Christine Paolilla

Case record: Christine Paolilla

Background

Christine Marie Paolilla was an American woman born on Long Island, New York on March 31, 1986 to Lori and Charles Paolilla. Lori was a stay-at-home mom, and Charles Paolilla was a construction worker. When Paolilla was 2 years old, her father died, followed by her grandfather and great-grandmother. When she was 7 years old, Paolilla went to live with her grandparents.

As a young girl, Paolilla was diagnosed with alopecia and began wearing wigs. During her childhood, Paolilla’s self-confidence was very low. She attended Clear Lake High School in Houston, Texas, where she befriended students Rachael Koloroutis and Tiffany Rowell, who helped her fit in with the other students. In 2003, Paolilla was voted “Miss Irresistible” by her school’s student body.

In 2003, she began a relationship with 21-year-old Christopher Lee Snider.

The offence

Four people were murdered in a Clear Lake home during the afternoon of July 18, 2003. The home belonged to Tiffany Rowell. The other three were her friends Rachel Koloroutis, Marcus Precella, and Adelbert Sanchez. The offence involved four counts of capital murder, and the prosecution presented the case as a party-to-the-murders prosecution.

Paolilla and her then-boyfriend, Christopher Lee Snider, went to Rowell’s house on July 18, 2003. Rowell, Koloroutis, Precella (Rowell’s boyfriend), and Sanchez (Precella’s cousin) were at the house.

Paolilla said that the couple planned to get drugs at the house. She said Snider got into an argument with Precella, which led to the killings of Rowell, Koloroutis, Precella, and Sanchez.

Paolilla admitted driving Snider to Rowell’s house on the day of the offense during a later interrogation and said they originally went there to purchase drugs, and returned when Snider complained of forgetting something. She insisted that Snider went into the house by himself on both occasions while she remained in the car. She stated that when Snider returned the second time, she saw him running with a gun in his hands and denied ever hearing any gunshots.

In the recorded statements that followed, Paolilla gave multiple versions of what happened, including that Snider forced her into the house on the return trip and made her hold one of his two guns, and that she stated she did not aim at any of the complainants while Snider pulled the trigger a number of times while she held the gun in her hand.

The Lackners lived next door to Tiffany Rowell. On the day of the offense, the Lackners observed a young man and woman walk down the street and approach Rowell’s house. In court, they identified Paolilla as the girl they had witnessed. They denied seeing her with a gun but each said she was carrying a purse. They also identified Snider as the accompanying male using a six-person photo spread.

The State presented firearms and medical evidence. Bullets from two separate weapons were recovered at the scene. Kim Downs, the State’s firearms examiner, testified that bullets from both sets of guns were found in the bodies of Rowell and Precella. The bullets were later traced to two handguns found in Louisville, Kentucky, in a safe stored at the home of Snider’s stepfather. Dr. Morna Gonsoulin, the State’s medical examiner, testified that in addition to several gunshot wounds, Koloroutis suffered skull fractures consistent with blunt force trauma to the head.

During the proceedings, testimony described Paolilla’s role as involving beating Koloroutis after she was found alive. Paolilla’s new husband, Stanley Justin Rott, testified that appellant admitted beating Koloroutis with her gun until she was dead.

Investigation

Nearly three years after the murders, police received a tip through Crime Stoppers linking the homicides to Paolilla and her then-boyfriend, Christopher Lee Snider. A warrant was secured for Paolilla’s arrest in San Antonio, where she had been staying in a hotel with her husband, Stanley Justin Rott.

Arrest

The warrant was executed at 11:55 a.m. on July 19, 2006. When police entered the hotel room, they were met with evidence that the occupants had been using substantial amounts of heroin. Hundreds of used syringes littered the room. Paolilla was wearing a t-shirt stained with blood, and several needle marks could be found over her body.

Paolilla was escorted to the San Antonio Police Department, where she agreed to a video-taped interview at 2:45 p.m. The interrogation ended at approximately 3:50 p.m., and Paolilla remained alone in the interview room as the recorder continued to tape. During the ensuing minutes, her condition deteriorated visibly as she appeared tired, weak, and sick.

The recording ended just after 3:58 p.m., when Paolilla requested to see a nurse, claiming she was bleeding. She was transported to Santa Rosa Hospital in San Antonio at approximately 4:12 p.m. Medical records indicated she was menstruating, but no other signs of bleeding were reported. She presented with a chief complaint of heroin withdrawal. She informed doctors that she was accustomed to taking heroin every ten to fifteen minutes, and that her last injection was roughly 10:00 a.m. that morning.

At 5:30 p.m., she was administered six milligrams of morphine and twenty milligrams of Methadone. Interrogators continued their interview inside the hospital at 6:15 p.m. The interview concluded at 7:15 p.m. At approximately 9:00 p.m., just before her discharge, she received additional dosages of morphine and Methadone. She was flown to Houston later that evening.

She slept on the flight and through part of the next day after being placed in a jail cell. Following an unrecorded interview during the afternoon of July 20, Paolilla complained of illness and requested to see a doctor. She was taken to Ben Taub Hospital at 6:50 p.m. and again treated for heroin withdrawal, receiving twenty-five milligrams of Librium at 10:07 p.m. She was discharged at 11:00 p.m. and escorted back to police headquarters in downtown Houston.

