Opinion ID: 37721
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Evidence by the State

Text: At the penalty phase, the State introduced evidence that Shields had been assessed deferred adjudication probation for theft/burglary of a motor vehicle in 1992, after which Shields completely disregarded the terms of his probation. Authorities also arrested Shields in Florida in 1994 for grand theft auto. In January 1994, Shields and two friends, 8 Chastain and Checketts, broke into a car in Friendswood, stole a checkbook and a credit card and charged $150 in cigarettes before the card was reported stolen. Around the same time, the three friends broke into a house next door to Shields’s and stole cash, car keys, and, later, the car itself. They then drove to Florida in the car, shoplifting along the way. They were arrested in Florida for grand theft auto. They had also attempted to break into a home in Florida, but they fled when a neighbor spotted them. The jury also heard testimony that in July 1994, Shields had been involved in stealing credit cards and a cell phone from another car. Based on the testimony of Shields and his mother, the Florida court liaison officer recommended, and the court ordered, that the conditions of probation be amended to allow Shields to enter St. Joseph’s Psychiatric Hospital for at least one month to receive psychiatric evaluation and possible drug treatment. After twelve days, the court allowed Shields to report on an outpatient basis. Shields later missed two appointments in July 1994. On August 10, Mrs. Shields urged the court officer to issue a warrant for Shields so that she could retrieve her missing car, which Shields had stolen. John Matzelle, a friend of Shields, testified that in June 1994, Shields loaded a pistol and pointed it at him. When 9 Matzelle objected, Shields stood up and shoved the gun in Matzelle’s face, stating that he “could point the fucking gun in [his] face if he felt like it.” Shields later went in the backyard and fired the gun twice over the fence, returning to tell his friends that he “had just shot at his mail carrier.” Detective Tollet testified that no mail carrier recalled a shooting incident on his route that day. To refute the defense psychiatric testimony, the State also called Dr. Edward Gripon as a rebuttal witness. Responding to a hypothetical question that paralleled the facts of Paula Stiner’s murder, Dr. Gripon testified that such an offender lacks concern and remorse for his own action. He further testified that Shields’s psychiatric records demonstrate poor impulse control and aggressiveness. Dr. Gripon diagnosed Shields with “personality disorder with features of aggressivity, features of antisocial personality, which is the absence of a social conscience, not caring what one does, that sort of thing.” Dr. Gripon testified that in his opinion, Shields is a future danger. Dr. Gripon never personally interviewed Shields.