A Texas appellate court headquartered in Texarkana has sent an aggravated robbery case back to trial court for a third shot at sentencing.
Roderick Beham, 24, was sentenced to 25 years in prison by a Bowie County jury at the end of his first trial in August 2014 for the armed robbery of a Texarkana hotel. The 6th District Court of Appeals affirmed Beham's conviction but tossed out his sentence because the jury heard testimony during the punishment phase concerning juvenile arrests for which there were no convictions.
The police officer who testified about juvenile arrests made in another state had no personal knowledge of the alleged criminal conduct but was allowed by former 5th District Judge Ralph Burgess to testify about the arrests.
Burgess now sits on the appellate court which issued an opinion Friday sending the case back to 5th District Judge Bill Miller for a do-over on Beham's punishment. Burgess did not participate in the appellate court's second review of Beham's case.
In Beham's second punishment trial in March of last year, Miller allowed testimony concerning Beham's Facebook posts, which included photographs of him pointing a gun at the camera and making gestures with his hands. During the second trial, an officer testified that Beham appeared to be making gang signs and was clad in clothing commonly associated with the Bloods street gang. The second jury sentenced Beham to 40 years, 15 more than the first.
The higher court ruled that because no evidence was presented to conclusively show Beham is a member of a dangerous street gang, the testimony might have misled the jury and unfairly prejudiced them against Beham.
Amanda Gardener testified she was working alone the night of Dec. 22, 2013, when a woman entered the hotel lobby and asked to use the bathroom.
That woman, Patrice Hull, testified during Beham's first trial that she went into the hotel at the request of Beham and another man to find out how many people were in the lobby. About 10 minutes after Hull left the hotel, Beham and another man entered. Beham wore Hull's black-hooded coat and a bandana over his face as he thrust a black revolver toward Gardener.
Gardener told the jury Beham pointed the gun in her face and repeatedly asked her for keys to the hotel safe while backing her against a wall.
When Gardener couldn't produce the keys, Beham entered the hotel office and helped himself to Gardener's wallet from her purse. Gardener didn't realize her wallet was missing until police officers asked her for identification to assist in filling out an offense report.
Gardener found a receipt in her car for a couple of Walmart gift cards she bought for Christmas gifts that were in the stolen wallet. Walmart was able to determine one of the cards had been used a couple of hours after the robbery at a Walmart in Ashdown, Ark. Investigators used video surveillance footage from Walmart and the hotel to identify Beham and Hull as suspects.
Texarkana lawyer Al Smith handled both of Beham's appeals.
The case has now been sent back to the trial court for a third punishment trial. If the defense and state do not reach an agreement concerning the punishment Beham should receive, a third jury will be asked to consider what sentence in a range of five-to-99 years, or life in prison, Beham should receive.