Vasquez v. State

• Decision Date: 18 November 2005
• Docket Number: No. 03-04-00307-CR.,03-04-00307-CR.
• Citation: 179 S.W.3d 646
• Parties: Guadalupe VASQUEZ, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee.
• Court: Texas Supreme Court

179 S.W.3d 646

Guadalupe VASQUEZ, Appellant, v.The STATE of Texas, Appellee.

No. 03-04-00307-CR.

Court of Appeals of Texas, Austin.

October 21, 2005.

Rehearing Overruled November 18, 2005.

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Martin J. Thompson, Jr., Austin, for appellant.

Holly E. Taylor, Asst. Dist. Atty., Austin, for appellee.

Before Chief Justice LAW, Justices B.A. SMITH and PEMBERTON.

OPINION

BEA ANN SMITH, Justice.

A jury convicted Guadalupe Vasquez of murder, and he was sentenced to fifty years in prison.SeeTex. Pen.Code Ann. § 19.02(West 2003).In this appeal, Vasquez raises four points of error, all with respect to the admission and consideration of his extra-judicial confession.¹Although we hold that the trial court did not err by finding that Vasquez's confession had been voluntarily made, it was error to refuse Vasquez's request to submit the issue of voluntariness to the jury.We reverse the conviction and remand for a new trial consistent with this opinion.

BACKGROUND

Gary Jackson was found dead in his home on January 5, 2003.He had been shot twice in the chest and once in the head, and a plastic bag had been placed over his head.Jackson was Vasquez's landlord and lived on the other side of the duplex occupied by Vasquez and his wife Maria.Detective Kerry Scanlon briefly spoke with the couple outside of their home on the evening of January 8, and they were later asked to come to the police station for an interview.At that time, Vasquez was already a suspect in light of reports by neighbors that Vasquez and Jackson had argued loudly and a ledger found in Jackson's home indicating that Vasquez owed Jackson several thousand dollars.Guadalupe and Maria Vasquez drove to the police station the following afternoon and were interviewed separately.

Because the voluntariness of Vasquez's confession is at issue, a detailed description of the over seven hours of interrogation leading up to the confession is helpful.After Vasquez and his wife arrived at the police station, Detective Scanlon placed Vasquez alone in a small interview room.The room contained only a small table and several plastic chairs.A hidden overhead camera recorded all activities in the room.The videotape of the interview indicates that Vasquez was placed in the room at 4:54 p.m. Detective Scanlon soon began the interview by asking Vasquez about his whereabouts over the past weekend, his relationship with Jackson, and when he last saw Jackson.Over the course of the next hour, Scanlon took down Vasquez's account on a computer and produced an affidavit, which Vasquez signed.In the affidavit, Vasquez stated that he last saw Jackson outside of the duplex on the evening of Friday, January 3 when he and his wife were going out to eat.He gave a general description of what he and his wife did over the weekend.Vasquez stated that he learned of Jackson's death when he returned from the store on Sunday, January 5, to find police at the duplex.

Once Detective Scanlon took down Vasquez's statement, he left the room to go print it out.He told Vasquez that the door was not locked, but that if he needed to go to the bathroom to just knock.²Scanlon then took Vasquez to the bathroom and can be seen in the video escorting him back to the interview room and leaving.Vasquez was handed the written statement and given time to review it.Vasquez signed the statement, and Scanlon notarized it and took a photograph of Vasquez.Scanlon then left, saying that he would check on Vasquez's wife.

Vasquez was left alone in the interview room for about twelve minutes.During that time, he can be seen yawning, stretching, rubbing his eyes, and fidgeting.When Scanlon returned, he informed Vasquez that his wife would be a while longer because of "language problems."Scanlon then moved his chair close to Vasquez, crowding him in the far corner of the interview room.Vasquez remained seated in this corner throughout the interrogation.Detective Eric De Los Santos later entered the room and joined the interrogation.At this point, the interrogation became somewhat more direct.Vasquez was asked about guns that he possessed, when he last used them, and whether he would allow police to test them.He was asked in detail about the interior of Jackson's home and whether Vasquez's fingerprints, hair, or tools would be found there.Vasquez admitted that he had taken some trash bags from his job and that he might have given some to Jackson.The conversation also focused on Vasquez's employment at a funeral home.There was a lengthy discussion of how the heads of bodies are bagged after autopsies.At times the officers joked with each other that Vasquez did not want to talk about the bagging of the head on a body.Vasquez was also told that neighbors had reported arguments between him and Jackson and that he owed Jackson several thousand dollars.

