Bridges v. The State Of Tex.

DEVIN SHARIF BRIDGES, Appellant

v.THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee

No. 05-09-00784-CR

Court of Appeals Fifth District of Texas at Dallas

AFFIRM and Opinion Filed January 31, 2011

File Date: 01/31/2011

On Appeal from the Criminal District Court No. 2

Dallas County, Texas

Trial Court Cause No. F08-50829-WI

OPINION

Before Justices FitzGerald, Lang-Miers, and Fillmore

Opinion By Justice Fillmore

A jury convicted Devin Sharif Bridges of murder, sentenced him to life imprisonment, and assessed a $10,000 fine. In six issues, Bridges asserts (1) the evidence is legally and factually insufficient to support the conviction, (2) the trial court erred by admitting Bridges's oral statement into evidence, (3) his right to due process and a fair trial was violated by the State's failure to timely disclose a witness that provided an alibi for him, and (4) the trial court erred by failing to instruct the jury on the lesser included offenses of manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide. We affirm the trial court's judgment.

Background

According to Murlene Tasby, her sister, Stella Tasby, was in a relationship with Bridges in January 2008, and Bridges was the father of Stella's child. Murlene testified that, although Stella and Bridges did not live together, Stella loved Bridges and wanted to be with him. However, Stella was also seeing “Ace” in January 2008. According to Starya Hicks, Stella's friend and co-worker, Stella loved Bridges and told Starya that “Ace” was just a friend.

Jamie Hicks, a friend of Stella's, testified she was at Stella's apartment sometime in early January 2008. Bridges was also at the apartment. Jamie saw a black handgun sitting on the mantel in the apartment. Stella picked up the gun and gave it to Bridges.

Starya testified that at approximately 7:00 a.m. on Friday, January 18, 2008, she and Stella went to buy a car for Stella. In the early afternoon, Starya and Stella left the car dealership in separate cars to go to the insurance office so that Stella could purchase insurance for the car. When Stella left the car dealership, she was not dressed in clothes that she would wear to work that evening. According to Starya, Stella got lost and did not make it to the insurance office.

Stella and Starya were supposed to be at work by 6:00 p.m. and had made plans to follow each other to work. Starya talked to Stella by telephone at approximately 5:35 p.m. and then waited for Stella. Stella did not show up. Starya called Stella again, but Stella did not answer the phone. Starya then went to work without Stella. Murlene also worked with Stella and confirmed Stella did not come to work that evening. Starya and Murlene both repeatedly tried to call Stella, but Stella did not answer the phone. Andrew Tasby, Stella and Murlene's brother, was babysitting Stella's daughter. After Stella did not pick up her daughter on Saturday, Andrew asked a friend to go to Stella's apartment. No one answered the door to the apartment.

On Sunday, Starya and her baby's father, Terry Smith, went to Stella's apartment. Although in her statement to the police, Starya said she went to Stella's apartment while Smith remained in the car, at trial Starya testified she remained in the car while Smith went to the apartment. When Smith knocked on the door to Stella's apartment, it opened. Smith then returned to the car, and both Starya and Smith went into the apartment. They saw Stella's body in the bedroom, left the apartment, called the police, and contacted the apartment management. According to Starya, Stella was wearing khaki pants, black and red socks, and white tennis shoes. These were clothes that Stella would wear to work.

Peter Serrano, a patrolman with the Dallas Police Department, responded to the call. He went inside Stella's apartment, confirmed she was dead, and called for reinforcements. According to Serrano, Stella's body was in the bedroom in the back of the apartment. The body was laying at the doorway to the closet, with the upper part of the body in the closet and the lower part of the body in the bedroom.

Detective Marshall McLemore processed the apartment for evidence. Although a number of fingerprints were collected from the apartment, the police were unable to identify anyone from the fingerprints. McLemore found two fired cartridge cases, one immediately inside the bedroom doorway and one inside the walk-in closet. The cartridges were stamped “Win 9-millimeter Luger.” McLemore also recovered a bullet from the back wall of the bedroom.

Detective John Palmer testified he responded to the crime scene and was asked to canvas a group of people standing in the apartment complex and to knock on doors in the complex to locate witnesses. A woman in the group of people approached him. She had a cellphone on speaker and was talking to Bridges. Palmer heard Bridges say something to the effect that he had last seen Stella the previous Tuesday. Palmer asked Bridges to come talk to the police at the police station, and Bridges agreed to do so. Bridges said he needed a ride, and Palmer and another detective went to Bridges's apartment to pick him up.

