Warren v. Commonwealth

WILLIAM EVERETT WARREN v. COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA

No. 0348-22-1

Court of Appeals of Virginia

February 21, 2023

FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE CITY OF WILLIAMSBURG AND COUNTY OF JAMES CITY Holly B. Smith, Judge.

Richard G. Collins (Collins & Hyman, P.L.C., on brief) for appellant.

Mason D. Williams, Assistant Attorney General (Jason S. Miyares Attorney General, on brief), for appellee.

Present: Judges Humphreys, AtLee and Raphael Argued at Williamsburg, Virginia.

MEMORANDUM OPINION ^[*]

ROBERT J. HUMPHREYS JUDGE.

William Everett Warren appeals his convictions, following a bench trial, for attempted first-degree murder (Code §§ 18.2-26, 18.2-32), use of a firearm in the commission of a felony (Code § 18.2-53.1), maliciously shooting into an occupied building (Code § 18.2-279), destruction of property (Code § 18.2-137), reckless handling of a firearm (Code § 18.2-56.1), and violent felon in possession of a firearm (Code § 18.2-308.2). Warren contends that the circuit court abused its discretion when it admitted inadmissible hearsay and that the evidence is insufficient to support his convictions.

BACKGROUND

On appeal, when considering the legal sufficiency of the evidence, "we review the evidence in the 'light most favorable' to the Commonwealth" as the prevailing party in the circuit court. Clanton v. Commonwealth, 53 Va.App. 561, 564 (2009) (en banc) (citing Commonwealth v. Hudson, 265 Va. 505, 514 (2003)). That principle requires us to "discard the evidence of the accused in conflict with that of the Commonwealth, and regard as true all the credible evidence favorable to the Commonwealth and all fair inferences that may be drawn therefrom." Kelly v. Commonwealth, 41 Va.App. 250, 254 (2003) (en banc) (quoting Watkins v. Commonwealth, 26 Va.App. 335, 348 (1998)). In this light, the evidence adduced at trial established the following.

On December 5, 2020, Shannon Lee and Warren, her live-in boyfriend of eight months, had been arguing for a couple days about her talking to her ex-boyfriend. Around noon on December 5, Warren told Lee to stay away from him and stated in a text message, "if u r crazy enough to come here dont bring u kid in because I'm going to kill u. IM TELL U ON EVERYTHING I LOVE DONT COME AROUND ME. IM GOING TO KIL."

Warren was inside Lee's residence when Lee arrived home that evening. Lee remained outside for about an hour hoping that Warren would calm down. Lee and Warren exchanged text messages during this time. Warren again told Lee over text message that he was going to kill her. When Lee finally entered the home, Warren and Billy, Warren's cousin, were in the living room.^[1]Warren appeared to be very agitated. Lee stood in the kitchen while Warren continued to berate her and threaten to shoot and kill her.

Eventually, Lee left the kitchen and walked to her bedroom, adjacent to the kitchen.^[2]Warren followed and continued to threaten to kill her. Lee sat on the end of her bed next to the doorway and asked Warren to leave. Initially he refused; then he walked back into the living room out of Lee's view. Several seconds later Lee heard a gunshot. She looked up and saw Billy standing in the kitchen, shaking. She ran into the living room and found Warren on the couch with a purple and black handgun on the floor right next to him. Lee grabbed the gun and ran out of the house with Billy. Lee explained that she owned the handgun that she retrieved from the floor. She testified that she stored the gun, "clip," and bullets in separate places around her bedroom and bathroom.

Lee and Billy drove around for several hours while Warren asserted, via text messages, that he would not leave her residence. He continued to threaten her. Because Warren refused to leave Lee's home, Lee stayed in a hotel overnight. Lee returned home the next day. It appeared that no one was inside, so she peaked in the door. At that point she smelled a strong chemical odor inside the residence. Lee called the police.

James City County Officer Kristal Lair responded to Lee's report of damaged property. Upon arrival, Lee directed Lair into the residence. Lair discovered that the television, lizard terrarium, a table, cabinets, and mirrors had been spray-painted. "Ho lives here" was written in spray paint on kitchen cabinets. "[F]ucking bitch" and "this should have killed u" with an arrow pointing to a bullet hole in the wall were scrolled in spray paint on the bathroom mirrors. Upon closer inspection, Lair saw daylight through the bullet hole in the bathroom wall. A shell casing was found on the table in the living room next to where Warren was sitting on the couch when Lee left the house.

