Vasquez v. Thaler, CIVIL NO. SA-09-CA-930-XR
| Decision Date | 19 July 2012 |
| Docket Number | CIVIL NO. SA-09-CA-930-XR |
| Parties | MANUEL VASQUEZ, TDCJ No. 999336, Petitioner, v. RICK THALER, Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division, Respondent. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Western District of Texas |
Petitioner Manuel "Meme" Vasquez filed this federal habeas corpus action pursuant to Title 28 U.S.C. Section 2254 challenging his November, 1999 Bexar County capital murder conviction and sentence of death. For the reasons set forth hereinafter, petitioner is entitled to neither federal habeas corpus relief nor a Certificate of Appealability from this Court.
Viewed in the light most favorable to the jury's verdict, the evidence at petitioner's capital murder trial showed that, during the early morning hours of March 19, 1998, petitioner, a member of the Mexican Mafia,1 acting with the assistance of Johnny Joe Cruz and Oligario "Bebe" Lujan,(1) forced their way into a motel room occupied by Juanita Ybarra and Moses Bazan,2 (2) assaulted Bazan until Bazan was rendered unconscious,3 (3)fatally strangled Ybarra,4 and (4) ransacked the room in an effort to collect items of value to pay "the dime," (i.e., the ten percent tax the Mexican Mafia imposes and forcibly collects on sales of illegal drugs in Bexar County) which Ybarra had refused to pay.5 Bazan recovered from his injuries andidentified (1) petitioner, Cruz, and Lujan as the assailants who broke into the motel room and (2) petitioner as the primary assailant who fatally attacked Ybarra.6
On June 10, 1998, a Bexar County grand jury indicted petitioner on a single count of capital murder, charging petitioner with having intentionally caused Ybarra's death by strangling Ybarra with a ligature while in the course of committing and attempting to commit the offense of robbing Ybarra.7
The guilt-innocence phase of petitioner's capital murder trial commenced on November 2, 1999.
In addition to the testimony of petitioner's accomplice Cruz and Bazan's account of the assaults upon himself and Ybarra summarized above, the jury heard testimony from (1) a veteran San Antonio police detective concerning the history, organization, and methods of operation employedby the Mexican Mafia, including the gang's collection of "el dime" or "the dime,"8 (2) San Antonio police officers who were dispatched to the crime scene and processed same,9 (3) a forensic serologistconcerning the results of DNA testing on items found at the crime scene,10 (4) the forensic pathologist who performed Ybarra's autopsy,11 (5) a person who spent the evening before the murder with petitioner, Cruz, and Lujan and witnessed some of their preparations for the robbery,12 (6) apolice detective regarding photographs taken of petitioner at the time of petitioner's arrest showing injuries to petitioner's neck, hands, and forearms,13 and (7) the person who loaned petitioner her vehicle around the time of the murder.14
Petitioner's trial counsel presented (1) a prosecution witness who testified regarding petitioner's activities the evening after Ybarra's murder,15 (2) an alibi witness who testified she picked petitioner up between 6:30 and 6:45 a.m. the morning of the murder and took petitioner to her home, where she found him sleeping when she returned around noon,16 (3) a Bexar County Adult Detention Center inmate who testified Cruz told him that petitioner was not involved in Ybarra's murder,17 and (4) a forensic toxicologist who testified concerning the effects of cocaine abuse on the brain and the propensity for violence observed in those persons under the influence of cocaine.18
The prosecution called a San Antonio Police detective who testified one of petitioner's witnesses, Hector Galvan, was a documented member of the Mexican Mafia, contrary to Galvan's testimony at petitioner's trial.19
On November 5, 199, after deliberating approximately two and a half hours, petitioner's jury returned its verdict, finding petitioner guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of capital murder.20
The punishment phase of petitioner's capital murder trial commenced on November 8, 1999.
