Ruiz v. State

Decision Date30 July 2021
Docket NumberNo. 11-18-00267-CR,11-18-00267-CR
Citation631 S.W.3d 841
Parties Bobby Ray RUIZ, Appellant v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee
CourtTexas Court of Appeals

Allison Clayton, Richard L. Wardroup, Lubbock, for Appellant.

Philip Mack Furlow, District Attorney, Charles M. Mallin, Fort Worth, for Appellee.

Panel consists of: Bailey, C.J., Trotter, J., and Williams, J.

W. STACY TROTTER, JUSTICE

The State charged Appellant, Bobby Ray Ruiz, with two counts of capital murder for causing the deaths of John Allen and Jay Doyal during the commission of a robbery. See TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. §§ 19.02(b)(1) (West 2019), 19.03(a)(2) (West Supp. 2020). The jury found him guilty on both counts. Because the State did not seek the death penalty, the trial court sentenced Appellant to life imprisonment without parole for each count. See PENAL § 12.31(a)(2); TEX. CODE CRIM. PROC. ANN. art. 37.071, § 1 (West Supp. 2020). Appellant now raises thirteen issues on appeal. We affirm.

I. Factual Background

This case originated in 2011 in Hobbs, New Mexico, at the house that Linda Taber inherited when her parents passed away. Taber and her daughter, Lori Craig, lived at the house with Taber's aunt, who had inherited some diamond rings from Taber's mother, Estella Collum. Trent Ashlock was a friend of Craig's and an addict; he also temporarily resided at the house as Craig's clandestine guest. Before Taber's aunt passed away, Ashlock found a bag in one of the bathrooms at the house; the bag contained three diamond rings. Ashlock took the rings and went to Rolando "Rollie" Cantu's house in Hobbs, where Ashlock attempted to trade them for methamphetamine. Instead, Cantu kept the rings, and Ashlock never received any drugs in exchange for them.

Cantu initially gave one of the three diamond rings to his girlfriend, and the mother of his son, Desirae Mata. At some point, Cantu took the ring back from Mata and brought the three rings that he obtained from Ashlock to Allen's house near Seminole, Texas. Joanie Pannell, a resident of Hobbs, lived with Allen at the time, and Cantu showed Pannell and Allen the diamond rings to determine whether Ashlock had taken them from Allen's house or whether the rings belonged to Pannell. In Cantu's presence, Pannell said that the rings were hers, but she later told Allen, after Cantu had left, that they were not. Ultimately, Cantu left the rings with Allen, who agreed to fence them for Cantu. Pannell also told Allen that he should get rid of the rings right away and suggested that he try to fence them in New York City.

In December of 2011, Allen flew to New York City with another individual, Nathan Webster, to sell the rings there. While they were in New York City, Allen sold the three rings for $73,000. Allen spent some of the proceeds from the sale on a 2004 Maserati. Allen and Webster drove home to Texas in the Maserati. Later, Allen and Webster split the rest of the money from the sale of the diamond rings.

In the meantime, Cantu was sentenced to a term of imprisonment, and Mata moved in with Allen in January of 2012 after Allen returned from New York City. Mata knew that Allen had sold the diamond rings in New York City, and Allen told her that he had received $60,000 for them. Mata was angry because Allen had sold "[her] diamond." Cantu wrote to Allen from prison about some money that Allen was to give to Mata; however, Mata never received any money from Allen. Mata's romantic involvement with Allen ended in April of 2012.

Around that time, Allen and Webster installed a four-camera security system at Allen's house. Allen had become paranoid because someone had attempted to break into his house once while he was out of town; Allen later told Webster that he suspected that Appellant was the one who tried to break in. Allen had also indicated to Pannell that his cousin had presented a job opportunity for Allen in Oklahoma, and others later noticed that Allen's house was packed up as though he intended to move.

On May 9, 2012, the day before Allen and Doyal were murdered, Mata and Cantu spoke on the phone. Mata testified that, during their phone conversation, Mata told Cantu: "That was my diamond. My diamond. F--k that. I don't give a damn about the money. That was my diamond.... F--k him. That was bulls--t. People die over diamonds. I don't give a damn." To agitate Cantu, Mata then claimed that Allen had been paid $90,000 for the diamond rings that were sold in New York City, and she repeatedly called Cantu a "fool" for trusting Allen. Mata told Cantu that Allen was getting ready to move to Oklahoma, so she would never see any of the money that she was due from him. Mata also mentioned to Cantu that Appellant, who had been shot on May 2, 2012 during an unrelated event, was no longer in the hospital.

