Daniel Valles v. the State of Texas

CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedNovember 8, 2024
Docket08-23-00241-CR
StatusPublished

This text of Daniel Valles v. the State of Texas (Daniel Valles v. the State of Texas) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Daniel Valles v. the State of Texas, (Tex. Ct. App. 2024).

Opinion

COURT OF APPEALS EIGHTH DISTRICT OF TEXAS EL PASO, TEXAS

DANIEL VALLES, § No. 08-23-00241-CR

Appellant, § Appeal from the

v. § 210th Judicial District Court

THE STATE OF TEXAS, § of El Paso County, Texas

Appellee. § (TC# 20190d04292)

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Appellant Daniel Valles appeals his conviction for murdering his girlfriend, Lea Celeste

Grijalva. He challenges the admissibility of evidence of his guilt, the trial court’s denial of his

requests for mistrials, and the sufficiency of the evidence. Finding no error, we affirm.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Appellant and Lea lived together as a couple for four years. Their relationship became

strained when Appellant suspected that Lea was being unfaithful. On June 8, 2019, Appellant and

Lea argued for much of the day. They spent the evening apart and visited with their respective friends

and family. When Lea returned with Appellant to the home they shared with a friend, Christian

Baeza, they began arguing again, continuing into the early morning hours. The home’s security

system recorded the sounds of Appellant screaming in a rage, Lea’s crying, and her pleas for him to

1 stop. It also recorded Appellant waking his roommate, Baeza, and telling him that he killed Lea.

Appellant’s parents, EMS, and law enforcement soon arrived to the home. Lea was unresponsive and

Appellant was detained.

A few hours later, Appellant was questioned at the police station and confessed to strangling

Lea. A medical examiner found that Lea had multiple contusions on her neck, petechial hemorrhages,

injuries to the strap muscle of her neck, and injuries to her chest. She determined that Lea’s cause of

death was asphyxia due to strangulation. Appellant was charged and tried for murder. The evidence

before the jury included the home security video and Appellant’s video-taped confession. After five

days of trial, the jury found Appellant guilty, and the trial court sentenced him to 70 years.

Appellant raises five issues on appeal. Issues One and Two challenge rulings relating to the

home security video. Issue Three challenges the admissibility of his video-taped confession. Issue

four challenges the denial of a mistrial after a witness testified to what Appellant says is

impermissible character evidence. And Issue Five challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to

support the conviction.

II. ANALYSIS A. Home security video

The home that Appellant and Lea shared was equipped with Vivint home security cameras,

both inside and outside. Their roommate, Baeza, had the Vivint app on his phone that allowed him

to view a live feed and recorded footage. Baeza showed this app to Detective Lara at the scene. Baeza

met with Detective Lara again at the station and Lara and another officer captured the Vivint video

from the previous night by recording Baeza’s phone while the videos played. Detective Camacho

had also obtained the home security video from Vivint, but the State failed to file a business records

affidavit to authenticate that video. So instead, the State offered, and the trial court admitted, the

recording made from Baeza’s phone.

2 A condensed version of the video footage from inside the home was admitted as evidence

and played for the jury. 1 The security camera was in the dining area, showing most of that room, the

living room, and front door. The video shows Appellant and Lea coming home shortly after 1:00

a.m. and arguing. For more than an hour, there is intermittent screaming and arguing, most of which

is unintelligible. And most of the time, Appellant and Lea are out of view of the camera. Around

2:24 a.m., the arguing escalates. Lea could be heard crying after a loud slapping sound. She pleads

with Appellant to stop and screams “ow” repeatedly. Appellant can also be heard angrily yelling.

Around 2:44 a.m., Baeza came home and can be heard asking Appellant and Lea if they are OK. At

about 3:06 a.m., Lea can be heard screaming again. At 3:20 a.m., Appellant is heard crying and

telling Christian three times, “I killed Lea.” The video shows Appellant’s parents, and then EMS

arriving. From this point on, the video was edited to remove the audio to prevent hearsay statements

being played for the jury. The video concludes with EMS carrying Lea out on a stretcher and

performing chest compressions while Appellant’s father struggles with Appellant to prevent him

from leaving.

Appellant raises two issues about the home security video. First, he argues that the trial court

erred in denying a mistrial after Detective Camacho testified that the video from Baeza’s phone was

the same as the video he received from Vivint. Second, he argues that the video was not

authenticated, contained hearsay, and denied his right to confront Baeza.

(1) Denial of mistrial

Before the security camera footage was admitted, the State sought to establish that the videos

recorded from Baeza’s phone were the same as the videos Detective Camacho received directly from

1 The full recording is approximately four hours long. That was also entered into evidence, but since much of it showed an empty room with no sound, the State also offered an edited version that cut out large swaths of video that show no activity.

3 Vivint. After the trial court sustained one objection to the State’s questions to Detective Camacho,

the following exchange occurred:

Q: And in regards to the actual [Vivint] video itself, what did you see on those videos?

A: I saw the same footage that we had captured on the witness’s cellphone when we were recording from the Vivint videos that they had on their phone.

Q. Could you see events that you knew to have happened or were there for on the video?

[Defense Counsel]: Objection, Your Honor. Assuming facts in [sic] evidence and no personal knowledge.

After a discussion at the bench about the admissibility of testimony comparing two videos,

neither of which was in evidence at that time, the trial court sustained the objection and instructed

the jury to disregard the testimony about video recordings.

The State argues that Appellant did not preserve his complaint. We agree. “As a prerequisite

to presenting a complaint for appellate review, the record must show that . . . the complaint was made

to the trial court by a timely request, objection, or motion . . . . ” Tex. R. App. P. 33.1(a)(1) (emphasis

added). “If a defendant fails to object until after an objectionable question has been asked and

answered, and he can show no legitimate reason to justify the delay, his objection is untimely, and

any claim of error is forfeited.” Luna v. State, 268 S.W.3d 594, 604 (Tex. Crim. App. 2008). The

State asked Detective Camacho what he saw when he watched the videos from Vivint. He answered

and the State asked another question before Appellant objected. Appellant’s objection was not timely

and he forfeited his complaint. 2

2 Even had he properly preserved his complaint, there is a presumption that the jury followed the trial court’s instructions to disregard the testimony. Appellant has failed to rebut this presumption by directing us to evidence that the jury disregarded the instructions. Thrift v. State, 176 S.W.3d 221, 224 (Tex. Crim. App. 2005).

4 (2) Admissibility of the security video

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