Strickland v. State
| Decision Date | 23 January 2020 |
| Docket Number | NUMBER 13-16-00701-CR |
| Parties | DAVID MALCOLM STRICKLAND, Appellant, v. THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee. |
| Court | Texas Court of Appeals |
On appeal from the 36th District Court of San Patricio County, Texas.
Before Chief Justice Contreras and Justices Benavides and Longoria
By twenty-seven issues, appellant David Malcolm Strickland challenges his conviction for capital murder, a first-degree felony. See TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. § 19.03. Strickland alleges: (1) his conviction is void because the assistant district attorney's bar license was suspended during his trial; (2, 3) the evidence was insufficient to support a conviction for capital murder; (4, 5, 6) the State destroyed ballistics evidence, thereby denying him due process of law, effective assistance of counsel, and the right to cross-examine witnesses against him; (7) the State was obligated to correct false testimony of its ballistic expert; (8, 22, 23) the State denied him due process when it failed to provide all of the chain of custody documents relating to a pubic hair found on one of the complainant's clothing; (9) the indictment failed to charge capital murder in paragraph one; (10, 11) the trial court deprived him of his right to present a complete defense regarding an alternate suspect; (12) the trial court abused its discretion by refusing to admit videos on hearsay grounds; (13, 14) the trial court denied him compulsory process by issuing a faulty long-arm subpoena; (15, 16) the search warrant for his home was an illegal general warrant; (17) his motions to suppress the search warrants were incorrectly denied; (18) the trial court's response to a jury note was misleading about the ballistics testimony; (19) he was unfairly prejudiced by the actions of the complainant during trial and her negative remarks to the jurors; (20, 21) the trial court abused its discretion by failing to suppress evidence obtained during the warrantless seizure of his gun; (24, 25) he was denied due process when the State failed to execute the trial court's order to test the hair from the complainant's clothing; (26) the trial court abused its discretion in denying his motion for new trial; and (27) this Court erred by denying the motion to abate the appeal for consideration of newly discovered evidence after trial. We affirm.
The State alleged in its indictment that on June 22, 2012, Strickland: (1) intentionally caused the death of Mollie Olgin in the course of sexually assaulting MaryKristene Chapa1; (2) intentionally caused the death of Olgin in the course of robbing Chapa2; or (3) intentionally caused the death of Olgin in the course of kidnapping Chapa. See id. § 19.03(a)(2).
Prior to trial, the trial court held multiple hearings regarding a motion to suppress the gun seized from Strickland and a motion to suppress his statement.
Strickland first challenged the warrantless seizure of his Glock .45 firearm and the admissibility of ballistics evidence. At a hearing in July 2015, Officer Joaquin Rangel of the Portland Police Department testified that a concerned citizen called into the police department and said there was a man with a firearm at a local store on July 19, 2012. The caller stated that they saw a gun when the man was loading soil into his vehicle, but gave no description of the man, just the type of vehicle and the license plate number. The license plate was registered to a home owned by Strickland. Officer Rangel went to the home, and Strickland was outside, shirtless, with his dog. After being asked to take his dog inside, Strickland complied and returned wearing a shirt and carrying a firearm on his person, stating it was his right to carry the firearm. Officer Rangel stated he disarmed Strickland and took the firearm into his custody. He agreed that Strickland had shown him his concealed carry license, but Officer Rangel stated it could be an offense, such as unlawful carrying of a weapon, if someone saw the firearm. Officer Rangel testified thathe could not remember if he had Strickland's consent to take the firearm and all he had was a property receipt given to Strickland.
Officer Roland Chavez, also with the Portland Police Department, testified that he had heard about the incident at the local business and directed Officer Rangel to impound the firearm. The following day, Strickland came to the police department and wanted his gun back, stating he was going out of town. Officer Chavez stated that Strickland had signed a consent to search form for the firearm, and Officer Chavez took the firearm and test-fired it at the local sheriff's office gun range, due to the ongoing murder investigation. After he test-fired Strickland's firearm, he returned it to Strickland. On cross-examination, Officer Chavez stated there was no written request to test-fire the firearm. He stated that he had six .45 caliber bullets at the range; that he fired four of the bullets and retrieved two of the casings he felt were in good condition. He explained he test-fired the bullets into a dirt mound, and only recovered the casings, but not the projectiles.