After photographing the scene, Lee showed Lair a purple and black firearm in a vehicle. Later testing of the firearm and the casing found on the table confirmed that the casing had been fired from that weapon, as shown in Commonwealth's Exhibit 2. Finally, Lee shared with Lair screenshots of text messages she had received from Warren after the shooting.^[3] These included "3 feet to the right and u be die. U getting high," and "I fucking hate u I want to kill u so bad." These text messages are also shown on the Verizon record entered into evidence without objection.

Destiny Warren, Warren's daughter, testified that she received text messages from her father on December 6, 2020. In those text messages Warren stated, "I fucked up baby real bad. I love u so much be better then me." When Destiny asked what happened, Warren stated, "I lost it I shot at her I'm sorry I told her to leave me alone just couldn't do it bitch try to mind fuck me I lost it." When Destiny asked if Warren used a gun and who he shot, Warren stated, "Yup I didn't shot her close I should have killed her . . . It not ur problem it's on me I fucked up. Shannon." When asked if the bullet had hit Lee, Warren responded, "No I didn't I should have."^[4]

At the conclusion of the Commonwealth's case, Warren moved to strike the evidence, which the circuit court denied. Warren then presented a stipulation of Lee's prior statements at the May 21, 2021 hearing, relating that she was arguing with Billy on the date of the offense as well. The circuit court denied Warren's renewed motion to strike the evidence.

The circuit court stated its finding of fact on the record. First, regarding proof that Warren was a prior convicted violent felon, the court noted the certified copy of the prior felony conviction order and considered Warren's testimony under oath regarding his identifiers and the indictment, finding that he is the same individual named in that order. Turning to factual findings on the other issues, the circuit court found that prior to the gunfire, Lee was sitting on a part of her bed exposed to the bedroom doorway to the kitchen. Warren possessed an operable firearm. He directed the firearm at Lee from the living room and fired it. After the gun fired, Lee looked up and saw Billy with no weapon in hand. Lee exited the bedroom and saw Warren sitting on the couch with the gun at his feet and a casing was next to him. She grabbed the firearm and left the home. Billy left with her, so he was not the person who damaged the property. Warren put his "signature" on the home with spray paint. The circuit court expressly rejected Warren's hypothesis of innocence that Billy shot at Lee, finding, "That doesn't make any sense," given that Warren texted his daughter that he shot at Lee. Warren was initiating and receiving text messages from his phone, which he had before, during, and after the incident on December 5. Considering the text messages between Warren and Lee, text messages between Warren and his daughter, Lee's testimony, and the physical evidence, the circuit court found that Warren had intended to kill Lee and convicted him of all charges.

ANALYSIS

I. ADMISSIBILITY OF TEXT MESSAGES

Warren first argues that the circuit court erred in admitting the screenshot of text messages introduced as Commonwealth's Exhibit 13 because there was a lack of sufficient foundation that they included statements made by Warren and were therefore inadmissible hearsay.

"[T]he determination of the admissibility of relevant evidence is within the sound discretion of the trial court subject to the test of abuse of that discretion." Adjei v. Commonwealth, 63 Va.App. 727, 737 (2014) (alteration in original) (quoting Beck v. Commonwealth, 253 Va. 373, 384-85 (1997)). A reviewing court can conclude that "an abuse of discretion has occurred" only in cases in which "reasonable jurists could not differ" about the correct result. Commonwealth v. Swann, 290 Va. 194, 197 (2015) (quoting Grattan v. Commonwealth, 278 Va. 602, 620 (2009)). "[B]y definition," however, a circuit court "abuses its discretion when it makes an error of law." Coffman v. Commonwealth, 67 Va.App. 163, 166 (2017) (quoting Commonwealth v. Greer, 63 Va.App. 561, 568 (2014)).

"'Hearsay' is a statement, other than one made by the declarant while testifying at the trial or hearing, offered in evidence to prove the truth of the matter asserted." Va. R. Evid. 2:801(c). Hearsay evidence "'is inadmissible unless it falls within one of the recognized exceptions' to the rule against hearsay." Atkins v. Commonwealth, 68 Va.App. 1, 7-8 (2017) (quoting Robinson v. Commonwealth, 258 Va. 3, 6 (1999)); see also Va. R. Evid. 2:802. "It is well established . . . that an out-of-court statement by a criminal defendant, if relevant, is admissible as a party admission, under an exception to the rule against hearsay." Bloom v. Commonwealth, 262 Va. 814, 820 (2001).

"To meet the party admission exception to the rule against hearsay, the Commonwealth must first establish that the hearsay statement was in fact made by the party, in this case, ...