Michael J. Marble v. State, 05-14-00777-CR

Victim Roberta Moore (60) was found strangled in her apartment; wrists and ankles bound with white shoelaces and a ligature around her neck; apartment ransacked and several items (including a 32" TV and a ring) were missing.
Window was broken and footprints were found beneath it; Moore’s cell phone was recovered nearby.
Michael J. Marble (appellant) lived in the same complex; he had been seen with others gambling late and had been using crack with Jeffrey Parks the night before.
Parks testified Marble later told him he and another man ("Smurf") broke into a woman’s apartment, stole items, and Marble wrestled with a woman and was unsure if she was asleep or dead.
DNA testing placed Marble as a possible contributor to DNA on multiple shoelaces and, with extremely low random-match probabilities, on the victim’s cell phone; other tested individuals were largely excluded.
Marble waived a jury; the trial court convicted him of capital murder (murder in course of burglary) and sentenced him to life imprisonment. Marble appealed on sufficiency grounds (identity and burglary aggravator).

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Sufficiency of identity evidence	State: DNA on ligatures and cell phone, plus incriminating admissions to Parks and two inmates, suffice to prove Marble was the perpetrator beyond a reasonable doubt	Marble: evidence insufficient to tie him to the killing; witness statements unreliable	Affirmed: rational factfinder could find Marble guilty based on DNA and corroborating statements
Sufficiency of burglary aggravator (murder in course of burglary)	State: broken window, ransacked apartment, missing property, Marble’s DNA on ligatures/cell phone and his statements about selling stolen items show theft and nexus to murder	Marble: evidence insufficient to prove burglary and the required nexus between theft and murder	Affirmed: evidence supports burglary and nexus to the murder

Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (standard for legal-sufficiency review)
Earls v. State, 707 S.W.2d 82 (Tex. Crim. App. 1986) (identity may be proven by circumstantial evidence)
Sepulveda v. State, 729 S.W.2d 954 (Tex. App.—Corpus Christi 1987) (no formalized procedure required to prove identity when only circumstantial evidence exists)
McGee v. State, 774 S.W.2d 229 (Tex. Crim. App. 1989) (direct and circumstantial evidence equally probative)
Roberson v. State, 16 S.W.3d 156 (Tex. App.—Austin 2000) (DNA evidence can alone support identity)
Ibanez v. State, 749 S.W.2d 804 (Tex. Crim. App. 1986) (State must prove nexus between murder and theft for burglary aggravator)