Limon v. State

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ALEXIS LIMON, Appellant v. THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee

No. 01-22-00022-CR

Court of Appeals of Texas, First District

August 1, 2023

Do not publish. TEX. R. APP. P. 47.2(b).

On Appeal from the 230th District Court Harris County, Texas Trial Court Case No. 1627432

Panel consists of Justices Kelly, Hightower, and Countiss.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

PETER KELLY, JUSTICE

Alexis Limon appeals his conviction for aggravated robbery. See Tex. Penal Code § 29.03. Limon pleaded not true to an enhancement and proceeded to a jury trial. A jury found him guilty, found the enhancement true, and assessed Limon's punishment at 40 years' imprisonment and a $5,000 fine.

On appeal, he argues the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction, the evidence was insufficient to support the enhancement paragraph, and he received ineffective assistance of counsel during the punishment hearing. We affirm.

Background

Limon was charged with aggravated robbery. He pleaded not guilty and proceeded to a jury trial.

A. Guilt/Innocence Testimony

At trial, Irineo Monjarez, Jr. ("Irineo Jr.") testified that in April 2019, he saw a white Silverado truck next to his father's truck outside their house. It was about one in the morning, and several streetlights were on. The dome light on his father's truck was also on. Irineo Jr. saw a person inside of his father's truck on the driver's side. Irineo Jr. confronted the person in the truck, and a struggle ensued. The person got into the running Silverado. Irineo Jr. held onto him, and the truck crashed into a ditch. Irineo Jr. blacked out and suffered damaged discs in his back from the crash. When he regained consciousness, he realized his neighbor and friend, Jose Andres Almazan, had come outside. Almazan and Irineo Jr continued to fight with the man. The man pulled out a gun and shot Almazan in the ankle. Irineo Jr.'s brother ran out and grabbed the gun, unloaded it, and pointed it at the unknown man. Irineo Jr. called 911, but the man ran away on foot before first responders arrived. Irineo Jr. provided a description to the responding law enforcement officers.

Irineo Jr. testified that he asked around the neighborhood to investigate who the robber could have been. That same day, he heard it could have been Alexis Limon, so he looked Limon up on Facebook. He forwarded a photograph of Limon to detectives. He also identified Limon in a photo array. Irineo Jr. also identified Limon in court.

Jose Andres Almazan testified that shortly after midnight he heard a crash, looked out a window, and saw two people fighting in the street. When he saw it was his friend, Irineo Jr., he went to assist. He attempted to put the man fighting with Irineo Jr. in a chokehold. The man pulled a gun from his waistband and shot two or three times. Almazan was shot in the ankle. He was treated at the hospital, where he spoke to a detective. He identified Limon in a photo array, stating that he was 90% sure Limon was the person who had shot him. Later, Irineo Jr. showed him a photograph from the internet of a possible suspect. Almazan then told law enforcement that he was 100% sure of his identification from the photo array. Almazan identified Limon in court.

The Houston Police Officer who responded to the scene testified that he arrived when Almazan was being treated by paramedics in an ambulance. He secured the scene until a detective from the robbery division arrived. He noticed that Irineo Monjarez, Sr.'s ("Irineo Sr.") truck had damage consistent with popping out the lock and prying the door open, and the radio had been removed. There was also a screwdriver or prying tool in the truck. The stereo from Irineo Sr.'s truck was found in the Silverado.

The police officer collected the firearm, ammunition, a jacket, and a cell phone. The phone was found in the Silverado and believed to belong to the suspect. The jacket was found in a ravine about thirty feet away, in the direction that the suspect had fled. Inside the jacket, the officer found a live round and a fired bullet casing. The officer testified that similar ammunition was recovered from the firearm.

The robbery division detective who responded to the scene testified at trial. He learned that the Silverado truck had been reported stolen. The owner lived a few blocks away from the scene of the robbery. The detective had a patrol officer pick up the owner of the Silverado and bring him to the scene to identify his truck. The Silverado was then towed to a processing facility.

