Cameron Lavon Stephens v. the State of Texas

Summary

The Texas Court of Appeals, Second Appellate District, reviewed Cameron Lavon Stephens’s murder conviction arising from a fatal shooting at Hurricane Harbor in Arlington, Texas. Stephens argued that the evidence was insufficient to establish that he fired the fatal shot or possessed the requisite intent, and challenged the denial of his motion for directed verdict. The court held that the evidence was legally sufficient and affirmed the trial court’s judgment.

Holdings

1. The evidence was legally sufficient for a rational jury to find beyond a reasonable doubt that Stephens intentionally or knowingly caused D.T.'s death by shooting him, or intentionally committed an act clearly dangerous to human life with the intent to cause serious bodily injury and thereby caused D.T.'s death.
2. The evidence was sufficient for a rational jury to find against Stephens on his self-defense and defense-of-others theories beyond a reasonable doubt.
3. The trial court did not err by denying Stephens's motion for directed verdict because a challenge to denial of an instructed-verdict motion is a challenge to evidentiary sufficiency, and the evidence was sufficient.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the evidence was legally sufficient to support Stephens's murder conviction under the charged intentional-or-knowing and serious-bodily-injury theories.
2. Whether the evidence was sufficient for a rational jury to reject Stephens's self-defense and defense-of-others theories.
3. Whether the trial court erred by denying Stephens's motion for directed verdict.

Disposition

affirmed