Brendan Gaytan v. The State of Texas Appeal om 347th District Court of Nuec County :: 2017 :: Texas Court of Appeals, Thirteenth District Decisns :: Texas Case Law :: Texas Law :: US Law :: Jtia

Contents:

• BRANDON GAYTáN
• BRANDON GAYTAN
• BRENDAN GAYTAN V. THE STATE OF TEXAS APPEAL OM 347TH DISTRICT COURT OF NUEC COUNTY (MEMORANDUM OPN)
• 2 MATCH FOR BRANDON GAYTAN
• BRANDON GAYTAN
• BRANDON GAYTAN
• BRANDON GAYTAN VS. CRISTIAN AXEL MIRANDA

BRANDON GAYTáN

Brendon Gaytan, 31, was found guilty  Febary 2015 of pal murr the aths of Lillyanna Valent, 2, and Nevaeh Oliva, 6. Court rerds show San Anton attorney Cynthia Orr filed a document last week on Gaytan's behalf that requts the Court of Crimal Appeals review the se.

More:Jtic: Convictns stand Corp Christi girls' slaygsMore:Appeals urt hears arguments man’s pal murr seThe document argu there are several grounds for an stat Gaytan is nocent — somethg he has mataed — and suffers om a "physil fect" that would have ma him pable of firg the murr weapons.

Brandon Gaytán. Left to Right: Col Murphy, Alexis Erw, Brandon Gaytan, Sarah Brady, Alia Schoen, Toni Lee, David Earnt Garcia, Karen Morrison, Brie Ldsey, Nathan Phillips (Not pictured: Nile Meyer-Morse). Brendon Gaytan of Corp Christi was sentenced Friday, a day after beg nvicted of pal murr.

BRANDON GAYTAN

Gaytan's half brother, Cz Salazar, awas trial on pal murr charg the se. About Brandon Gaytan. Brandon Gaytan.

NUMBER 13-15-00129-CR COURT OF APPEALS THIRTEENTH DISTRICT OF TEXAS CORPUS CHRISTI – EDINBURG BRENDAN GAYTAN, Appellant, v. MEMORANDUM OPINION Before Chief Jtice Valz and Jtic Rodriguez and Contreras Memorandum Opn by Chief Jtice Valz The jury found appellant Brendan Gaytan guilty of two unts of pal murr, and the trial urt sentenced him to life prison. By two issu, Gaytan ntends: (1) his trial attorneys renred effective assistance of unsel; and (2) the trial urt erred allowg the jury to view a monstratn vio.

BACKGROUND In a two-unt dictment, the State alleged that Gaytan fatally shot two children at a birthday party a hoe on Cheryl Street Corp Christi, Texas. The State theorized that Gaytan mted the crime to get revenge on Arnold Valent, the father of one of the children at the party, after Valent burglarized Gaytan’s tck days earlier.

BRENDAN GAYTAN V. THE STATE OF TEXAS APPEAL OM 347TH DISTRICT COURT OF NUEC COUNTY (MEMORANDUM OPN)

At trial, Valent posively intified Gaytan as the shooter.

Valent ttified that he me upon Gaytan and another dividual when he stepped outsi the hoe on Cheryl Street and that Gaytan began shootg at him. Valent ttified that he sought ver si the hoe and that Gaytan ntued shootg.

2 MATCH FOR BRANDON GAYTAN

Gaytan’s iend ttified that Gaytan borrowed a Malibu om her on the night of the shootg; that Gaytan left the Malibu wh two other dividuals; and that approximately nety mut later, Gaytan returned the Malibu to her. Gaytan’s iend further ttified that the Malibu had been cleaned sce Gaytan borrowed and that Gaytan wiped the keys before givg them to a iend to pass on to her. The State argued to the 2 jury that the vehicle picted the vio was the same vehicle that Gaytan borrowed on the night of the shootg, th placg Gaytan the general vicy of the shootg.

Gaytan’s ttified that he and Gaytan were together on the night of the shootg. Gaytan’s ttified that Gaytan stated that he “had gotten jacked” (meang “robbed”) and that he wanted to “handle up” (meang “take re of bs” or “get his stuff back”).

