## Facts

- One night, Justin Hambrick and his friend, Eddie Williams, drove into an apartment complex and went into or near the complex’s laundry room.
- Van Cypress, who lived at the complex, was leaving with his friend Vincent Sanders to go to a nearby bar.
- Cypress and Sanders were not carrying weapons.
- As Cypress and Sanders walked past, Hambrick and Williams asked whether they had marijuana; Cypress said no.
- Hambrick and Williams then pulled out guns and began shooting at Cypress and Sanders.
- Cypress and Sanders tried to run away; Cypress was hit by several bullets but survived.
- When the shooting stopped, Cypress saw Williams had been shot and was lying on the ground.
- Hambrick picked up Williams’s gun and attempted to shoot Cypress again, but the gun jammed.
- Cypress ran for help and was treated at a hospital.
- Williams died that night from a gunshot wound.
- Hambrick first told police that Cypress and Sanders had shot first, but he later told Williams’s mother (in a recorded conversation obtained during the investigation) that Cypress and Sanders were unarmed and that Hambrick accidentally shot Williams.
- The State prosecuted Hambrick for felony murder, alleging the underlying felony was the aggravated assault of Cypress with a deadly weapon and that Williams’s death occurred during that felony.

## Issues

1. Whether the evidence was legally sufficient to show that Williams’s death occurred “in the course of and in furtherance of” Hambrick’s commission of aggravated assault on Cypress, as required by Tex. Penal Code § 19.02(b)(3), even though the person who died was Hambrick’s accomplice.

## Decision

- The First Court of Appeals (Houston) affirmed Hambrick’s felony-murder conviction.
- The court held that the felony-murder statute’s reference to the death of “an individual” is not limited to innocent bystanders or intended victims and may include a co-felon.
- Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict, the court concluded a rational jury could find that Hambrick committed aggravated assault by opening fire on unarmed men and that, during that same episode, an act clearly dangerous to human life caused Williams’s death.
- The court relied on the jury’s role in resolving conflicts in the evidence, including Hambrick’s inconsistent accounts and his recorded statement admitting the victims were unarmed and that he shot Williams.

## Legal Principles

- Under Tex. Penal Code § 19.02(b)(3), felony murder occurs when a defendant commits or attempts to commit a felony (other than manslaughter) and, in the course of and in furtherance of that felony (or immediate flight), commits an act clearly dangerous to human life that causes the death of an individual.
- The statutory phrase “an individual” is broad and does not exclude a participant in the felony; the statute can apply when the deceased is a co-felon.
- “In the course of and in furtherance of” requires that the dangerous act and the death be connected to the felony episode, not that the defendant specifically intended to kill.
- Firing a gun at unarmed people is an act clearly dangerous to human life; a death that occurs during that gunfire can satisfy the homicide element of § 19.02(b)(3).
- On legal-sufficiency review, the court applies the Jackson v. Virginia standard, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict and deferring to the jury on credibility choices and conflicts in testimony.

## Conclusion

The court affirmed Hambrick’s felony-murder conviction because the evidence permitted the jury to find that Hambrick and his accomplice initiated an aggravated assault by shooting at unarmed men and that, during and because of that same shooting episode, an act clearly dangerous to human life caused the death of Williams, even though Williams was a co-felon.


Hambrick v. State, 369 S.W.3d 535 (2012)