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Dotson v. State9/2/2004
ough surface. According to Gary Sisler, the medical examiner who examined Sitko, Sitko's injuries indicated that she was hit above the center of gravity. He testified that there was no indication that the vehicle attempted to stop because there were no injuries to Sitko's lower extremities. Sisler also testified that Sitko's fatal injury was "an atlanto-occipital fracture dislocation," resulting when the base of the skull separates from the first cervical vertebral body causing bruising to the spinal cord. Sitko's autopsy also revealed her blood alcohol level was approximately four times the legal limit at the time of her death.
Billy Walker, a fellow inmate of Dotson's, testified that he and Dotson discussed the circumstances surrounding Sitko's death and the potential charges against Dotson numerous times while in the Tarrant County Jail. According to Walker, Dotson told him that when he saw Sitko coming towards his RV with a stick, "he dropped it in low and gunned it," and thereafter, "he could feel the vehicle run over [Sitko] with his dooleys." Dotson also told Walker that he ran over Sitko to prevent her from breaking his windshield because it had been broken in the past and had cost him $400 in repairs. Walker testified that Dotson indicated that he and Sitko had argued shortly before the incident because she had run off with his money. During their conversations, Dotson never expressed to Walker that the incident involving Sitko was accidental or unintentional. In fact, according to Walker, Dotson "acted nonchalant" about the incident and "acted like it was no big deal because [Sitko] was a homeless person." In addition, Walker testified that Dotson told him that he believed he would only be charged with manslaughter and that he would probably only receive a five-year sentence based on the incident because the only witnesses were other homeless individuals.
On appeal, Dotson argues that he proved beyond a reasonable doubt that he acted out of justified necessity and self-defense in running over Sitko with his RV. Despite Dotson's argument, the trier of fact, as the exclusive judge of the weight and credibility of witnesses' testimony, was free to accept or to reject all or part of the defensive evidence. See Saxton, 804 S.W.3d at 914. In the instant case, the jury obviously did not believe that Dotson was justified by either necessity or self-defense when he struck and killed Sitko with his RV.
After examining all of the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict, we conclude that a rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of manslaughter beyond a reasonable doubt and also could have found against Dotson on both the necessity and self-defense issues beyond a reasonable doubt. Furthermore, viewing all the evidence in a neutral light, favoring neither party, we also conclude that the evidence supporting the verdict, taken alone, is not too weak to support the finding of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt and that the contrary evidence is not so strong that guilt cannot be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Accordingly, we hold that the evidence is both legally and factually sufficient to support the jury's implicit rejection of Dotson's defensive theories and to sustain his conviction for manslaughter. We overrule Dotson's first and second points.
IV. Billy Walker's Testimony
In his third point, Dotson contends that the trial court abused its discretion by overruling his objections to Walker's testimony because Walker deliberately elicited incriminating statements from Dotson as an agent of the State in violation of his Sixth Amendment right to counsel. The State maintains that the admission of Walker's testimony was proper
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