Jimmie Lucero

Case identification

Jimmie Urbano Lucero (TDCJ Number 999500), born 09/25/1957, was received on 08/24/2005. He was 47 years old when received and 45 years old when he committed the offences. He was Hispanic and male. His hair color was Gray. He was 5' 07" tall and weighed 221 lbs, with brown eyes. His prior prison record was None. His prior occupation was Potter Texas Heavy Equipment Operator, Laborer.

Timeline

• 09/06/2003 — In Potter County, Texas, Lucero entered the residence of a neighbor and killed a 74-year-old Hispanic female, a 32-year-old Hispanic female, and a 72-year-old Hispanic male with a shotgun; two other family members were shot and their injuries were serious but not fatal.
• 05/25/2005 — Sentencing phase testimony was reported in the trial of Jimmie Urbano Lucero.
• 08/24/2005 — Lucero received age 47 and sentencing outcomes are reflected in the case materials.
• 08/24/2005 — Lucero was sentenced to death.
• 10/07/2008 — The Supreme Court of the United States declined to take up Lucero’s petition for writ of certiorari, letting stand the death sentence.

Background

Blanca Urrutia almost always knew when her next-door neighbor, Fabiana Robledo, was home. Fabiana had “a funny kind of laugh, one that sometimes resonated through open windows to Blanca's house.” Urrutia told jurors: “She was the one who brought life to that house.”

The offence

On 09/06/2003 in Potter County, Texas, Lucero entered the residence of a neighbor and killed:

• A 74-year-old Hispanic female
• A 32-year-old Hispanic female
• A 72-year-old Hispanic male

The killings were carried out with a shotgun.

The case materials also described the victims as:

• Fabiana Robledo, 31
• Pedro Robledo, 71-year-old father
• Maria Manuela Robledo, 72-year-old mother

Two other children escaped during the attack and testified against Lucero.

The account further described injuries to other family members:

• Lucero fired a blast that narrowly missed Socorro Robledo, who escaped in his truck.
• Two other family members were also shot; their injuries were serious but not fatal.
• Guadalupe Robledo survived a shotgun blast to her left arm and chest.

Jurors heard about the relationship between the neighbours. Urrutia testified that Pedro Robledo always came over and cleaned up freshly cut grass when it blew into her yard, and described him as a man who liked to tease and play with her family and him and liked to talk. She testified that Maria was very friendly but also quiet. She also testified to back-and-forth between Jimmie Lucero and Fabiana Robledo, including times when they yelled and hurled names at each other.

Investigation and prosecution theory (as presented at trial)

The prosecutors alleged Lucero killed Pedro Robledo with a shotgun blast as he pulled up in his car at the family’s home in the 1700 block of East Sixth Avenue shortly before 10 a.m. that day.

The state claimed Lucero then burst into the home, shot Maria Manuela Robledo to death on her couch, and broke into a bedroom where he allegedly fatally shot Fabiana Robledo and severely wounded her sister, Guadalupe.

Trial

Trial court and jury deliberations on punishment

During the penalty phase, the jury was asked to decide whether Lucero should receive punishment of life in prison or a death sentence. During an initial straw vote, 10 members of the 12-member jury voted for death and two jurors opposed a death sentence.

At that point in deliberations, the jury foreman produced his personal Bible and read a passage aloud to the 11 other jurors. The foreman read from Romans 13:1-6 in the New International Version. The passage included: “Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established.... For he is God's servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer.”

The Bible reading took about two minutes. The jury continued to deliberate for several hours. When a new vote was taken, the panel decided 12 to 0 in favor of death.

Lucero faced death by lethal injection or life in prison.

Witness testimony in the punishment phase

During punishment-phase testimony on Tuesday, prosecutors sought to describe the victims through testimony from neighbors who knew them.

Blanca Urrutia

Urrutia testified and said:

• “She was the one who brought life to that house.”
• She said Pedro “always came over and cleaned it up.”
• She testified: “He was a man who liked to tease and play with my family and me, and he was a man who liked to talk,”
• and she said: “She wasn't going to give him the importance he wanted,” regarding Fabian Robledo and Lucero.

Guadalupe Robledo

Guadalupe Robledo testified that several months before the shooting, Lucero and her father had words over the fence. Shortly after that, Lucero pointed a gun at her father. After the shooting that left three family members dead, she said she was trying to gain custody of Fabiana’s young son, Fabian, who witnessed the shooting rampage that killed his mother. Guadalupe said:

• “He becomes like hysterical, and he begins to cry. He screams and runs toward me so I can hold him,”

She described Fabian as cringing whenever he heard the wail of a police or ambulance siren.

