Wilson v. State

• Decision Date: 09 June 1993
• Docket Number: No. 70981,70981
• Parties: Jackie Barron WILSON, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee.
• Court: Texas Court of Criminal Appeals

Page 59

863 S.W.2d 59

Jackie Barron WILSON, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee.

No. 70981.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas,

En Banc.

June 9, 1993.

Rehearing Denied Oct. 6, 1993.

John D. Nation and R.K. Weaver, on appeal only, Dallas, TX, for appellant.

John Vance, Dist. Atty., and A. Wetherholt, A. Beach and J. Sims, Asst. Dist. Attys., Dallas, TX, Robert Huttash, State's Atty., Austin, for the State.

Before the court en banc.

OPINION

BAIRD, Judge.

Appellant was convicted of capital murder pursuant to Tex.Penal Code Ann. § 19.03(a)(2). ¹ The jury returned affirmative answers to the two issues submitted pursuant to Tex.Code Crim.Proc.Ann. Art. 37.071(b). ² Punishment was assessed at death. Id. at (e). Appeal to this Court is automatic. Id. at (h). Appellant presents twenty points of error including a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence. ³ We will reverse.

I. THE FACTS

A thorough review of the record is necessary to address the points of error raised by appellant.

The indictment alleged in part:

[Appellant] knowingly and intentionally cause[d] the death of [deceased] ... by CAUSING THE ASPHYXIATION OF THE [Deceased] IN SOME WAY OR MANNER, AND BY MEANS, INSTRUMENTS, OR WEAPONS THE EXACT NATURE AND DESCRIPTION WHICH IS TO THE Grand Jurors unknown and by crush force injury to the [deceased] caused by striking the [deceased] with a motor vehicle and the [appellant] intentionally did cause the death of the [deceased] while the said [appellant] was in the course of committing and attempting to commit the offense of KIDNAPPING [deceased]...."

On November 30, 1988, at approximately 6:55 a.m., a truck driver spotted what appeared to be a doll to the side of a narrow two lane road in Grand Prairie. Upon closer inspection, the driver discovered the deceased and stopped a passing school bus, whose driver then reported the discovery.

At approximately 7:00 a.m., Grand Prairie motorcycle police officer Kim Wolf arrived at the scene. Wolf described the location as an isolated area, without houses, and "not widely traveled or used." The deceased was very cold and covered with frost. A crime scene technician testified that the deceased was wearing a tee shirt and shorts. A pair of blood-stained panties, later identified as belonging to the deceased, was found at the scene. The deceased was lying face down and appeared to have been run over by an automobile. Distinct tire imprints were visible across the deceased. The dirt and grass around the deceased also showed distinct tire tracks.

Dr. M.G.F. Gilliland, medical examiner at the Southwest Institute of Forensic Sciences, performed an autopsy on the deceased. Gilliland observed injuries indicating an asphyxial injury that came about by either a compression pressure on the neck, the blocking of the nose or mouth, or some combination of the two. Gilliland found numerous incidental injuries, all associated with strangulation or smothering. Gilliland also found what she described as "extensive breaking of the bones of the skull ... down, through the base of the skull, which is a fairly dense bone...." Gilliland's testimony also indicated that part of the brain was torn away and that the deceased had inhaled blood through a wound to the airway.

The deceased was covered with grease and grime. Gilliland observed tire tread marks in both the dust on the body and in the skin. Specifically, Gilliland found a tire mark with a distinctive "V" pattern on the inside of the deceased's right leg. Along with the "V" pattern, Gilliland also found a different set of marks that had "line like," right angled, marks. The marks appeared as a "very sharp set of marks, [forming a] very distinctive pattern" in the deceased's skin.

According to Gilliland, the deceased's vagina had extensive internal and external injuries, including "a tear up high, in the vagina, next to the neck of the womb, the cervix." The deceased's anus had very extensive bruising and splitting of the skin as well as evidence of tearing. There was also bleeding inside the rectum that extended up two inches. Gilliland testified that the injuries were consistent with a grown man having anal intercourse with the deceased and might be consistent with the digital penetration of the vagina. The injuries occurred before the deceased's death.

Gilliland attributed the deceased's death to asphyxia and blunt force and crushing injuries to the head and concluded that either the asphyxia or the head injury could have caused the deceased's death. According to Gilliland, if one injury had not caused the deceased's death, the other injury would have. [p. 836]. The injuries were illustrated to the jury through photographs and diagrams.

