones v. State, 592 S.W.2d 933 (Tex.Cr.App. 1980). Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Art. 39.14 controls discovery of evidence in criminal cases. Art. 39.14 states that “… upon m......
-
Confessions
...if the alteration is sufficiently explained such that the reliability and trustworthiness of the recording are intact. Quinones v. State, 592 S.W.2d 933 (Tex. Crim. App. 1980). Where brief interruptions in the tape recording occur accidentally, obscuring nothing of value in the dialogue, an......