The trial court denied Strickland's motion on September 22, 2015.
Strickland also challenged his statement given to Texas Ranger Randy Aguirre on June 20, 2014. Ranger Aguirre testified that he met with Strickland at the Helotes Police Department and gave him his Miranda warnings, which Strickland stated he understood, but refused to sign, stating he "wanted to keep his rights in effect." However, Strickland also said he would continue speaking with Ranger Aguirre, but if any of the conversation involved "Chris,"3 he would like to get a lawyer. Defense counsel stated to the trial courtthat the motion only involved the first six minutes of the nearly three-hour statement.
The trial court made detailed findings of fact and conclusions of law in its order issued on September 22, 2015. It suppressed any statements made regarding Chris Melchor and the charges pending in Utah against Strickland. The trial court overruled any other objections made to the admission of the statement.
Trial commenced on September 19, 2016. The State called multiple lay witnesses who first discovered Olgin and Chapa. Christine and Stanley Seymour were walking at Violet Andrews Park on the morning of June 23, 2012, when they saw two bodies below the bird-watching overlook on which they were standing. Christine stated that she saw two females, partially clothed, with one girl partially on top of the other. She also saw blood marks. Christine ran to the home of Ina Brown, who called 911. Brown testified that she accompanied Christine back to the overlook, and while they were waiting for police to arrive, they saw one of the girls move. Brown stated she called 911 back and told them to bring EMS. Brown also explained that the night prior, she thought she heard shots around 11:30 PM or 12:00 AM. At first she thought it was fireworks, but felt one was distinct and one was more muffled.
The State called Daryl Genzer, who also lives near the park. He stated that around 11:30 PM, he heard pops that sounded muffled and a car door slam, but thought it was fireworks or animals. Further, Sheryl Manning and Reynaldo Zepeda testified thatthey were driving to Manning's home near Violet Andrews Park around 12:00 AM and noticed a dark car parked in the area between the parks where there are no lights. Zepeda stated the car appeared to be a dark sedan type vehicle.
Karine Woods testified that she was at Violet Andrews Park late on June 22, 2012. Woods explained that she and a friend were on the rooftop of the picnic pavilion watching the stars when she heard what she thought was two gunshots. Woods thought it was kids shooting at the water, so she yelled out not to do that. A few minutes later, Woods saw a male run from the overlook to a parked car at the end of the road, thought she heard two car doors slam, and then noticed the car drove off quickly. She described the male figure as "tallish" and "broad."
Officers Cody Renfro and Travis Wiesman of the Portland Police Department were the first officers to the crime scene around 8:50 AM on the morning of June 23, 2012. Officer Wiesman ran to the girls to check for pulses. He testified that Olgin was cold, but Chapa sat up and moaned. Officer Renfro stated that Chapa had black duct tape around her neck. The State admitted a video taken of the crime scene during its testimony. The scene was secured once Chapa was taken out by EMS services. Diana Gafford, an EMT from Allegiance Ambulance, helped take Chapa out of the crime scene. Gafford explained that it was apparent that Chapa had a head injury and it appeared she also had a broken jaw, but Chapa was looking at her and Gafford felt that Chapa understood what she was saying to her.
Cara Schrader, a crime scene investigator with the Corpus Christi Police Department, was asked to assist the Portland Police Department with evidence collection.She explained that because they were working in a park, there were a lot of items lying around, so she focused her collection on items that appeared to not be weathered. On the trail leading down from the overlook, Schrader found cigarette butts, cans, and bottles that she collected. When she got closer to Olgin's body, she explained that Olgin's face was wrapped with black duct tape and they were unable to identify her. Schrader found a spent .45 caliber casing near Olgin's head and one under her body, as well as a metal bullet jacket.
Schrader explained that Corpus Christi Police Department crime scene investigators are available to assist other police departments and they have a lab that can swab for DNA, test firearms, and develop latent fingerprints. She said the firearms sec...
To continue reading
Request your trial