On May 10, 2012, Texas Ranger Brian Burney received a phone call from Gaines County Sheriff Jon Key about a double homicide in Seminole. Apparently, Allen and Doyal had been shot and killed at Allen's house. Allen's body was found in a child's bedroom toward the back of the house, and Doyal's body was found in the living room. Doyal had been shot in the head and chest, and a cigarette lighter and a methamphetamine pipe were found in one of his hands. Autopsies were performed and revealed that both men had methamphetamine in their systems at the time of their deaths. A red cigarette lighter was also found on the living room windowsill. DNA was extracted from the red lighter, and the DNA test results could not exclude Appellant as a possible contributor to the DNA profile, which was determined to be a mixture of four individuals. However, the tested DNA sample did exclude Allen and Doyal as possible contributors.

Detective Rodney Porter worked in the Crimes Investigation Division at the Hobbs Police Department at the time these events occurred. From May to August of 2012, Detective Porter assisted Sheriff Key and Ranger Burney in the investigation of the Allen and Doyal murders. Detective Porter learned that Sheriff Key and Ranger Burney were searching for four individuals in connection with the murder investigation: Desirae Mata,1 Juan Castillo,2 Nicomedes Sosa,3 and Appellant.

A. Desirae Mata

Mata was friends with Sosa and Appellant, whom she had known since she was fifteen or sixteen years old. Two months after Allen and Doyal were murdered, Mata went to Alabama, where she was subsequently arrested in Shelby County. While she was there, she was confined in the Shelby County jail in the same cell block as Angie Brown. According to Brown, Mata spoke extensively to her about the murders of Allen and Doyal when Mata would visit Brown in her cell. Because Brown often wrote letters while she was in her cell, Mata was unaware that Brown was taking notes as Mata told her details about the murders. As Mata told Brown about the murders of Allen and Doyal, Mata mentioned the names "Smoke [Juan Castillo], Bobby [Appellant] and Dan Dan [Sosa]." Brown testified that because Allen owed Mata's "baby daddy [Cantu] some money," Mata and the others went to Allen's house to collect the money so that Mata could later deposit the money into Cantu's prison account. Mata also told Brown that Doyal "was an innocent bystander that got shot," that Allen and Doyal were shot in the head, that Sosa was the shooter, and that Juan4 had removed the surveillance equipment from Allen's house.

Additionally, Mata told Brown that she and Appellant attempted to break into Allen's house two weeks before Allen and Doyal were murdered so that Appellant could return some guns that they had stolen. Mata expressed concern that the surveillance footage from Allen's house would show that she had shut off the power to the house during the attempted break-in. Brown further testified that Appellant "ran over some girl" named Abigail while Mata was with him in Hobbs but that Appellant "beat it because it was accidentally [sic] or something."

When Mata testified at Appellant's trial, she denied involvement in, and conversing with Brown about, the murders of Allen and Doyal.

B. Juan Castillo

A week after Allen and Doyal were murdered, Juan appeared at David Delapaz's house and said that "he had to get something off his chest." Juan told Delapaz that he, Mata, Sosa, and Appellant drove to Allen's house in Juan's car. When they arrived, the three men waited on the side of Allen's house while Mata knocked on the front door. They all rushed into the house as soon as Allen opened the front door. Because Allen apparently refused to give them his safe, Sosa began pistol-whipping Allen until he fell to the ground; Appellant then shot Doyal twice in the chest. Allen got up and ran from the room; Sosa followed and "gunned him down" near a hallway in the house. Juan, Mata, Sosa, and Appellant then "moved the bodies around" and placed a pipe in one of the victim's hands to "make it look like it was a drug deal gone bad."

Detective Porter had known Juan and his brother, Roque Castillo, for several years prior to the inception of this investigation. Because Roque was in the city jail in Hobbs at the time, Detective Porter asked Roque for information as to his brother's (Juan's) whereabouts. According to Detective Porter, Roque knew certain critical details about the murders of Allen and Doyal that his brother Juan had told him; namely, who drove, which car was used, and who went inside Allen's house. Detective Porter ultimately located and arrested Juan on an outstanding Texas arrest warrant that was unrelated to the Allen and Doyal murders.

Detective Porter later interviewed Juan at the Hobbs Police Department. Juan stated that he, Sosa, Appellant, and "Dez," whom he clarified to be someone named Desirae Reyna,5 went to Allen's house in a black car. Appellant and Sosa were the aggressors of the group and the ones who possessed guns. According to Juan, Appellant shot Doyal at the front door just as Allen opened it, and Sosa shot and killed Allen in or near one of the bedrooms in the house. The...

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