Appellant Samuel Worthen was convicted as a party to the robbery at gunpoint of Patricia Contreras, the assistant manager of an Austin pawn shop. See Tex. Pen. Code Ann. � 29.03(a)(2) (West 1994); see also id. � 7.02. It is undisputed that the robbery was committed by Jeff Lee. Worthen’s criminal responsibility for the crime was proved primarily through the testimony of two witnesses, Talia Thompson and Thomas Debrow. The district court instructed the jury that Thompson was an accomplice as a matter of law, but submitted the question of Debrow’s status as an accomplice to the jury as a fact question. By two points of error, Worthen contends the court should have instructed the jury that Debrow was an accomplice as a matter of law, and that the accomplices’ testimony was not corroborated by evidence tending to connect Worthen to the robbery. See Tex. Code Crim. Proc. Ann. art. 38.14 (West 1979) (accomplice witness rule). We will overrule these contentions and affirm the conviction.
*fn1 Thompson was a sixteen-year-old runaway who lived in a house in San Antonio with Worthen, his young son, his mother, and his friend Jimmy Barnett. Thompson testified that on the night preceding the robbery, she heard Worthen, Barnett, and Lee plan the robbery at Worthen’s house. Later that night, the four drove to Austin in Worthen’s mother’s car, taking with them Worthen’s pistol and several pillowcases. They checked into a motel upon their arrival in Austin and briefly slept. They left the motel around 9:00 a.m. According to the plan, Thompson was to enter the pawnshop and pretend to be interested in purchasing jewelry, thereby causing the clerk to open the jewelry case. Lee would then enter with the pistol and steal jewelry and cash, while Thompson pretended to be a frightened bystander. Thompson was to leave the pawnshop shortly after Lee, and the four were to then meet at a restaurant in the area.
The nonaccomplice testimony shows that the robbery went as planned, but things soon went downhill for the robbers. The police arrived at the pawnshop before Thompson could leave. Thompson’s suspicious behavior and vague, conflicting answers to questions caused the police to suspect that she was involved in the robbery. Thompson ultimately led the police to the motel, where Barnett was found and arrested in the room rented by Worthen. Lee was arrested when he arrived at the motel in Worthen’s car. Worthen was arrested while walking nearby.
