Rodriguez-Olivas v. State, 02-13-00520-CR
| Decision Date | 15 October 2015 |
| Docket Number | NO. 02-13-00520-CR,02-13-00520-CR |
| Parties | JUAN MANUEL RODRIGUEZ-OLIVAS APPELLANT v. THE STATE OF TEXAS STATE |
| Court | Texas Court of Appeals |
FROM THE 235TH DISTRICT COURT OF COOKE COUNTY
Appellant Juan Manuel Rodriguez-Olivas appeals his conviction for murder while using a deadly weapon, to-wit: a knife.2 In five points, Rodriguez-Olivasargues that the trial court erred by overruling his motion to suppress evidence; that the evidence was insufficient to support the jury's verdict that he did not act in sudden passion when he stabbed his girlfriend, Linda Barrett, to death; and that the State misstated the law at the punishment phase and that this misstatement was harmful. We will affirm.
Shaun Kaufman and his girlfriend, Sandra Mozingo, were working on his car on June 15, 2012. As they test-drove the car, Kaufman saw Rodriguez-Olivas, whom Kaufman knew as an acquaintance through his friend Barrett. Kaufman knew Rodriquez-Olivas as "Juan" and also by his street name, "Mickey." Kaufman also knew his friend Barrett as both Linda Barrett and Linda Burns—she had previously been married to his friend. Kaufman learned that Rodriguez-Olivas's car had broken down and offered to assist.
From there, the three drove to Rodriguez-Olivas's trailer home in order to retrieve some jumper cables. Because Rodriguez-Olivas insisted that he wanted to show Kaufman something, Kaufman followed Rodriguez-Olivas into the trailer home. While there, Rodriguez-Olivas took Kaufman to his bedroom, unlocked a closet, stated something to the effect of "she's going to get [me] caught up," and showed Kaufman a dead body that had been wrapped with some type of plastic wrap in a chair.
Kaufman testified at trial that he was "speechless" as these events transpired and that he knew the body was Barrett's. After Rodriguez-Olivasshowed him the body, Kaufman left the trailer home immediately and went back to his car. "I walked off," Kaufman testified. Rodriguez-Olivas followed, and Kaufman gave him a ride back to his car. During the ride, Rodriguez-Olivas showed Kaufman a gun that was tucked into his waistband. After jump-starting Rodriguez-Olivas's car, Kaufman left. En route to his house, Kaufman stopped along the way and told Mozingo what had just happened. The two then retrieved some clothes from Kaufman's house and drove to the apartment of Kaufman's mother, where Kaufman took a Xanax and then proceeded to call 911. Kaufman averred that he went to his mother's apartment to call 911 because he feared that Rodriguez-Olivas might come try to find him at his own residence.
After identifying who he was and where he was calling from, Kaufman told the 911 operator that a man named "Juan" who lived on a street named "Truelove" had just showed him the dead body of his friend "Linda Burns." Not knowing the exact address, he also described Rodriguez-Olivas's trailer home to the 911 operator. According to Kaufman, Rodriguez-Olivas's trailer home was the "only one like it on the block." Kaufman said that he called within thirty minutes of Rodriguez-Olivas's having shown him the body. From there, responding Officer Chris Jones of the Gainesville Police Department drove Kaufman to the police station, where he gave interviews to Jones and Sergeant Daniel Orr. The record indicates that Kaufman arrived at the police station at 5:00 p.m. While there, Kaufman gave a more detailed account of whatRodriquez-Olivas had shown him, including telling them that the closet where he saw Barrett's body was locked with a padlock.
Orr testified that, based on Kaufman's 911 call, he generated "call notes" and broadcast them to all available officers. Orr said that the call notes also included information regarding previous calls made to the police that involved Rodriguez-Olivas and a "Linda Barrett." Orr said that during the time he interviewed Kaufman, other officers had detained Rodriguez-Olivas and had obtained consent to search his residence. Orr said that based on Kaufman's call and interview, he had already begun the process of obtaining a search warrant. Thus, Orr said that he instructed the officers to wait for the search warrant if they smelled the odor of a decomposing body upon entering the trailer home.
