Galarza v. State

385 So.3d 862

Troy GALARZA, Appellant

v.STATE of Mississippi, Appellee

NO. 2022-KA-01066-COA

Court of Appeals of Mississippi.

05/14/2024

LINCOLN COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT, HON. DAVID H. STRONG JR., JUDGE

ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT: OFFICE OF STATE PUBLIC DEFENDER BY: JUSTIN TAYLOR COOK

ATTORNEY FOR APPELLEE: OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL BY: CASEY BONNER FARMER

BEFORE CARLTON, P.J, LAWRENCE AND SMITH, JJ.

LAWRENCE, J., FOR THE COURT:

¶1. In 2022, Troy Galarza was convicted of first-degree murder and possessing a firearm as a felon. He was sentenced as a habitual offender to serve life imprisonment without eligibility for parole for the first-degree murder conviction (Count I) and to serve ten years for the felon-in-possession conviction (Count II), with the terms set to be served consecutively. Galarza now appeals alleging that the circuit court abused its discretion by allowing character evidence of his prior convictions for manslaughter to support its case against him. Upon review, we find that the court did not abuse its discretion when it allowed the evidence. Moreover, even if we were to find an abuse of discretion, the error was harmless due to the overwhelming evidence of Galarza’s guilt. We therefore affirm.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

¶2. On November 14, 2018, the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department conducted a welfare check for Wesley Watts at Triple G Goat Farm, the home of Troy Galarza. Watts’s mother had requested the welfare check and informed the officers that the last place she knew Watts had been was Galarza’s property. Galarza spoke with officers that day, stating that Watts had been on his property "earlier that month kind of staying in and out with him." Officers noted seeing "several buzzards in the area" and a gun in the back of Galarza’s car. The welfare check was recorded via body-camera footage.

¶3. On December 1, 2018, Watts’s debit card and hotel room key were found sepa- rately on the side of the interstate "south of the Bogue Chitto exit." Around December 3, 2018, Galarza’s friend Jimmy Buitt contacted authorities to give them information regarding Watts’s disappearance. Buitt stated that approximately one month earlier, Galarza had told him "[t]hat he killed Wesley Watts for stealing from him" and "rolled him up in a rug and put him in the field."

¶4. On December 4, 2018, authorities executed a search warrant on Galarza’s property and recovered "about 12 [weapons]" including "[r]ifles and pistols … [a]nd knives … [and] several casings, bullet casings, numerous types of caliber [and] some rope[.]" Additionally, "about 200 yards northeast of the residence[,]" authorities discovered a body "wrapped up in a rug" with "nothing sticking out but [the] feet" and "rope around the legs, ankle area." The body was identified as Wesley Watts. His death was determined to be a homicide caused by "a gunshot wound of the torso[.]" Authorities interviewed multiple people regarding the murder, including Galarza. On December 5, 2018, Galarza gave a recorded video statement to the police. The statement was "about two hours" long. Notably, Galarza confessed to owning multiple guns, including a "Winchester 30-30" that was found at his friend Craig Burns’s home, but maintained that he did not kill Watts. Specifically, Galarza asserted that "if I had shot him and left him above ground for two weeks, I guess I would be stupid," and "I would not have left a f****** body on the ground laying on the ground … if I would’ve shot the mother f*****, I would have taken him out of there that day or night or whatever it was."

¶5. On June 29, 2021, a Lincoln County grand jury indicted Galarza for first-degree murder and possession of a weapon by a felon. In an omnibus order signed on October 6, 2021, the State signaled its intent to "rely on prior acts or convictions of a similar nature for proof of knowledge or intent." On December 29, 2021, the indictment was amended to clarify that Galarza would be prosecuted as a habitual offender under Mississippi Code Annotated section 99-19-81 (Rev. 2020). This motion to amend specified the crimes used to regard Galarza as a habitual offender: simple robbery, battery, and aggravated battery convictions from Louisiana in 1989, as well as two manslaughter convictions from Mississippi in 2006.

¶6. On September 28, 2022, Galarza filed eight separate motions in limine with the circuit court. The motions sought to exclude evidence of his prior convictions, evidence of his "association with various groups, i.e., Aryan Nation, Aryan Brotherhood and others[,]" phone calls referencing his imprisonment, body-camera footage of an investigating officer, and prejudicial testimony from his sister. The court held a motions hearing the following day, where the parties agreed upon certain stipulations to settle a number of the motions. The court denied the two motions Galarza had filed regarding the two manslaughter convictions and the witnesses who would testify about them. The court granted the motion to exclude testimony about Galarza’s group affiliations.

