In re M. B.

1

IN THE MATTER OF M. B., Appellant

No. 14-23-00969-CV

Court of Appeals of Texas, Fourteenth District

June 18, 2024

On Appeal from the 313th District Court Harris County, Texas Trial Court Cause No. 2023-01274J

Panel consists of Wise, Spain, and Hassan, Justices.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Ken Wise, Justice

M.B appeals the juvenile court's order waiving jurisdiction and transferring M.B.'s case to the criminal district court so he could be tried as an adult. He raises two issues. First that there was legally and factually insufficient evidence to support the probable cause finding by the juvenile court. Second that there is legally and factually insufficient evidence to support the section 54.02(f) findings necessary to transfer the cause to the criminal district court. We affirm the juvenile court's order.

Background

The State's petition alleged that M.B. was over the age of ten years and under the age of seventeen years when he engaged in "delinquent conduct." Specifically, the State alleged that on August 7, 2022, M.B. unlawfully intentionally, and knowingly caused the death of Patrick Jackson by shooting Jackson with a firearm. The State's petition further alleged that M.B. unlawfully intended to cause serious bodily injury to Jackson and did cause the death of Jackson by intentionally and knowingly committing an act clearly dangerous to human life, namely shooting Jackson with a firearm. At the time of the alleged offense, M.B. was fifteen years old. At the time of the proceedings, M.B. was sixteen years old.

The State moved the juvenile court to waive its exclusive jurisdiction and transfer M.B.'s case to a district court for criminal proceedings. The juvenile court conducted a hearing on the State's motion.

A detective from the Houston Police Department testified he responded to a "person down" call on August 7 2022. The location was an apartment complex. Upon arrival at the scene, the detective saw a deceased male who had been shot in the chest, the neck, and the mid-back. Near the decedent was a yellow and green bicycle. The decedent did not have any identification, wallet, phone, or money on his person but was wearing an ankle monitor. The decedent's mother identified him as Patrick Jackson and indicated that he was a "documented gang member." Jackson's mother indicated he was out on bond for an assault. While on scene, the detective looked into possible surveillance camera footage of the murder. The detective testified that he was able to identify three surveillance cameras and review their recordings from the day of the murder. Two of the recordings from the surveillance cameras were admitted into evidence and played for the court. The detective also testified about what the recordings depicted.

From one of the surveillance cameras, the detective was able to identify M.B. as an individual at the apartment complex and in the area at the time Patrick was murdered. The recording shows a young black male walking both away from and toward the surveillance camera. The recording shows this male to be wearing an orange shirt with a distinctive image on the back it appears to be flowers. The back image is large and takes up a majority of the back of the shirt. The front image appears to be the same but is smaller and only on the left chest portion of the front of the shirt. The male is also seen wearing mismatched socks: a white sock (with either black or blue on the bottom) on his left foot and a black sock on his right foot. The male is also wearing black pants and a necklace that appears to have large letters spelling out the word "BLUE." The male's face is clearly shown in this recording as he walks toward the surveillance camera.

To identify M.B., the detective used the image from this recording and researched the Houston Police Department's gang-database. Once he had identified M.B., the detective also confirmed M.B. as the individual in this recording through M.B.'s mother.

The detective testified regarding another surveillance recording depicting the apartment complex from the same angle just prior to Patrick's murder. The detective testified that the video depicts the courtyard area, near where Patrick was shot. The beginning of the recording shows the bottom portion of a bicycle-the two tires of the bicycle and a leg. Shortly after the bicycle passes the camera, a black male wearing a green and yellow shirt (which says 'Stay Trippy' and has a large smiley face on the back), shorts, and black socks, walks away from the camera toward the courtyard area. This male has his right hand near his hip and appears to be holding something in his waistband, though the object is not clearly depicted in this recording. This male is seen walking along the courtyard and out of sight. Another male appears in the recording walking away from the camera. This male is wearing an orange shirt with the same image on the back as the male in the prior recording. This male also has a white sock (with either black or blue on the bottom) on his left foot and a black sock on his right foot. However, this male is wearing a head and face covering with a camouflage pattern and what appears to be Crocs on his feet. This male appears to have different pants on than the male in the first recording. As he walks away from the camera, he appears to be holding a rectangular item in his left hand along the waistband of his pants. This male walks to the edge of the courtyard and stops, looking toward the area where the bicycle was travelling just prior. This male appears to be holding a phone to his left ear with his right hand while his left hand continues to hold something at the waist of his pants. This male paces along the courtyard edge, still appearing to be on the phone, for approximately thirty seconds. The male then turns toward the camera, still holding his waistband, and starts jogging with his head down. As he gets closer to the camera, at 1:08 of the recording, the male has a gun in his left hand, a black rectangle in his right hand that appears to be a phone, and a necklace that appears to be identical to the one in the prior recording.

The detective testified that in the recording the male in the orange shirt is talking with someone on a phone in his right hand while his left had "appears to be [holding] a black pistol with an extended magazine." The detective testified that the black male in the orange shirt in this second recording appeared similar to the one in the first recording, wearing the same clothing, including the mismatched socks, with the addition of Crocs and a head covering. The second recording was "minutes before the first call to 911 was recorded of a person down."

The detective testified that he made contact with a possible witness. The detective testified that this witness told him that he and M.B. and a third individual known as "MK" were at apartment 305 on the day of Patrick Jackson's murder. Apartment 305 is a "trap house, or in laymen's terms, a place where they sell narcotics" in the apartment complex where Jackson was murdered. The witness stated that M.B. and MK were in the apartment playing video games prior to the murder. The witness indicated that M.B. announced that "Lil Pat or Pat" was in the area and that they should "go slap his bitch ass down." The witness reported that M.B. wrapped his head in a bandana, was wearing "gang-affiliated" clothing at the time, and grabbed a black semiautomatic handgun while MK grabbed a silver .357 magnum revolver. M.B. and MK then left the apartment. The witness reported hearing three or four gunshots shortly thereafter but did not see Jackson get shot. The witness further reported once M.B. and MK returned to the apartment, M.B. said, "Oh, did you see the look on his face? He looked so scared," laughing about it. The detective testified that he showed the witness the surveillance recording depicting the two males just prior to the shooting. The witness identified the male with the "Stay Trippy" logo as MK and the other as M.B.

The detective further investigated and was able to locate MK in the Fort Bend County Jail. The detective showed MK the recording depicting the apartment complex just prior to the shooting, and MK identified himself in the recording by his clothing. MK confirmed that prior to the murder he and M.B. were playing video games in the apartment. MK confirmed he had a revolver and M.B. had a black semiautomatic pistol. MK admitted that he and M.B. cornered Jackson and that M.B. was the only one who fired. The detective testified that MK's statements "lined up generally" with the multiple shell casings recovered at the scene. The detective testified that an "intact projectile, or bullet" was recovered and it was consistent with the semiautomatic weapon M.B. was carrying. The detective testified that the firearm was recovered in a later traffic stop of another "documented [] gang member" of the same gang affiliation as M.B.

On cross-examination, the detective testified that the witness had an "extensive criminal history" but that he was unaware that the witness was given any incentive for statement against M.B.

A "court services manager" from the Harris County Juvenile Probation Department testified regarding a psychological report conducted on M.B., which was admitted as an exhibit. The report, read into evidence by the manager states that M.B.'s general cognitive ability is in the "extremely low range of intellectual functioning," but the report does not conclude that M.B. was not fit to proceed. According to the report, M.B.'s overall risk for re-offense is moderate and it is believed that with certain interventions M.B.'s overall risk could be significantly reduced. Such changes include mental health treatment, consistent...