Rene Daniel Villarreal v. The State of Texas--Appeal from 49th Judicial District Court of Zapata County (Opinion )

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State: Texas

Court: Texas Northern District Court

Docket No: 04-11-00771-CR

Case Date: 12/05/2012

Plaintiff: Rene Daniel Villarreal

Defendant: The State of Texas--Appeal from 49th Judicial District Court of Zapata County (Opinion )

Preview:Fourth Court of Appeals
San Antonio, Texas
OPINION
No. 04-11-00771-CR Rene Daniel VILLARREAL, Appellant v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee From the 49th Judicial District Court, Zapata County, Texas Trial Court No. 2111 Honorable Mark R. Luitjen, 1 Judge Presiding Opinion by: Sitting: Phylis J. Speedlin, Justice Phylis J. Speedlin, Justice Rebecca Simmons, Justice Steven C. Hilbig, Justice

Delivered and Filed: December 5, 2012 REVERSED AND REMANDED Rene Daniel Villarreal appeals his conviction for murder, arguing that he was egregiously harmed by jury charge error. We reverse the judgment of the trial court and remand the cause to the trial court for a new trial. BACKGROUND Around 11:30 p.m. on September 16, 2010, Zapata County Deputy Sheriff Ricardo Garza responded to a call at 605 Miraflores Street. Garza could see that a party was going on next door
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Sitting by assignment.

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at 609 Miraflores Street. Garza was in his patrol car when he saw Chris Martinez running toward him. Martinez was not wearing a shirt, and as he got closer, Garza noticed that he was bleeding in the chest area. The situation quickly became chaotic, with many people running toward the patrol car. Martinez collapsed in front of the patrol car, and was transported by ambulance to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead from multiple stab wounds. Gonzalo Garza was one of the people attending the party at Mahira Garcilazo's house at 609 Miraflores on the evening of September 16, 2010. Gonzalo stated that he drank one beer that night, and that he did not see any drugs in the house. Gonzalo saw Rene Villarreal arrive at the party. Initially, the party-goers were friendly toward each other, but then Villarreal and his friend Travis Sweet began "throwing gang signs," saying that "Texas Syndicate runs this house." Gonzalo attempted to calm the two men down, but Villarreal tried to hit him in the face. Gonzalo hit Villarreal, and then Travis threw a beer can at Gonzalo, hitting him in the chest. Mahira eventually asked Gonzalo to leave the party, and he left at 11:00 or 12:00. Gonzalo never saw Martinez being aggressive or in possession of a knife that night. Dolores Oropeza testified that she went to a party at Mahira's house with Martinez, Travis Sweet, Rosario Jaime, and Zaira Villarreal 2 on the night of September 16, 2010. About five minutes after Gonzalo left the party, Dolores saw Martinez and Villarreal arguing. They exchanged words and hit each other. Martinez took his shirt off, and Villarreal said in Spanish, "this guy thinks that he's well-built, or what." Dolores then saw Villarreal stab Martinez with a silver knife three or four times. Martinez then ran toward a police car, and Villarreal ran behind the house. Dolores identified State's Exhibit 1, a butterfly knife, as belonging to Zaira. She stated that Zaira always carried the knife in her purse.

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The record does not disclose whether Zaira Villarreal is related to the appellant. -2-

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On cross-examination, Dolores admitted that she gave two statements to police. In the first statement, she did not mention anyone getting stabbed or seeing anyone with a knife, only that she remembered seeing Martinez take his shirt off. She further admitted that she was under the influence of alcohol and drugs while at the party. Mario Esquivel, Mahira Garcilazo's brother, was also at the party the night Martinez was stabbed. He stated that Villarreal was already drunk and under the influence of drugs when he arrived at the party. Villarreal was acting crazy and stupid. After arguing with Gonzalo, Villarreal started an argument with Martinez. Mario stated that Martinez wanted to leave, and that he was not acting aggressively. Martinez took his shirt off and started to leave. Mario was walking Martinez out when Villarreal started stabbing Martinez. Mario stated that Villarreal stabbed Martinez about four times using the knife that was admitted at trial as State's Exhibit 1. Mario grabbed Villarreal, who also tried to hit him with the knife, but missed. Villarreal then ran to the back of the house. Mario never saw Martinez with a knife. Mario did see Zaira give a knife to Travis, who gave it to Villarreal right before the stabbing. Mario testified that he was neither drinking nor taking drugs the night of the party, because he had just had surgery. In his statement to the authorities after the stabbing, Mario did not mention a silver knife, and in fact, stated that he did not see the murder weapon. Travis Sweet was also at the party at Mahira's house where people were drinking and playing pool. He testified that he gave Villarreal a pocket knife about 30 to 45 minutes before Villarreal began arguing with Gonzalo because Villarreal had asked him for a "piece of steel." Travis stated that he got the knife from Zaira, who was also at the party that night. Travis later saw Villarreal and Martinez fighting. Travis saw Villarreal try to hit Martinez. Martinez then took off his shirt. Villarreal said to Martinez, "what do you think you are, well-built?" Travis

