Welker v. State

Given evidence that the murder victim made several death threats, the trial court did not reversibly err in excluding additional evidence that he threatened to pistol whip an unidentified person.

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Jamin Thomas Welker was convicted of the felony murder of Steven Wayne Phillips, the aggravated assault of Wesley Stubblefield, and possession of a firearm during the commission of crimes.1 His motion for new trial was denied and he appeals, challenging evidentiary rulings and jury instructions. Finding no reversible error, we affirm.

1. The jury was authorized to find that appellant and the murder victim had a history of animosity, with appellant at one time firing a gun in the direction of a car in which the victim was seated. On January 31, 1998, a few days after the murder victim moved into a trailer where appellant Welker’s ex-girlfriend, Tracy Dixon, was living with Cynthia Fleming and Allen Stubblefield, appellant sent Dixon three threatening telephone pages. In response to a demand in one page, Dixon phoned appellant, who told her to leave Fleming’s trailer because he intended to “shoot it up.” Appellant agreed not to attack the trailer only if Dixon could get three men, including the murder victim, to meet him at the corner for a fight. Dixon told Fleming of the threat and then walked to appellant’s residence to reason with him. The murder victim, Stubblefield and his brother, Wesley Stubblefield, and another man were walking to the corner when they encountered appellant who was driving Dixon back to the trailer. Appellant pulled out a gun; the others declined to fight him while he had the gun; and the three men walked away after Dixon said she had appellant under control. However, appellant then shouted an insult at the murder victim, who ran back to the car, followed by the other men. After an argument that lasted two to four minutes, appellant opened fire on the unarmed men. Phillips was struck three times and bled to death. Wesley Stubblefield was shot in the arm; his shirt contained at least three bullet holes.

Welker v. State

Given evidence that the murder victim made several death threats, the trial court did not reversibly err in excluding additional evidence that he threatened to pistol whip an unidentified person.

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