Gainesville Police Investigator Jack Jones, who was on duty assisting with the patrol division on June 15, 2012, read the call notes on his mobile computer. Jones testified that he knew "Juan Rodriguez" from previous law-enforcement interactions. From these interactions, Jones also knew that "Juan Rodriguez" lived on Truelove Street and that he dated a woman named "Linda." Jones also knew the make and model of Rodriguez-Olivas's vehicle. Jones went to Rodriguez-Olivas's trailer home and set up surveillance in an attempt to locate Rodriguez-Olivas's vehicle. Jones said that he intended to have a consensual encounter with Rodriguez-Olivas or wait for him to violate some state law in order to stop and question him about Kaufman's report. Jones soon saw Rodriguez-Olivas's silver Lincoln Town Car. Unable to stop the vehicle, Jones questioned aman who had exited the vehicle shortly after Jones saw it. The man told Jones that he did not know the name of the male who was driving the vehicle but that he knew the name of the driver's passenger, "Linda." When Jones asked whether the man was armed, the man expressed that because he was a felon, he could not have a gun, but that he did not know whether the driver of the vehicle had one.
Soon after seeing Rodriguez-Olivas's vehicle the first time, and as Jones and Sergeant John Frith of the Gainesville Police Department talked from their patrol units outside of the trailer home, Rodriguez-Olivas's vehicle drove down Truelove Street again. According to Jones, Frith followed Rodriquez-Olivas and conducted a traffic stop. The record indicates that the traffic stop occurred at 5:07 p.m.
Jones proceeded to the location where Frith had stopped Rodriguez-Olivas. Jones said that upon arriving, Frith informed him that there was possibly a "black pistol" in the vehicle. According to Jones, shortly after he arrived at the traffic-stop location, he requested Rodriguez-Olivas's consent to search the vehicle. Jones said that Rodriquez-Olivas consented. Jones also testified that he later asked Rodriquez-Olivas for consent to search the trailer home, to which Rodriquez-Olivas purportedly stated, "[S]ure, I guess." Jones further averred that Rodriquez-Olivas granted consent to search the closet once Jones, Rodriquez-Olivas, and Frith were inside the trailer home. Inside the closet, Jones foundBarrett's body as Kaufman had described—deceased, sitting in a chair, and wrapped with some type of plastic wrap.
In a video taken from Jones's in-car camera, Jones can be seen addressing Rodriguez-Olivas shortly after Frith had made the traffic stop and Rodriguez-Olivas had exited the vehicle. Jones initially asked Rodriguez-Olivas about the person he dropped off earlier. Jones can also be heard saying to Rodriguez-Olivas, "You're sweating profusely."
It is evident from the video that Jones and Rodriguez-Olivas were familiar with each other. At one point, Jones even wiped Rodriguez-Olivas's brow to remove sweat, and Rodriguez-Olivas can be heard saying, "I appreciate it." Jones can then be heard stating to Rodriguez-Olivas, "Juan, you're nervous," to which Rodriguez-Olivas's can be heard replying, "I'm just hot, man." Jones can next be heard asking, "Do you have any dope on you?" Rodriguez-Olivas responded "I've got my pills." At that time, and only three minutes into the stop, Jones asked Rodriguez-Olivas, Yet again, Jones asked, "You don't mind if I take a look?" Rodriguez-Olivas's response is inaudible, but Jones can next be heard stating, "Alright, step right back here to the rear of the vehicle." Rodriguez-Olivas complied, and Jones began searching the vehicle.
In his search of the vehicle, Jones found a bottle containing over 100 hydrocodone pills. According to statements made by Jones in the video, the bottle's label had been partially torn off. Jones can be heard asking Rodriguez-Olivas, "What are these?" And Rodriguez-Olivas can be heard replying, "Those are my pain pills." There is also an exchange between Jones and Rodriguez-Olivas in the video wherein Rodriguez-Olivas explained to Jones that the receipt for the pills was in the vehicle. Jones can be heard a short time later explaining to a fellow officer that too many pills were missing from the prescription relevant to the fill date and that he suspected Rodriguez-Olivas might be selling them.
Jones also discovered a black BB gun in the vehicle. At one point, Jones can be heard discussing with another officer how "real" the BB gun appeared. Jones also discovered a credit card with the name "Linda Barrett" on it. From there, eleven minutes after the stop, Jones began to focus his attention on finding out the identity of the passenger, who, as Jones can be heard stating in the video, "Ironically, is [named], Linda." Jones can be heard asking the passenger, later determined to be Linda Kuykendall, what different last names she could be known by. He then further questioned her about her identity and whether she had ever been arrested before. Kuykendall's answers are less than clear and, at times, are non-responsive ramblings. Jones can be heard declaring to her at one point, "I need one-word answers."
Jones can further be heard expressing to Kuykendall that she was not under arrest or in any "trouble" but that the officers were "looking for a Linda, to make sure she is okay" and that they needed to determine if she was that Linda. Jones stated to Kuykendall, During his exchange with Kuykendall, Jones can also be heard expressing to her that he thought she was under the...
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