2008-10-23

On October 23, 2008, Ashley Harris and Patrick Ledford left their apartment at the Huntington Pointe Apartments to get something to eat.   When they got to Ledford's car, Harris had the keys and was going to drive.   As Harris opened the car door, a black male approached her with a salutation and held out his hand as if to shake hands with her.   The assailant grabbed Harris and attempted to pull her toward him.   Harris was able to pull away and backed off from the assailant.   Upon hearing and seeing what was happening, Ledford grabbed the assailant by the arm and attempted to spin him around to face Ledford.   The assailant pulled his shirt up and put his hand in the waist band of his pants stating, “All I want is your keys.   I need to go home.   I have a gun.”   Harris then threw the keys toward the assailant, who picked them up off the ground and hurried off around one of the buildings in the apartment complex.   Harris and Ledford were both extremely frightened by the incident and, upon gaining access to a phone, called 911.

The first officer to respond was Justin Castillo of the Amarillo Police Department.   Castillo arrived on the scene and obtained a description of the events and a partial description of the assailant.   Both witnesses described the assailant to be a black male, wearing a black “do-rag,” blue jersey-type T-shirt, and blue jeans.   The victims stated the assailant was between 6' and 6'1” in height.   Each victim thought that they would be able to recognize the assailant if they saw him again, however, Harris was less sure of this than Ledford.   After taking down the information from the victims and reporting the incident, Castillo spoke to the apartment maintenance man, Armando Mondragon, who had arrived to change the locks on the victims' apartment.2

Castillo quizzed Mondragon about knowing anyone within the apartment complex that might fit the general description of the assailant.   Mondragon advised that he had seen someone that might fit the description on the other side of the apartment complex.   Upon finding out the apartment where the possible suspect might be found, Castillo went to apartment 1102.   At apartment 1102, Castillo questioned appellant, Boris Wyatt, and Mauricio Rubio.   None of the three individuals were dressed in clothing consistent with what the victims had described the assailant as wearing.   All three denied any knowledge of or involvement in the robbery.

Castillo then left the scene only to be called back a short time later.   Upon returning to the victims' apartment, Castillo learned that the car that the keys went to had been stolen.   The victims described hearing the alarm on the car go off and seeing the car being driven out of the apartment's parking lot.   Neither victim saw the perpetrator get in the vehicle.   Castillo reported the car as stolen and left the scene.   Later, at about 6:15 to 6:30 a.m., Castillo returned to the apartment and advised the victims that the stolen car had been involved in a wreck near Wichita Falls and that a suspect, Boris Wyatt, was in custody.

Detective Louis Sanchez of the Amarillo Police Department was assigned to the robbery case on October 27, 2008.   Upon learning about the wrecked car and capture of Boris Wyatt, Sanchez prepared a photo lineup that included Wyatt's picture.   Both Harris and Ledford came to the police department headquarters and viewed the photo lineup.   Neither was able to pick anyone out of the lineup.   A second lineup was prepared that same day and the victims were asked to come back to the police station to view it.   At the time Harris and Ledford were shown the lineup, they were not allowed to speak with each other and each had their own individual copy of the photo lineup to view.   Each picked out appellant as the perpetrator of the robbery.