Opinion
05-21-00605-CR 05-21-00606-CR05-21-00607-CR
12-28-2022
TYRONE DEWAYNE SOMMERS, SR., Appellant v. THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee
Do Not Publish TEX. R. APP. P. 47.2(B).
On Appeal from the 15th Judicial District Court Grayson County, Texas Trial Court Cause No. 071533, 070802, 070803
Before Molberg, Partida-Kipness, and Carlyle Justices.
MEMORANDUM OPINION
ROBBIE PARTIDA-KIPNESS, JUSTICE.
Appellant Tyrone Dewayne Sommers, Sr. appeals his convictions for conspiracy to commit murder-enhanced, tampering with evidence-enhanced, and unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon-enhanced. In three appellate issues, Sommers contends (1-2) the evidence was legally insufficient to support any of the convictions and (3) the trial court abused its discretion by not granting a new trial based on newly discovered evidence. We affirm.
Sommers was indicted for conspiracy to commit the murder of Robert Allen. See TEX. PENAL CODE §§ 15.02, 19.02(b). Sommers was also charged with possessing a firearm and tampering with evidence related to the murder. See id. §§ 37.09(a)(1), 46.04(a)(2).1 Sommers pleaded not guilty to the charges and not true to the enhancement paragraphs of the indictments.
BACKGROUND
I. Trial
On October 31, 2017, after realizing her husband, Robert, had not returned home from work, Stacy Allen went to Allen's Plumbing to check on him. Upon her arrival, Stacy found the back door ajar and Robert laying, unresponsive, in the hallway. As she called 911, Stacy realized he had been shot and was dead.
Multiple members of the Allen family testified at trial, so we will identify them by their first names for the sake of clarity.
Family and friends told law enforcement Tim Barnum most likely was involved in Robert's murder. Barnum was the ex-boyfriend of Amanda Allen, Robert and Stacy's daughter, and the father of their granddaughter. Amanda testified she and Barnum dated from 2010-2015 and had one child from the relationship. She admitted she had purchased a firearm for Barnum in 2013. Amanda and Barnum had a tumultuous relationship, which ended when Barnum was charged with assaulting Amanda in 2015. Amanda stated that Barnum threatened to kill her and her family if she did not drop the charges and Barnum blamed Robert for her filing charges against him. She allowed Barnum to visit the child until late 2015 when he withheld their daughter from her for a period of ten days before returning her. After that, Robert did not want Barnum to see the child again and a family court entered a no contact, no visitation order against Barnum.
Different individuals who worked at Allen's Plumbing testified they knew Barnum threatened Robert and his family, that Robert had a gun at the business in response to those threats, and there were precautions taken at the business because of those threats. The employees also testified Robert frequently stayed late at work, and always had the back door of the business locked after hours. One of the last people thought to see Robert, Roger Phillips, stated he left Allen's Plumbing on October 31 around 8:15 p.m. Amanda testified that on October 31, 2017, she was trick-or-treating with her children earlier in the evening, and after taking a friend home, she drove by Allen's Plumbing at 10:08 p.m. and noticed the back door was open. She stated she was going to call and check up on Robert, but forgot and fell asleep as soon as she got home. She awoke to her sister telling her Robert had been killed.