LEAL v. STATE
303 S.W.3d 292 (2009)
Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas.
November 18, 2009.
The evidence presented at trial shows that on May 20, 1994, the intoxicated sixteen-year-old victim was at a party. The twenty-three-year-old appellant also was at the party. At some point the intoxicated but conscious victim was placed in appellant's car. Appellant and the victim left together in appellant's car.
About thirty minutes later, appellant's brother arrived at the party in a car which came to a screeching halt. Appellant's brother was very excited or hysterical. Appellant's brother started yelling to the people left at the party, "What the hell happened!" Appellant's brother was yelling that appellant came home with blood on him saying he had killed a girl. Witnesses Torres and Ortega were present when appellant's brother made these statements. Shortly thereafter appellant's brother left in a rush.
Several of the party members went looking for the victim in the same area where the party was. They found her nude body lying face-up on a dirt road. They noticed the victim's head had been bashed in and it was bleeding. Her head was flinching or jerking. These party members called the police.
When the police arrived, they saw the nude victim lying on her back. There was a 30 to 40 pound asphalt rock roughly twice the size of the victim's skull lying partially on the victim's left arm. Blood was underneath this rock. A smaller rock with blood on it was located near the victim's right thigh. There was a gaping hole from the corner of the victim's right eye extending to the center of her head from which blood was oozing. The victim's head was splattered with blood.
There was a bloody and broken stick approximately 14 to 16 inches long with a screw at the end of it protruding from
the victim's vagina. Another 4 to 5 inch piece of the stick was lying to the left side of the victim's skull. The police made a videotape of the crime scene[,] portions of which were admitted into evidence. Later that day, the police questioned appellant. Appellant gave two voluntary statements. In appellant's first statement he said he was with the victim in his car when she began hitting him and the steering wheel causing him to hit a curb. Appellant attempted to calm her down but the victim leaped from appellant's car and ran away. Appellant claimed he sat in his car and waited about ten or fifteen minutes to see if the victim would return and when she did not he went home.
After giving this statement, appellant was informed that his brother had also given a statement. Appellant then gave another statement. In this statement, appellant claimed he followed the victim when she got out of his car and ran away. Appellant claimed the victim attacked him. Appellant pushed her and she fell to the ground. When she did not get up appellant attempted to wake her but could not. He then looked at her nose and saw bubbles. Appellant stated he got scared, went home, prayed on the side of his mom's bed and told family members what had happened, claiming it was just an accident. After giving this statement an officer gave appellant a ride home.
1. Toxicology results from the autopsy showed that the complainant's blood-alcohol level was .255. Her blood tested positive for cocaine, cocaine metabolites, and marijuana metabolites.
2. "If the jury or, when authorized by law, the judge does not find beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant is guilty of an offense under this section, he may be convicted of murder or of any other lesser included offense." TEX. PENAL CODE § 19.03(c).
3. The prosecutor argued that the only reason for appellant to have blood on his underpants, but not on his outer clothing, was that he had removed his outer clothing before sexually assaulting the complainant.
4. By the time of trial, Roche Biomedical Laboratory had become Laboratory Corporation of America.
5. Luminol is used at crime scenes because it reacts with sources of iron, such as blood.
In addition to iron and iron compounds, other substances can catalyze the luminol reaction. Copper and its compounds, horseradish, and bleach also cause the solution to glow.... Similarly, the presence of these chemicals at a crime scene affects testing for blood. If a crime scene was washed in bleach, for example, the whole area would glow when sprayed with luminol, making it necessary to use a different test to find traces of blood.
http://www.chm.bris.ac.uk/webprojects2002/fleming/mechanism.htm