Angela Watkins (former girlfriend)

Angela Watkins, Lucero’s former girlfriend, testified that she left town to escape from him. She described the relationship as beginning with him being nice and often dined together, but later he became jealous and controlling. She testified and described an attack when they went out for dinner:

• “You come outside or I'll kill you or I'll kill your family,” Watkins told the jury.

Watkins testified that Lucero repeatedly punched her and kicked her 15-20 times in the shins and chest with steel-toed boots.

On another occasion, Watkins testified she stayed at her mother’s house. She said Lucero showed up late that night at the front door and threatened her and her family. She testified she thought Lucero would kill her, so she went with him to his house. She testified:

• “I picked up the gun and I was going to shoot him, but I couldn't pull the trigger,”

She testified that Lucero left the gun on a nightstand, then cooled off and eventually went to the bathroom, leaving the gun on a nightstand. She also testified:

• “It cannot be said that the passage was harmless beyond any reasonable doubt.” (As presented in the case materials, this quote appeared in connection with the legal argument about the Romans passage.)

Watkins testified that once she walked out the door and began running, Lucero insisted on driving her home and told her not to call the police. She testified she decided to leave town to avoid Lucero.

Defense attorney Joe Marr Wilson repeatedly grilled Watkins about why she never told anyone of the abuse and never called police until she eventually reported a burglary at her home. Wilson asked:

• “They're asking this jury to put a needle in his arm and now you want to talk about it?”

Watkins responded that she believed Lucero was responsible because nothing was taken, and that she found bullets lying on her bed. Watkins testified that she told friends about the abuse but was too scared of Lucero to contact authorities until the burglary.

Virginia Diaz (Watkins’ former roommate)

Virginia Diaz, Watkins’ former roommate, testified about an incident at the apartment shared with Watkins. Diaz stated that she and her boyfriend were sleeping when she awoke to find Lucero standing over her boyfriend, Eddie, with a cocked gun to his head. Diaz said she pleaded with Lucero to turn on the light so he could see Watkins was not in the bedroom. Diaz testified that Lucero turned on the light but appeared disappointed that his girlfriend was not in bed with another man.

Diaz testified:

• “Jimmie was very upset, crying, telling Eddie how much he loved her ... he needed her in his life,”
• “But he never trusted her.”

Prosecutor Chuck Slaughter questioned Diaz.

Defence strategy during punishment phase

The prosecution rested punishment-phase testimony Tuesday, and the defense planned to call its first punishment witnesses in 251st District Judge Pat Pirtle’s court.

Sentencing

Lucero was sentenced to death on August 24, 2005.

In the punishment-phase deliberations, a Bible passage from Romans 13:1-6 was read aloud by the jury foreman to the jury during deliberations.

Appeals

Lucero petitioned for a writ of certiorari to the Supreme Court of the United States after complaining that the jury foreman read a Bible passage aloud to the entire jury before the panel returned his death sentence. Lawyers for Jimmie Urbano Lucero asked the US Supreme Court to take up the case to examine whether reading Bible passages aloud during jury deliberations violated fair-trial rights guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment.

The Supreme Court of the United States declined to take up the case on Monday. The justices offered no explanation. This action let stand decisions by the courts in Texas affirming Lucero’s death sentence.

Lucero’s lawyer, John Mathias of Chicago, urged the court to take up the case in a brief and wrote:

• “This case provides an excellent opportunity for the Court to resolve the split [among federal circuit courts] by reaffirming its longstanding precedents that the Sixth Amendment guarantees that jury verdicts in criminal cases will be based on the evidence developed at trial, and nothing else,”

Mathias also argued about a reasonable interpretation of Romans 13:1-6 instructing jurors:

• “It instructs jurors to engage in "passive obedience to the state's call for punishment."” He added:

The Texas attorney general’s office held a different view. Edward Marshall, chief of the postconviction litigation division of the attorney general’s office, said in the brief:

• “The Bible had no evidentiary relationship to the jury's punishment deliberations,”
• “The Biblical passage from Romans in this case bears no relationship to the factual issues facing the jury.”

Marshall argued the Bible reading reinforced the judge’s jury instructions and was harmless to the outcome of the trial, and wrote:

• “It duplicates the trial court's own charge authorizing the jury to make this moral judgment,”

The appeals narrative in the materials described circuit court splits, with some courts ruling that introduction of a Bible into jury deliberations violated rights, and others ruling that presentation of specific Bible verses during jury deliberations did not violate the Sixth Amendment because the Bible’s teachings were a matter of common knowledge in American culture.

Outcome

The Supreme Court declined to take up the case, and the death sentence was affirmed by the courts in Texas.

Other details

Guadalupe Robledo testified about her desire to gain custody of Fabiana’s young son, Fabian, who witnessed the shooting rampage that killed his mother.

During the punishment-phase testimony, Watkins visibly avoided eye contact with Lucero while she testified, and wiped away tears with her fingers.