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Mendez v. State4/25/2002
In this proceeding, appellant Frank Chris Mendez, Jr. appeals his conviction for the offense of murder and the jury-assessed punishment, enhanced by two prior convictions, of 40 years confinement in the Institutional Division of the Department of Criminal Justice and a fine of $10,000. Finding no reversible error, we affirm the judgment of the trial court for the reasons set forth.
In five issues, appellant complains (1) the trial court erred in admitting into evidence the telephone conversations between witness Johnny Sanchez and the deceased, Sandra Jenkins, in the hours preceding her death, (2) the trial court erred in admitting into evidence testimony concerning electronic monitoring of appellant at the time of the offense, (3) the trial court erred in overruling his motion for a mistrial when testimony was presented to the jury as to an extraneous offense, (4) the evidence is legally insufficient to support the verdict, and (5) the evidence is factually insufficient to support the verdict.
On December 31, 2000, appellant and his live-in girlfriend, Sandra Jenkins (Sandra), who was also the mother of his infant daughter, held a New Year's Eve party at their apartment. Most of the guests left around 12:30 p.m. There was testimony that at the party, Sandra was drinking beer and also smoked marijuana with several of the guests. However, there were no signs of an argument between Sandra and appellant. Sometime later, a neighbor observed appellant and Sandra standing outside the apartment and soon after that, he could hear both Sandra and the baby crying inside the apartment. Shortly thereafter, appellant appeared at the neighbor's door and handed them his infant daughter, who was covered in blood but was apparently unhurt. Appellant told them to take care of the child. One of the occupants then called 911.
A guest at the party, Johnny Sanchez, received several phone calls from Sandra beginning at 1:20 a.m., in which she asked him to either come get appellant or her and the baby because appellant was going to kill her. In the second call, she stated that appellant had pulled a knife on her. Sanchez also talked to appellant during the second call, and appellant said Sandra was upset because of a phone call he made to his mother, but that they were all right. Sanchez received at least one other call from Sandra after that conversation as shown by Caller ID, but he did not answer it.
Officer Brandon Neal of the Friona Police Department was dispatched to the scene at 2:11 a.m. Upon his arrival, he observed appellant outside the apartment. Appellant told him that Sandra needed help. When Neal entered the apartment, he saw Sandra slumped on the sofa with blood stains on her face. He also observed a puncture wound on the right side of her abdomen. Sandra was unresponsive. Appellant told him they had an argument and that Sandra had thrown the phone. There were also several overturned chairs and broken plates. Appellant admitted he had hit Sandra. EMS personnel arrived and transported Sandra for treatment. She later died from massive internal bleeding and shock due to arterial and venous injury from an abdominal stab wound.
In his first issue, appellant complains of the admission of the content of the telephone calls Sandra made to Sanchez as being hearsay. The court initially sustained the objection, but the State argued in a hearing outside the presence of the jury that the testimony was not offered to prove the truth of the matter asserted but as a res gestae statement and to show the victim's state of mind because the defense was raising suicide as an explanation of Sandra's abdominal injury. The court found that the statements fit within an exception to the
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