Opinion ID: 3045886
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Overstreet’s Prior Convictions

Text: Overstreet’s four most serious prior convictions—burglary of a habitation, two attempted murders, and aggravated sexual assault—stemmed from a crime spree that occurred in Texas on May 27 and 28, 1986. That crime spree began with burglary, when Overstreet and his brother, Clifford Carter, entered a private home without permission and stole 13 firearms and a car.3 Later that evening, Overstreet and Carter were pulled over by two police officers for a seatbelt violation. As the officers approached the car, both Overstreet and Carter fired handguns at the officers. One of the officers was grazed by a bullet on his right temple and fell to the ground, but survived. The officers fired back, and Overstreet and Carter drove off. Overstreet and Carter then drove to a relative’s home in an apartment complex, approximately seven miles away from the place of the police shooting. They saw a young woman entering her minivan in a parking lot. Overstreet and Carter entered the minivan, threw the woman into the back, and drove to a secluded area outside of Houston, Texas, near the Brazos River. They then forced the woman to remove her clothing and raped her twice. After the rape, Overstreet conviction records, introduced at sentencing, show that the burglary-of-a-building offense occurred in July 1983, and the other four offenses occurred on May 27 and 28, 1986. Overstreet does not challenge the mistaken dates in the indictment. 3 We take the facts of Overstreet’s prior offenses from the Presentence Investigation Report (“PSI”) and the evidence introduced at the sentencing hearing. 3 Case: 11-16031 Date Filed: 03/28/2013 Page: 4 of 26 and Carter made the woman walk away from the minivan wearing only her bra and underwear. When the woman was approximately 15 feet away from the minivan, Overstreet and Carter each shot her in the back. Four bullets hit the woman, and she fell down an embankment. Overstreet later told the police that the woman was still breathing when he and Carter left her, but they did not shoot her again because they thought she would die anyway. Fortunately, the woman survived. After the assailants left the scene, she managed to crawl to a nearby residence and was taken to a hospital, where she underwent extensive surgery to remove her left kidney, remove a section of her large and small intestines, and repair her lung. As a result of this crime spree, Overstreet received one conviction for burglary, two convictions for attempted capital murder (for shooting the officer and the woman), and one conviction for aggravated sexual assault. He was sentenced in state court to a total of 60 years in prison.