¶7. Galarza’s trial took place from October 4, 2022, to October 7, 2022. The State called eighteen witnesses, including people who knew Galarza personally and were present on the alleged night of Watts’s murder. One such witness, Brandi Thompson, was acquainted with both men and testified to seeing the rug wrapped around Watts’s body in Galarza’s living room. Thompson also stated that Watts was present the last time she went to Galarza’s home. "[R]ight before … daylight[,]" Watts left, and Galarza walked him out.

When Galarza came back inside, he told Thompson "he f***** [Watts] up and that [Watts] wouldn’t steal from him again." He also asked Thompson to drive him to a few different locations. Notably, Thompson testified Galarza instructed her to skip their exit because "he had to look at something on the next exit." Thompson said she did so and saw Galarza "out of [her] peripheral" making "like motions toward the window." She also "felt like a chain or something had hit the window." Shortly after, he told her "to get back on the interstate." Galarza did not stop to look at anything. Further testimony from other witnesses established that this area of the roadway was where Watts’s personal identification cards were later found.

¶8. Buitt explained to the jury that Galarza confessed "he killed Wesley Watts for stealing from him" and "rolled him up in a rug and put him in the field." Investigator Barry Huff, who interviewed Buitt at the station, testified as well. He stated that in Buitt’s interview, he "advised that he was with [Galarza] one day and [Galarza] told him that he had shot [Watts] in the back and rolled him up in a rug, tied him up by his feet, and there would be nothing sticking out but his feet." Huff verified the information was correct when he went to search for the body at Galarza’s home as part of the search warrant.

¶9. Forensic specialists involved with the case shared their findings with the jury, such as Jacob Burchfield. He tested wool fibers found in a vacuum brush roller from Galarza’s home and a piece of the rug that was wrapped around Watts’s body, finding that the two samples’ fibers "were consistent on the basis of microscopic appearances[.]" Bullet fragments from Watts’s body were shot from one of Galarza’s rifles: the Winchester 30-30. The recording of Galarza’s full statement to the police was played for the jury, along with a phone call he made to his then-romantic interest.

¶10. The State also called Dave Stepro, who testified that he and his wife were interested in purchasing "5475 Lower Bay Road in the unincorporated area of Hancock County" in 2004. They "went out there" and "were met by [Galarza,]" who stated that he owned the land and that it was not for sale. On the following day, however, Galarza’s "attitude had changed and … he was more cooperative and friendly[.]" Stepro walked the property, which "had a lot of trash on it," and "noticed a spot of disturbed earth" but assumed someone had simply "buried garbage there." The Stepros purchased the property and began clearing it. On March 21, 2004, they noticed what appeared to be "the top portion of an elbow" sticking out of the ground. Authorities exhumed "[t]wo bodies from that spot." The deaths "were not by natural causes." Stepro testified that Galarza was subsequently convicted on two counts of manslaughter. Documentation of the charges and convictions was not offered into evidence until the sentencing portion of Galarza’s trial.

¶11. The jury convicted Galarza of first-degree murder and possession of a weapon by a felon. He was sentenced to life imprisonment without eligibility for parole for the murder and ten years to be served consecutively for the possession. The court also ordered Galarza to pay a $15,000 fine. On October 11, 2022, Galarza filed a motion for a new trial alleging, among other things, that the use of his manslaughter convictions from 2006 involved improper character evidence and was erroneous. That motion was denied the following day. On October 12, 2022, Galarza appealed alleging one issue—that the circuit court erred in allowing evidence of his prior convictions to be admitted.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

[1–3] ¶12. We review "the trial court’s decision to admit or exclude evidence under an abuse of discretion standard of review." Smith v. State, 986 So. 2d 290, 295 (¶12) (Miss. 2008) (citing Jones v. State, 962 So. 2d 1263, 1268 (¶21) (Miss. 2007)). "Abuse of discretion is an appellate court’s most deferential standard of review." Owens v. State, No. 2021-CT-00887-SCT, 2024 WL 1336581, at *3 (¶19) (Miss. Mar. 28, 2024). "In carrying out our review, we weigh the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict, only disturbing a verdict when it is so contrary to the overwhelming weight of the evidence that to allow it to stand would sanction an unconscionable injustice." Id. (quoting Lindsey v. State, 212 So. 3d 44, 45 (¶4) (Miss. 2017)).

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