Gaytan’s further ttified that Gaytan left for about an hour and that when he returned, he stated that had been “taken re of. ” Eloy Silva, a self-admted gang member, ttified that Gaytan nfsed to beg volved the shootg a uple of days after occurred.

BRANDON GAYTAN

Acrdg to Silva, Gaytan told him that “sh had gotten out of hand” and “ got fucked up. ” Gaytan’s fensive theory at trial was that the evince nnectg him to the shootg was weak. Gaytan argued that Valent’s -urt intifitn was not credible; that Gaytan’s statements to his about “handlg up” and “takg re of ” uld have meant anythg and did not necsarily tie him to the shootg; that the surveillance vio do not show a Malibu several blocks away om the hoe on Cheryl Street; and that Silva had a motive to lie about an alleged nfsn bee Silva received a favorable plea al an unrelated se exchange for his ttimony at trial.

At the close of the evince, the jury found Gaytan guilty on both unts of pal murr. Thereafter, Gaytan moved for a new trial allegg effective assistance of unsel. At the hearg on the motn for new trial, Gaytan prented evince that he claimed would have changed the oute of the trial had his attorneys ed .

The trial urt nied Gaytan’s motn for new trial. INEFFECTIVE ASSISTANCE OF COUNSEL By his first issue, Gaytan ntends that the trial urt erred failg to grant his motn for new trial based on effective assistance of unsel.

BRANDON GAYTAN

As the movant on a motn for new trial allegg effective assistance, Gaytan shoulred the burn to tablish by a preponrance of the evince that: (1) trial unsel performed ficiently; and (2) unsel’s ficient performance prejudiced his fense. Judicial review of unsel’s performance is highly ferential, and effective assistance will be found only if Gaytan was able to overe the strong prumptn that his unsel’s nduct fell wh the wi range of reasonable profsnal assistance. We also apply a prumptn that unsel’s choic reprentg Gaytan were the rult of sound trial strategy.

As noted above, if Gaytan met his burn to prove that trial unsel performed ficiently, the next quiry for the trial urt would be whether unsel’s ficient performance prejudiced Gaytan’s fense. Prejudice occurs when there is a “reasonable probabily” that, but for unsel’s ficient performance, the oute of Gaytan’s trial would have been different.

Analysis On appeal, Gaytan argu that trial unsel performed ficiently by: (1) failg to aquately impeach Valent; (2) failg to aquately impeach Silva; (3) failg to aquately refute the State’s theory that Gaytan mted the shootg to get revenge on Valent; and (3) failg to object to the admissn of the home surveillance vio. Failg to Aquately Impeach Valent Gaytan ntends that trial unsel failed to impeach Valent wh certa statements he ma to the police the days followg the shootg.

BRANDON GAYTAN VS. CRISTIAN AXEL MIRANDA

Valent’s Statements Regardg the Inty of the Shooter At the new-trial hearg, Gaytan prented evince that Valent uld not intify Gaytan as the shooter when the police terviewed him the day after the shootg.

Gaytan argu that trial unsel was effective for failg to show the jury the police terview as a means of discredg the reliabily of Valent’s -urt intifitn. Specifilly, Valent admted on cross-examatn that he did not intify Gaytan as the shooter durg his ial police terview bee he was aaid of what might happen to him and his fay if he intified Gaytan. Gaytan provis no thory that playg the police terview self was the only effective means to discred Valent’s -urt intifitn, and we fd none.

We therefore hold that the trial urt did not abe s discretn rejectg Gaytan’s claim that trial unsel performed ficiently by failg to play Valent’s police terview as a means of discredg Valent’s -urt intifitn. We note that Gaytan do not addrs whether Valent’s police terview was admissible light of the fact that Valent was cross-examed about his prr nsistent statement and admted to makg . Valent’s Statements Regardg the Details of the Shootg Evince prented at the new-trial hearg showed that Valent eventually intified Gaytan as the shooter at a subsequent terview wh the police the days followg the shootg.