The prosecution presented witnesses and documentary evidence showing (1) petitioner's involvement (along with petitioner's younger brother George and others) in the 1986 murder of Robert Alva and petitioner's receipt of a ten-to-twelve year sentence for his role in that offense,21 (2)petitioner's conviction for assault with bodily injury in connection with an August, 1986 robbery,22 (3) petitioner's execution of drug dealer Richard Pacheco in March, 1992 in retaliation for Pacheco's failure to pay "the dime,"23 (4) petitioner's violent conduct while incarcerated,24 (5)petitioner's nearly fatal stabbing of Hector Zacharias in May, 1992 and petitioner's conviction for attempted murder arising from that incident,25 and (6) petitioner's participation with several others in a series of burglaries committed in September-October, 1996 and a pair of unsolved armed robberies.26
The prosecution also presented evidence showing (1) petitioner was found in possession of a letter from a general in the Mexican Mafia and a pair of treaties executed by the Mexican Mafia and other prison gangs27 and (2) all members of the Mexican Mafia are required by that organization's written constitution to be familiar with the rules of the organization and to do the organization's business while incarcerated.28
Petitioner's father testified (1) he left petitioner's mother and their family within six months after petitioner's birth, (2) he was frequently violent toward petitioner's mother, (3) after he left hisfamily, he next saw them about nine months later, (4) he went to prison in 1976 and has been there ever since, serving a life sentence for murder (a charge reduced from capital murder), (5) the next time he saw petitioner was about seven years later when petitioner was about nine years old and visited him in prison, (6) he never saw petitioner as a teenager, (7) he wrote letters to his son while in prison, (8) he knows a person can change while in prison because he has done so, after having come to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and (9) in the past three or four months, the petitioner has also come to have a personal relationship with Jesus.29
Petitioner's uncle testified (1) petitioner's mother was physically abused by petitioner's father, (2) he saw bruises on petitioner's mother when she lived in the valley, (3) petitioner's mother was a "weak person," dependent upon her husbands and boyfriends, (4) petitioner was not a mean child but a good boy, (5) he did not believe petitioner was guilty of murder, (5) he was unaware of petitioner's Mexican Mafia tattoos or membership, and (6) he had no knowledge petitioner had ever beaten a woman.30
A female cousin of petitioner testified (1) she grew up just a couple houses down from petitioner's childhood home, (2) petitioner's step-father once threw petitioner against a wall, (3) she often saw bruises on petitioner, (4) petitioner was involved in an accident around age seven in which a vehicle rolled backward and petitioner's head was stuck between a tree and the car door, (5) petitioner's behavior changed after that accident in that he became hyperactive and unable to respond to questions promptly, (7) she had babysat petitioner prior to the accident and noticed the change in petitioner's behavior and demeanor afterward, (8) petitioner's step-father Jesse Lasoya was lazy,abusive toward petitioner's mother, and violent with petitioner and his siblings, (9) petitioner's family was on welfare the entire time petitioner was growing up, (10) she nonetheless trusted petitioner to babysit her own children when petitioner was a teenager, (11) the things she had heard petitioner had done were "not the Manuel that I've known," (12) petitioner was a good boy growing up, and (13) she is opposed to the death penalty in all cases.31
Petitioner's sister testified (1) she did not recall their biological father, (2) at one point their mother was married to a man named Patrick Hernandez with whose family they lived in either Michigan or Minnesota, (3) while they lived with the Hernandez family, Patrick's mother physically abused the Vasquez children by locking them in the basement and in closets, physically and verbally abused their mother, and treated the entire Vasquez family like slaves, (4) she and her brothers attempted to run away several times while their mother was at work but were always caught and punished, (5) their family moved to San Antonio when she started kindergarten, (6) in San Antonio, their mother met Jesse Lasoya, who was a lazy bum who refused to work regularly and was abusive toward their mother and the children, (7) she was left to raise her younger brothers from the time she was nine years old, (8) their mother and Lasoya fought constantly, (9) she did the cooking and cleaning for the family, (10) Lasoya regularly beat her and her brothers with a belt or paddle, (11) her brother George is bi-polar, has attempted suicide multiple times, and is institutionalized at a facility in Fredericksburg, (12) whenever the Vasquez children attempted to intervene to protect their mother, Lasoya would assault them, punching and hitting them, and kicking them with his steel-toed boots, (13) Lasoya once attempted to rape her, (14) their mother hit them with brooms, extensioncords, and "whatever she could get her hands on," (15) petitioner is a diabetic, and (16) their mother had a stroke several years ago and is disabled.32
Petitioner's uncle, cousin, and sister all made emotional appeals to the jury for mercy on petitioner's behalf.33
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