The detective also talked to Almazan at the hospital. Almazan described the suspect as about 5'6" tall, 140 to 150 pounds, with tattoos covering his face and neck. The detective testified that he received an email later in the day from Almazan with a photo of a person he believed had shot him. Once he found the suspect's name, the detective searched and realized that the suspect, Alexis Limon, lived next door to the owner of the Silverado truck. The detective created a photo array with Limon and five similar looking individuals. He gave the array to another detective who was unaware which of the individuals in the array was the suspect. That detective presented the array to Irineo Jr. and Almazan, who both identified Limon as the suspect.

The jury found Limon guilty and proceeded to a punishment hearing.

B. Punishment Testimony

Limon pleaded not true to the enhancement paragraph alleging a prior felony conviction for evading arrest in a motor vehicle in 2015. The State then presented punishment evidence. In addition to evidence to link Limon to the prior conviction alleged in the enhancement paragraph and evidence of Limon's prior criminal history, the State presented evidence of unadjudicated extraneous offenses allegedly committed by Limon after the aggravated robbery. The State also presented evidence regarding Limon's gang affiliation. Limon's mother was a mitigation witness.

1. Adjudicated Extraneous Offenses

The State presented evidence of offenses committed by Limon before the aggravated robbery. This evidence included numerous judgments of conviction or orders for deferred adjudication. The State used one of the prior judgments to support the enhancement paragraph alleged in the indictment. The State alleged that in 2015 Limon was convicted of evading arrest in a motor vehicle and was sentenced to three years' imprisonment. Limon pleaded "not true" to this enhancement paragraph.

The State called the supervisor of the latent print section of the Houston Forensic Science Center regarding the fingerprints on the judgments. She testified that she took fingerprints of Limon and compared them to fingerprints on the prior judgments. All the judgments contained Limon's name and state identification number. The fingerprint examiner was able to match most of them by fingerprint as well. The fingerprint on three of the judgments was either inconclusive or did not have a "print of value." One of the inconclusive judgments was the judgment underlying the enhancement paragraph. The fingerprint examiner testified that while she could not conclusively match Limon to three judgments, she could not conclude that the fingerprints on them did not belong to Limon either.

2. Limon's Gang Affiliation

A Houston Police Sergeant with the gang division testified that Limon was placed in a database for tracking gang members because he was a self-admitted member of Houstone Tango Blast. He also had gang-related tattoos.

3. Unadjudicated offenses

The State presented evidence of several unadjudicated offenses allegedly committed by Limon. Each of these offenses occurred either right before the aggravated robbery or in the years after it but before Limon's trial.

(1) Felon in possession of a firearm

Harris County Deputy P. Manickas testified that in March 2019 he responded to a call that a man in all-black clothing, possibly holding a gun, was walking around vehicles in a residential driveway. When he arrived on the scene, the deputy viewed the caller's surveillance video. The deputy testified that the suspect could be seen pulling on car handles, consistent with burglarizing vehicles and theft. The deputy used his radio to relay a description of the suspect. When an officer responded that a suspect matching the description was at a nearby gas station, the deputy went to that location. He observed the same person he had seen in the surveillance video, who he later identified as Alexis Limon.

Another officer testified that he heard the radio description and then saw someone, later identified as Limon, standing in a grassy area near the air pump in a nearby gas station. As the officer approached, Limon started to run away. The officer detained Limon, then walked over to the grassy area where he had been standing. The officer found a firearm. Though the officer did not see Limon drop the firearm, the officer testified that he knew it had not been there long because it was not covered in condensation. The officer testified that Limon had a Houston Astros star tattooed on his neck and that the officer knew this to be gang related. Limon was arrested for felon in possession of a firearm. A ballistics examiner tested the firearm and determined it was operational.

(2) Evading in a motor vehicle, failure to stop and render aid, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, and burglary of a motor vehicle

A patrol officer testified that he was in a residential area when he saw parked taillights in the middle of the street in July 2019. He pulled up to the vehicle and saw that the driver's side door was open, but nobody was inside. Limon was in a parked car next to it. The officer believed that Limon was either trying to steal or burglarize the car. As the officer and his partner approached,...