2009-02-23
Appellant, Lawyar T. Ewings, pled guilty to murder. During the punishment phase of trial, he attempted to mitigate his punishment by asserting that he acted under the influence of sudden passion arising from an adequate cause. The jury did not find Appellant caused the death under the influence of sudden passion and they sentenced him to confinement for thirty-five years. In a single issue, Appellant contends the trial court erred by admitting photographs of the crime scene and the victim’s injuries that were irrelevant, inflammatory, repetitious, and more prejudicial than probative. We affirm.
Background
Appellant and Jessica Termain were involved in an ongoing relationship for a number of years during which he supplied her with money and/or drugs in return for sex. Although Appellant was aware that she also traded sex with other men for money and/or drugs, he was not bothered so long as she did not show affection toward other men in his presence. Nevertheless, their relationship was troubled by her addiction and prostitution which were a constant source of discord between them.
On September 15, 2006, Appellant and Felicia Mahone, his cousin, went to the Wishing Well Bar at approximately 1:00 p.m. At the bar, they met Termain and Appellant purchased crack cocaine at her request. Before leaving the bar, Appellant and Termain argued about where she was going to stay. Appellant wanted her to go with him and she wanted to remain at the bar. Later, at dusk, Termain accompanied Mahone and Appellant to his apartment where she smoked crack while Appellant and Mahone continued drinking. Appellant and Termain also continued to argue about where she would be staying. Termain wanted a ride across town. Before departing, Appellant placed his loaded, twelve gauge shotgun in the backseat of his truck.
Later that evening, Appellant and Mahone returned to the Wishing Well. As he drove up, Appellant observed Termain kissing Billy Ray. He became upset because he had bought crack for her and she was with another man. When he approached to speak with her, she told him to get away and leave her alone. Appellant walked away for a time but returned and said: ”Bitch, you mess with too many men, you’re trying to get somebody killed.” Appellant and Mahone then left the Wishing Well and drove to another bar where they continued drinking.
Early in the morning of September 16, Appellant returned to the Wishing Well looking for Termain. He pulled his truck into a parking area adjacent to a site where homeless people camped out across the street from the Wishing Well and observed Termain sitting on a mattress across from Larry Frazier, a homeless man. He “[didn’t] know if they were making out,” but “[he] thought they might be making out . . . because of the way they were laying together . . . [i]t was suspicious to [him].” He also observed Termain was not wearing the same shirt she was wearing when she left his apartment earlier that night.
Appellant got out of his truck and retrieved the loaded shotgun from the back seat. He walked over to where Termain was sitting and made an angry utterance. Termain said nothing. He then leveled the shotgun at her face, leaned in, and pulled the trigger.
During the punishment phase of trial, Appellant testified as follows:
DEFENSE COUNSEL: Why did you do that [shoot Termain]?
APPELLANT: I don’t know. Man, I just flipped. I don’t know what happened.
DEFENSE COUNSEL: What made you flip?
APPELLANT: I guess it was Billy Ray. Everybody else, you know what I’m talking about? This . . . Too much pressure out there.
DEFENSE COUNSEL: If you didn’t go there to kill her, what was it about seeing her without her shirt on with [Frazier] that changed all that?
APPELLANT: Oh, I really don’t know. I was just tired. You know, being misused and abused. It just hit me all at once, you know. Any way in the world that I’d kill that girl.
Appellant placed his shotgun back in the truck and Mahone drove him home. Less than an hour after the shooting, Appellant called the police from a pay phone. He told the dispatcher that he thought he had “just killed someone” and that he believed he was dreaming. Shortly thereafter, he was taken into custody, confessed to shooting Termain, and signed a written statement.