## Facts

- George Duran Trejo, his brother, and two other men were driving home after spending the evening at nightclubs.
- While the group was stopped at a traffic sign, a man approached their truck and asked for a marijuana cigarette.
- Trejo and the others told the man they did not have any marijuana.
- The man became angry and began cursing at the occupants of the truck.
- Trejo’s brother got out of the truck, yelled at the man, and started shoving him.
- Trejo got out of the truck to help his brother and pulled a baseball bat from the vehicle.
- Trejo struck the man over the head with the bat.
- The man fell to his knees.
- Trejo’s brother then stabbed the man.
- The man died from the stab wound.
- Trejo was tried and convicted of murder.
- On appeal, Trejo argued he should not be held responsible for the death because his brother, not Trejo, inflicted the fatal wound.

## Issues

1. Whether the evidence was sufficient to convict Trejo of murder as a party when Trejo participated in the assault by striking the victim with a baseball bat and his brother delivered the fatal stabbing.

## Decision

- The court affirmed the judgment of conviction.
- The court held the evidence was sufficient for a rational jury to find Trejo criminally responsible for murder under the law of parties, even though he did not inflict the fatal wound.

## Legal Principles

- Under Texas party-liability law, a person may be criminally responsible for an offense committed by another if, with intent to assist the commission of the offense, he solicits, encourages, directs, aids, or attempts to aid the other person.
- A defendant can be convicted as a party to murder without personally delivering the fatal injury if the evidence supports that he intentionally participated in and aided the conduct that resulted in the killing.
- Intent and participation may be shown through circumstantial evidence, including actions taken during the episode and conduct that supports or advances the principal actor’s assault.
- On legal-sufficiency review, the court views the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict and asks whether any rational factfinder could have found the essential elements beyond a reasonable doubt.

## Conclusion

Trejo’s murder conviction was affirmed because the jury could reasonably find that, by exiting the truck and striking the victim in the head with a baseball bat during the confrontation, Trejo intentionally aided the violent assault in which his brother fatally stabbed the victim, making Trejo criminally responsible for the murder as a party.


Trejo v. State, No. A14-88-00508-CR, 1989 WL 34453 (1989)