A final video-taped interrogation commenced at 11:38 p.m. During this interview, Paolilla stated that Snider forced her into the house on the return trip, making her hold one of his two guns. Although she denied aiming at any of the complainants, she stated that Snider pulled the trigger a number of times while she held the gun in her hand. The interrogation ended at 1:39 a.m. on July 21, and she was then returned to her jail cell.

Trial

Paolilla was convicted of four counts of capital murder. Because she was seventeen years old at the time of the offense, she was ineligible to receive the death penalty. The judgment was therefore for a mandatory term of life imprisonment.

Two eyewitnesses placed Paolilla at the scene. Michelle and Craig Lackner testified that on the day of the offense they observed a young man and woman casually walk down the street and approach Rowell’s house. In court, they identified Paolilla as the girl they had witnessed; they denied seeing her with a gun but said she was carrying a purse. They identified Snider as the accompanying male using a six-person photo spread.

Stanley Justin Rott testified for the prosecution. He testified that he met Paolilla at a drug treatment center in Kerrville around November 2004, more than a year after the murders, and that they were married about four months later. During their courtship, Paolilla told him about an incident involving her former boyfriend that resulted in the deaths of four people. Rott testified that Paolilla told him that she and Snider went to Rowell’s house in Clear Lake, that Snider handed her a gun to carry in her purse before entering the house, and that the intention was to take some drugs and money without hurting anyone. Rott testified that Paolilla said they started shooting at the four people inside, and that after leaving she told Snider she needed to make sure they were really dead. Rott testified that Paolilla returned to find Koloroutis choking on her own blood and admitted beating Koloroutis with her gun until she was dead.

Defense counsel attacked Rott’s credibility. During closing arguments, defense counsel suggested that Rott reported Paolilla to Crime Stoppers to claim a substantial reward, and that Rott made a deal with the State to testify falsely against Paolilla to avoid prosecution for heroin recovered in the San Antonio hotel. Defense counsel also argued during closing arguments about Rott’s relationship with Thomas Pardue and his daughter, Lane.

The trial court sustained the prosecutor’s objection to arguments the court considered outside the record. The prosecutor then responded in his own closing statement to the same arguments. Paolilla objected that the argument improperly encouraged the jury to convict her on facts not admitted in evidence; the trial court sustained the objection and instructed the jury to disregard the statement. The trial court admonished the jury that “the only thing you can base your verdict on is the evidence that you have in front of you.”

The prosecutor’s improper closing argument included the following remarks:

“Mr. Pardue. I feel sorry for that man, I truly do. I mean, he has gone through hell for his daughter, but you don't get to know everything. You probably figured out by now you cannot know all the facts and circumstances of a case. You hear us making objections, you've got to go outside the room, come back inside the room. You don't know the whole truth about everything that happened in this case. When it's all over, we will tell you the whole truth.”

Paolilla moved for a mistrial, but that was denied. The jury returned a verdict of guilty after receiving the trial court’s instruction on the law of parties.

Sentencing

Paolilla was sentenced to a mandatory term of life imprisonment, with a requirement that she serve forty years before being eligible for parole. She was sentenced on October 14, 2009.

A later statement in the record described that she was currently incarcerated at the Mountain View Unit in Gatesville, Texas and would be eligible for parole in 2046.

Appeals

The Court of Appeals for Texas, Houston (14th District), affirmed. The opinion described that Paolilla filed a petition for discretionary review and, pursuant to Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure 50, the court withdrew an earlier opinion and issued a substitute opinion.

The appellate issues included:

• A challenge asserting that a mandatory life sentence violated the Eighth Amendment’s proscription against cruel and unusual punishment when imposed on a juvenile offender.
• A challenge asserting the denial of her motion for mistrial.
• Challenges addressing the denial of her motion to suppress and the dismissal of the opinions of Dr. Glass.

The court stated it affirmed, overruling her first issue and her suppression-related issues and concluding that the trial court did not abuse its discretion by denying her motion for mistrial.

Outcome

The judgment of the trial court was affirmed.

Other details

The case involved additional individuals and timeline details included in the record:

• On July 19, 2006, the arrest warrant was executed at 11:55 a.m.
• Paolilla was interviewed in San Antonio at 2:45 p.m., with the interrogation ending at approximately 3:50 p.m.
• The video recording ended just after 3:58 p.m. when she requested to see a nurse.
• Paolilla was transported to Santa Rosa Hospital at approximately 4:12 p.m.
• Interrogation inside the hospital continued at 6:15 p.m. and ended at 7:15 p.m.
• Paolilla was flown to Houston later on July 19, 2006.
• On July 20, 2006, she was taken to Ben Taub Hospital at 6:50 p.m. and received Librium at 10:07 p.m., discharged at 11:00 p.m., and escorted back to police headquarters.
• The final video-taped interrogation commenced at 11:38 p.m. and ended at 1:39 a.m. on July 21.

The record also included medical and expert testimony related to suppression of recorded statements. Dr. George S. Glass testified at a pretrial suppression hearing and described effects of heroin withdrawal and detox medications, including morphine, Methadone, and Librium. The trial court denied the motion to suppress and made findings that Dr. Glass’s opinions were not supported by the evidence and therefore not reliable.

Sergeant Brian Harris, Officer Connie Park, and Sergeant Breck C. McDaniel testified about Paolilla’s condition during the interviews and stated that she did not appear intoxicated or suffering from withdrawal symptoms during the interrogations. The trial court issued findings concluding that Paolilla was lucid and capable of understanding warnings and the nature of her statements during all three interviews.