Deborah Ann Walker v. State

CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 13, 2014
Docket01-13-00189-CR
StatusPublished

This text of Deborah Ann Walker v. State (Deborah Ann Walker v. State) 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
Deborah Ann Walker v. State, (Tex. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

Opinion issued February 13, 2014.

In The

Court of Appeals For The

First District of Texas ———————————— NOS. 01-13-00109-CR 01-13-00189-CR ——————————— CYNTHIA LEE WALKER A/K/A DEBORAH ANN WALKER, Appellant V. THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee

On Appeal from the 405th District Court Galveston County, Texas Trial Court Case Nos. 09CR2551 &12CR3363

MEMORANDUM OPINION A jury convicted appellant, Cynthia Lee Walker, of aggravated sexual

assault of a child1 and indecency with a child by exposure,2 and assessed

punishment at 10 years’ confinement and 10 years’ community supervision

respectively, with the sentences to run consecutively. In her sole issue on appeal,

appellant contends the trial court erred by admitting the testimony of a forensic

interviewer who appellant contends was not the proper outcry witness. We affirm.

BACKGROUND

When his son was 12 years old, Z.B.’s father, Chris, began to suspect that

his son was being sexually abused at the home of appellant, his mother. One day

after a family outing to a softball game, Chris and his wife, Angie, began asking

Z.B. questions about whether anything was “going on” when he was with

appellant. Based on Z.B.’s response, Chris initiated an investigation by calling

Children’s Protective Services and the police. When the police came to

investigate, Chris and Angie gave written “outcry statements,” in which they

described the statements Z.B. had made to them.

The police then had Z.B. speak to Kim Keever, a forensic interviewer. Z.B.

told Keever that he had been sexually abused by appellant and her boyfriend. Z.B.

1 Appeal no. 01-13-00109-CR and trial no. 09CR2551. See TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. § 22.021(a)(1)(B) (Vernon Supp. 2013). 2 Appeal no. 01-13-00189-CR and trial no. 12CR3363. See TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. § 21.11(a)(2)(A) (Vernon 2011). 2 said that his mom would “rub on him” and “suck on his pee pee,” and that the

abuse began when he was 8 years old and continued until he was almost 12. Z.B.

said that his mom was “teaching him what grown-up women like.” Z.B. also

testified that appellant and her boyfriend would show him pornography, and

appellant made him touch her vagina with his mouth and hand. Appellant’s

boyfriend had also molested Z.B. on one occasion. Appellant told Z.B. that she

would kill herself if he told anyone.

At trial, the State first called Angie and Chris, who, after reaching an

agreement with defense counsel, did not provide any details about what Z.B. had

told them when they asked whether anything was going on. Likewise, Chris’s and

Angie’s outcry statements were not included in the evidence presented to the jury.

The State then called the forensic interviewer, Keever, who testified in detail as to

the sexual abuse described to her by Z.B. Finally, the State called Z.B., who was

16 years old by the time of trial, and his testimony corroborated that provided by

Keever.

Appellant was convicted of both aggravated sexual assault and indecency

with a child by exposure. This appeal followed.

ADMISSION OF OUTCRY TESTIMONY

In her sole issue on appeal, appellant contends that the trial court erred by

admitting the testimony of the forensic interviewer, Keever, who had talked with

3 Z.B. about the sexual abuse by his mother. Appellant argues that Keever was not

the first person Z.B. spoke to about the abuse; his father and stepmother, Chris and

Angie, were.

A. Standard of Review and Applicable Law

We review a trial court’s ruling on the admissibility of evidence for an abuse

of discretion. Weatherred v. State, 15 S.W.3d 540, 542 (Tex. Crim. App. 2000).

We will uphold the trial court’s ruling if it was within the zone of reasonable

disagreement. Id. In addition, we must review the trial court’s ruling in light of the

evidence before the trial court at the time the ruling was made. Id.

Hearsay is a statement, other than one made by the declarant while testifying

at trial, that a party offers to prove the truth of the matter asserted. TEX. R.

EVID. 801(d); Baldree v. State, 248 S.W.3d 224, 230–31 (Tex. App.—Houston [1st

Dist.] 2007, pet. ref’d). Hearsay statements are inadmissible, except as provided by

statute or other rule. TEX. R. EVID. 802. The Code of Criminal Procedure provides

a statutory exception to this general rule: when a defendant is charged with certain

offenses against a child under fourteen, including aggravated sexual assault of a

child and indecency with a child, article 38.072 permits the first person over the

age of eighteen to whom the child makes a statement describing the offense to

testify as to the child’s statement. See TEX. CODE CRIM. PROC. ANN. art. 38.072

(Vernon Supp. 2013); Sanchez v. State, 354 S.W.3d 476, 484 (Tex. Crim. App.

4 2011). We review the trial court’s determination of the proper outcry witness for

an abuse of discretion. See Garcia v. State, 792 S.W.2d 88, 92 (Tex. Crim. App.

1990).

B. Admission of Forensic Examiner’s Testimony

Appellant specifically argues on appeal that the trial court “should have not

admitted the outcry testimony of [forensic investigator] Kim Keever of statements

made to her by [Z.B.] of incidents of alleged sexual abuse by his mother because

he had made earlier outcry statements to [his stepmother] and [his father] for

reason that admission of Ms. Keever’s testimony deprived Appellant of her federal

and state rights to due process.” The State responds that appellant withdrew her

objection to Keever’s testimony when the State agreed not to elicit details of the

abuse from Z.B.’s father and stepmother, and that, as a result, her objection was

waived. During trial the following exchange took place when the State called

Angie, Z.B.’s stepmother, to testify.

[Defense Counsel]: Your Honor, I anticipate [Angie] being one of the outcry witnesses.

[Prosecutor]: It is.

[Defense Counsel]: And I guess my position will be that as an outcry witness, they are entitled to call the individual that was told first, which, from the CPS records, it says it was the dad.

[Prosecutor]: Actually, no, the dad the [step]mom were both present. There wasn’t a difference between the two.

5 [Defense Counsel]: Okay.

[Prosecutor]: And I believe as per our notice, they actually didn’t get a whole lot of details, Your Honor. I’m putting them on the stand so they can tell them exactly what they knew. The actual outcry for the details is actually the forensic interviewer, but mom and dad were present. He’s the first person he told that something was going on, I guess is what I’m trying to say.

[Trial Court]: Okay. So they—so both at the same time were present when the outcry was made.

[Prosecutor]: According to their statements, Your Honor. There had been a soft ball game earlier that day, and they went in his room to talk to him. It was both of them. But it was both present.

[Defense Counsel]: As long as—I guess one of my worries is this is the story has kind of expanded, different allegations, as this investigation has gone on.

[Prosecutor]: How so?

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Related

Gutierrez v. State
36 S.W.3d 509 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2001)
Baldree v. State
248 S.W.3d 224 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2007)
Swain v. State
181 S.W.3d 359 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2005)
Garcia v. State
792 S.W.2d 88 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1990)
Weatherred v. State
15 S.W.3d 540 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2000)
Sanchez v. State
354 S.W.3d 476 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2011)

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