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stated that "that's when the action happened." Travis did not see how many times Villarreal stabbed Martinez, but thought it was more than once. Travis became scared, and ran from the house, jumping a fence and cutting his finger. The next morning, Travis was questioned by police, and provided a statement in which he said that Martinez had a knife in his hand when arguing with Villarreal, and that he, Travis, tried to separate the two men, and his finger was cut as a result. About two weeks later, after being arrested for driving without a license, Travis changed his statement. At trial, Travis called his first statement the "wrong statement." He explained that at the time he gave the first statement, he was high "on pills." Zaira Villarreal testified that she went to a party at Mahira's house with Martinez, who was her roommate, Travis Sweet, Rosario Jaime, and Dolores Oropeza on the night of September 16, 2010. Zaira denied giving her butterfly knife to Travis that night, and stated she carried the knife in her purse, which she left in the car when she went inside Mahira's house. Zaira identified the knife admitted as State's Exhibit 1 as belonging to her. Sheriff's Deputy Mike Alvarez responded to a call at 609 Miraflores made by Deputy Garza. Bystanders indicated that the suspect had fled behind the house, and Alvarez eventually located Villarreal in a brushy area two to three blocks from Miraflores. Alvarez described Villarreal as aggressive toward the authorities. Investigator Juan Gonzalez testified that he located the knife used in the stabbing on the porch next to the driveway of Mahira's house. The knife had some blood on it. Gonzalez identified State's Exhibit 1 as the murder weapon. Gonzalez interviewed Villarreal about two hours after he was apprehended. Villarreal made a statement, which was videorecorded and transcribed. The recording was played for the jury. In the statement, Villarreal states that Martinez was "boasting" and challenging people to a fight, and that he--Villarreal--refused to

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back down, even though Martinez was better built than he was. He claimed that Martinez first tried to stab him with a sharp piece of metal, but he blocked it with his hand, resulting in a cut on his hand. Villarreal then grabbed the metal from Martinez and struck him once before fleeing. Villarreal stated that had he not blocked the sharp piece of metal wielded by Martinez, "[Martinez] would [have] cut me in my belly." About thirty minutes later, Gonzalez conducted a second interview with Villarreal and Villarreal made a second statement, which was substantially similar to the first, although Villarreal added that Martinez "charged at" him with the sharp piece of metal and further stated that "the dude would have killed me." Villarreal was arrested on murder charges later that day. Two days later, Gonzalez photographed the cut on Villarreal's hand. Through his investigation, Gonzalez learned that the knife used in the stabbing belonged to Zaira Villarreal. Medical examiner Corinne Stern, who performed the autopsy, testified that Martinez died from multiple stab wounds. She observed six stab wounds located on the chest, abdomen, and forearms. The wounds were consistent with the blade on the knife that was admitted as State's Exhibit 1. The toxicology report indicated that Martinez had alcohol and marijuana in his system when he died. Stern was shown a photograph of Villarreal's hand taken two days after his arrest. Stern opined that the cut on Villarreal's hand was not caused by a knife because the laceration was jagged and irregular. Villarreal was charged with murder, and proceeded to a jury trial at which he raised selfdefense. The jury rejected Villarreal's theory of self-defense and found Villarreal guilty of murder as charged in the indictment. 3 See TEX. PENAL CODE ANN.

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