Carolyn Van Winkle, a forensic serologist from the Southwest Institute of Forensic Sciences, testified that spermatozoa were detected on the vaginal and anal swabs from the deceased even though no seminal fluid was recovered. However, seminal fluid was recovered from the deceased's panties, but not in sufficient quantity to analyze.

Officer Jim Greenwell, a member of the crime scene search unit of the Arlington Police Department, testified that he went to the Arlington Village Apartments to investigate a report of a missing five year old girl. The deceased lived in apartment fourteen, and, as will be discussed infra, was last seen alive in her bedroom at approximately 1:30-2:00 a.m. on November 30, 1988. After hearing of the discovery of the deceased, Greenwell left the apartment and drove approximately twelve minutes to the deceased's location. Near the deceased, Greenwell found "acceleration marks," described as "the transfer of burnt rubber on the grass," just west of a blood spot. Greenwell testified that someone driving a vehicle would have enough time and distance to maneuver their vehicle to avoid hitting the deceased.

Several days after the deceased's death, the police acquired appellant's name and fingerprints. When appellant was arrested on December 7 at an Irving apartment, police noticed a red, 1975 Mercury Cougar (hereafter referred to as "the vehicle") at that location. The police obtained a consent to search from the vehicle's owner, Frank Uriqueza, and impounded the vehicle. The vehicle had three Eagle G.T. tires and one Nito tire. Upon a more thorough examination, Greenwell found the Nito tread pattern appeared consistent with the pattern on the deceased's leg and the G.T. pattern appeared consistent with the pattern on the deceased's shoulders.

Greenwell's examination of the undercarriage of the vehicle discovered hair imbedded in the grease behind the left front wheel, on the transmission housing between the two front wheels, near the left rear wheel, the rear axle, and below the driver's door. Greenwell also found what appeared to be flesh and hair near the left rear tire. On the fender just behind the front left tire, Greenwell found what appeared to be blood. Evidence from the undercarriage was examined, photographed, removed where possible, and submitted to the Institute of Forensic Sciences for examination and analysis. Greenwell obtained tire tread impressions from the vehicle and testified to the differences between Nito and G.T. tire treads and to the placement of the tires on the vehicle.

After examining the exterior, Greenwell systematically searched and vacuumed the interior of the vehicle. The search produced loose hairs from the front left quadrant of the interior. The material Greenwell collected was turned over to the Institute of Forensic Sciences for analysis.

Charles Linch, a trace evidence analyst with the Southwestern Institute of Forensic Sciences, testified that he received a number of evidence samples in connection with the instant case including the samples collected by Greenwell in the search of the vehicle. For comparison purposes, Dr. Gilliland submitted a known "hair standard" from the deceased. Linch compared the various hair and fiber samples with the known hair standard. Linch concluded that the hair samples from the vehicle came from the deceased. Additionally, carpet fibers from inside the vehicle and a hair from deceased were found in a sample from the vehicle's undercarriage. Linch agreed that such a finding was consistent "with the head hair of [deceased] coming into contact at some point in time, with those [carpet] fibers inside the vehicle."

Max Courtney, an expert in tire tread comparisons and impressions, testified concerning the vehicle's tread marks. Courtney examined the tires on the vehicle and compared their tread patterns with photographs of the tire tread impressions on the deceased. Courtney concluded that the Nito tire impression on deceased's leg shared "a correspondence of class characteristics" with the Nito tire tread pattern on the vehicle. Additionally, all "observable class characteristics" of the vehicle's Eagle G.T. tires matched the impressions on the deceased's shoulders. Class characteristics, those identifying features common to all tires of that class, were preserved in the deceased's skin. However, the deceased's body was not conducive to the preservation of "individual characteristics," which would identify which particular tire of a given class actually caused the injuries.

Frank Uriqueza, the vehicle's owner, testified that he bought three Eagle G.T. tires for the vehicle and those tires had been on the vehicle for two months prior to the search of the vehicle. Uriqueza testified that appellant borrowed the vehicle on November 29, 1988, and returned the vehicle and awakened Uriqueza shortly before 4:40 a.m. on November 30, 1988. Uriqueza got out of bed and asked appellant where the vehicle was parked. Appellant responded that the vehicle was parked in a different place than usual.

The deceased's mother came home from work about 11:20 p.m. on November 29, 1988. Both of her children slept in one bedroom. Joe Martinez, the live-in babysitter, slept on the couch in the living room. At...