After about an hour, the detectives became even more insistent:

Scanlon: I think you have a story to tell, you need to start telling the story.

Vasquez: I don't have a story.

Scanlon: I think you do.I think you need to tell us your side of what happened.

Vasquez: My side of what happened?

Scanlon: If you want us to know your side of what happened, you're the only one who can tell us that.

Vasquez was then informed that owing money to Jackson was "the least of his problems."Detective De Los Santos asked, "what happened—seriously now—you've been playing games this whole time ... what happened?"In response to a direct question, Vasquez denied killing Jackson.

At 7:18 p.m., after he had agreed to go to his home with the detectives to examine his .38 revolver, Vasquez asked, "where's my wife?"He was informed that she was still speaking with other detectives.As the detectives got up from their chairs, Vasquez said, "I need to get my wife."He was told by Detective De Los Santos that the detectives were going in their own car and that he should wait in the interview room.Five minutes later, Scanlon returned.Vasquez asked if his wife was ready.Scanlon replied, "I didn't even notice."After setting up his computer, Scanlon told Vasquez, "I hate to see you try to stick to this story," and then continued pressing Vasquez to admit his guilt.The interrogation continued along these lines for another half hour until Vasquez asked to go out to smoke a cigarette.³As they left the interview room, Vasquez again asked, "where's my wife?"No response from the detectives can be heard on the videotape.

After they returned from the cigarette break, Vasquez was offered water, which he declined.At 8:10 p.m. Vasquez asked Scanlon, "Is my wife still in the building ... can I see her?"Scanlon replied that Vasquez could but asked Vasquez to wait a second while Scanlon continued working on his computer.Scanlon then proceeded to discuss computers until an officer arrived to take hair and saliva samples from Vasquez.Shortly thereafter, Vasquez consented to a search of his car.When he asked to accompany the officers in searching his car, De Los Santos stated, "Technically, you can't go out, I mean, we'd like to do it ourselves."The detectives then got up to leave.As they were leaving, Vasquez again asked about his wife:

Vasquez: Where's my wife at?

Scanlon: She's right over there.

Vasquez: I'd like to talk to her.

Vasquez's request was ignored, and the detectives left the room.Upon Scanlon's return, Vasquez again asked, "so where's my wife at?"Scanlon told Vasquez that she was "out there" and that he would probably bring her in a minute and let the two wait together.He then resumed pressing Vasquez to admit to the murder explaining, "I will not be able to help you later....I'm trying to be on your side....I'm trying to help everybody out."Vasquez continued asking about his wife but was told that she was still talking to the detectives.Scanlon informed Vasquez that "she's got a lot to say" and that she had changed her story.At 8:41 p.m., Vasquez was given some water.Soon after, he was told that the police had obtained a warrant to search his house, "based on the evidence."

The interrogation continued in much the same way over the course of the evening.The officers revisited many of the same areas of inquiry, confronted Vasquez with alleged inconsistencies between his statements and facts already known to the police, and even asserted that Vasquez's wife had helped him commit the murder.At 9:31 p.m., Vasquez was allowed to use a phone to call his wife.Vasquez called his home but there was no answer, and Detective Scanlon told Vasquez that no one would answer at the house.

On several occasions Vasquez asked to leave.Each time, the detectives either ignored his requests and changed the subject or gave an off-putting excuse to delay Vasquez.At 9:23 p.m., Vasquez asked if he could go home.Detective Scanlon replied that he could go home but that he could not go inside because the police were searching the house."Right now, all we can do is wait.When they advise us, I'll let you know."At 9:45 p.m., Vasquez told Detective De Los Santos that he was ready to go:

De Los Santos: What's the word Lupe?

Vasquez: Well, I'm ready to go now.

De Los Santos: You ready to go now?

Vasquez: Oh yeah.

De Los Santos: You want to go now?

Vasquez: Oh yeah.

De Los Santos: You don't want to hang around no more?

Vasquez: Well, I gotta get up early in the morning.

De Los Santos: Ok.I talked to your wife....

At the end of this exchange, Detective De Los Santos sat down in one chair and put his feet up on another—effectively blocking the door—and proceeded to ask Vasquez about possible inconsistencies between his story and that of his wife.Vasquez remained seated in the corner of the room and continued to answer questions.

Vasquez inquired about the status of his truck at 10:14 p.m. Detective De Los Santos replied that he did not know.When Vasquez complained about being interrogated, Detective...