The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals upheld Ronald Haskell’s capital murder conviction and death sentence Thursday, rejecting seven claims he raised in his automatic appeal.
In its Oct. 22 opinion, the state’s highest court for criminal cases found no reversible error in Haskell’s trial or sentencing. The ruling leaves in place his conviction and death sentence for the 2014 killings of six members of the Stay family in Spring.
Haskell was convicted in 2019 of capital murder in the July 9, 2014, shootings of Katie and Stephen Stay and four of their children: Bryan, Emily, Rebecca and Zach. The couple’s daughter, Cassidy Stay, survived after being shot.
Haskell’s appeal challenged several aspects of the trial, including the admission of an audio recording, the denial of a mistrial, evidence presented during the punishment phase and the instructions given to jurors.
The court rejected all seven claims.
Haskell argued that the evidence did not support the jury’s finding that he would pose a future danger. The court disagreed, pointing to evidence of violence and threats toward multiple people, the planning behind the killings and what it described as evidence of his lack of remorse.
The opinion also addressed testimony from a defense expert who assessed Haskell as posing a low risk of violence in prison. The court said jurors were not required to accept that assessment.
Haskell also challenged the admission of an email from a former co-worker who described him as manipulative and suggested he might claim insanity. The court assumed for purposes of its analysis that admitting the email may have been error, but concluded it was harmless because similar evidence had been presented and the email did not substantially affect the punishment decision.
The judges rejected his remaining claims involving a recording, a prosecutor’s question, the questioning of a defense psychiatric expert, selected jail phone calls and the punishment-phase jury instructions.
Prosecutors argued during Haskell’s 2019 trial that he planned the attack as an act of vengeance against his former wife and her family. The defense argued he was legally insane at the time of the killings.
According to the appeals court’s opinion, Haskell had a history of controlling and abusive behavior toward his former wife, Melannie Lyon, and had threatened her family. He ultimately went to the Stay family’s Spring home on July 9, 2014, disguised as a delivery worker and forced his way inside before shooting family members.
A Harris County jury rejected Haskell’s insanity defense and found him guilty of capital murder. The jury later answered the punishment-phase questions in a way that resulted in a death sentence.
The Court of Criminal Appeals’ decision does not impose a new sentence. It affirms the conviction and death sentence already handed down by the trial court.
