Gonzales v. State

Evidence that the defendant lay in wait for the victim and shot him as soon as he saw his car approaching supported the jury's finding that the defendant shot the victim in anger, rather than in self-defense.

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Luis Vera Gonzales was indicted for murder but convicted of voluntary manslaughter and sentenced to 20 years, to serve 15. On appeal, he contends the evidence was insufficient and that the trial court erred by admitting his video-taped statement and photographs of the victim and by charging the jury on revenge and mutual combat. 1. Construed in favor of the verdict, the evidence shows that Gonzales and four friends had a confrontation with Antonio Paz Martinez at a carwash, during which Martinez pointed a sawed-off shotgun at an unarmed Gonzales. Shortly thereafter, Gonzales and his friends returned to Gonzales’s apartment complex and encountered Martinez again. Martinez again pointed his shotgun at Gonzales from the window of his white car and threatened Gonzales. At that point, Gonzalez and his friends went to get Gonzales’s gun-a nine-millimeter, semi-automatic handgun with a collapsible stock and shoulder strap, equipped to accommodate a magazine that could hold twenty cartridges that in fact was loaded with about 17 bullets.

Some four hours after the first two confrontations, the group of young men returned to the apartment complex and waited at the only entrance, behind the mailboxes, for about 25 or 30 minutes until the same white car returned. Gonzales testified that the car accelerated toward him, that he did not see any weapon, but that he was scared. As the car approached, Gonzalez pulled his weapon out from under his shirt, walked out from behind the mailboxes into the street, pointed his gun, and pulled the trigger. His gun jammed, but he cleared it as the car passed by. He then shot one time at the car and saw the car crash. He and his friends then fled, and Gonzales hid the weapon at a construction site.

Gonzales v. State

Evidence that the defendant lay in wait for the victim and shot him as soon as he saw his car approaching supported the jury's finding that the defendant shot the victim in anger, rather than in self-defense.

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