At the apartment, Palmer had a conversation with Bridges and Bridges's girlfriend about whether Bridges needed bus fare home. Palmer indicated a police officer would take Bridges home. Palmer explained to Bridges that he was not under arrest. Bridges was not handcuffed and rode in the backseat of the police car with Palmer. According to Palmer, Bridges was not a suspect at this point and would have been allowed to leave if he had asked to do so. At the police station, Palmer had a discussion with Detective Scott Sayers about Bridges needing a ride home.

Sayers, the lead homicide detective on Stella's murder, interviewed Bridges. Witnesses had told the police they needed to talk not only to Bridges, but to “Ace” and another of Stella's boyfriends as well. Further, Palmer told Sayers the police needed to talk to Bridges because several people at the apartment complex said that Bridges knew Stella and was possibly the last person she had been with prior to her death. According to Sayers, he did not consider Bridges a suspect. Bridges was not handcuffed and was free to leave if he wished to do so. Sayers told Bridges that someone would give him a ride home when they were finished with the interview. Sayers testified that Bridges was calm and cooperative.

Sayers questioned Bridges about his relationship with Stella. Sayers testified he was ready to “turn [Bridges] loose, ” but requested that Bridges consent to a buccal swab and a gunshot residue (GSR) test. Bridges consented to the tests. While waiting for the technician, Bridges asked Sayers a few questions about the GSR test. Sayers responded that the GSR test would show if someone had handled or fired a gun and would show whether Bridges killed Stella. Bridges became emotional and started to cry. Sayers decided to continue talking to Bridges to “find out where this emotion was coming from.” When Bridges admitted he saw Stella on Friday, Sayers read Bridges his Miranda¹ rights. Bridges subsequently confessed to shooting Stella.

At this point in the trial, the video recording of Bridges's interview was played for the jury. In the interview, Bridges said he had been with his girlfriend, KeyArrow Hudson, for five years. However, he had been in a sexual relationship with Stella for approximately two years. Bridges initially indicated he had a child with Stella, but then stated Stella was in a sexual relationship with other men and he was not sure he was the father of the child.

Bridges first stated he had last seen Stella the previous Tuesday and had sex with her at that time. He tried to call Stella twice on Thursday. The first time there was no answer, and the second time a friend of Stella's answered the phone. Bridges denied talking to Stella on Friday. He indicated that on Friday he applied for a job in the morning. He returned home at approximately 11:00 a.m. and spent the rest of the day at home with his girlfriend, Hudson. On Saturday, he and Hudson went to the mall with their children.

Bridges stated that Stella was threatening to cause trouble between him and Hudson. Stella wanted to “be with” Bridges and would get mad when he attempted to leave her apartment. Bridges then admitted seeing Stella on Thursday and said that, when he tried to leave, Stella hit him and grabbed him. He pushed Stella when he left the apartment. Bridges tried to call Stella on Friday, but she would not take his calls. He then said he talked to Stella on Friday. Stella told Bridges that she was going to buy a car with her friend and would then come by and get him. Bridges again denied seeing Stella on Friday.

At this point in the interview, approximately one hour after Sayers first met with Bridges, Sayers read Bridges his Miranda rights. Bridges waived his rights and agreed to continue to talk to Sayers. Less than fifteen minutes after he was advised of his rights, Bridges told Sayers that he had sex with Stella on Friday around 5:00 p.m. When he tried to leave the apartment, he and Stella started fighting. Bridges first denied shooting Stella, but quickly admitted that he shot her. Bridges claimed he did not do it “on purpose.” Bridges stated Stella was “hitting on him” and the gun “just went off” twice. Bridges said that he and Stella were in the back room of the apartment at the time. After he shot Stella, she “hit the floor.”

Bridges described the gun as a black and chrome nine millimeter that he bought a “couple of weeks ago.” He bought the gun because Stella and her family were threatening him and Hudson. Bridges originally claimed he took the bus home from Stella's apartment. He then admitted he took Stella's car and left it running beside the freeway. He said he gave the gun to a man at a DART station on Saturday. The entire interview lasted less that two hours.

Sayers then testified that both Starya and Smith initially said that Starya went to the...