Garcia v. State

228 S.W.3d 703, 2005 WL 2429795
Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided December 14, 2005·No. 14-04-00676-CR, 14-04-00677-CR·Published·Cited by 27 cases

Opinion

OPINION

PAUL C. MURPHY, Senior Chief Justice.

Appellant, Bobby Garcia, appeals from his conviction for indecency with a child *705 and aggravated sexual assault of a child. On appeal, appellant contends that (1) the trial court violated his right to confrontation when he was not allowed to cross-examine one of the complainants regarding a subsequent sexual abuse allegation she made against her father, and (2) the trial court erred in admitting certain testimony of the complainants’ mother into evidence over a hearsay objection. We affirm.

Background

On September 7, 2002, Adelia Cavazos went to her friend Anna Morales’s house to watch a boxing match on television. Cavazos took her two daughters, V.C. (age nine) and B.C. (age ten), to the party with her. Appellant, Morales’s brother, also attended the party. After the boxing match, Cavazos and several friends went to a night club. V.C. and B.C. fell asleep in Morales’s bedroom, supervised by Morales’s mother. V.C. awoke to appellant touching her breasts underneath her clothing and touching her clothed buttocks. B.C. awoke when appellant touched her stomach and breasts. Appellant then removed B.C.’s pants and underwear and licked her vagina. Eventually, he put B.C.’s pants back on and left the room. After appellant left, the girls called their mother to pick them up. Cavazos picked them up right away and took them home. On the way home, the girls appeared nervous but did not tell Cavazos what appellant had done to them that night.

Three weeks later, B.C. told a school counselor about the incident. The school counselor immediately called Cavazos and relayed the events to Cavazos in B.C.’s presence. B.C. and Cavazos then discussed the incident and informed the police.

On June 28, 2003, V.C. and B.C. went to Louisville, Kentucky to visit their father, Juan Castro. While in Kentucky, V.C. made an allegation to the Louisville Police Department that her father had touched her improperly on her chest. The police followed up with a report and an investigation. Castro denied the allegation, and ultimately no charges were filed against him.

Appellant was charged with indecency with a child and aggravated sexual assault of a child. Appellant pleaded not guilty. The jury found appellant guilty and assessed punishment at imprisonment for life.

Confrontation Clause

In his first issue, appellant contends that the trial court erred in excluding certain evidence. At trial, appellant sought to introduce evidence that V.C. had made a false accusation of sexual abuse against her father. The trial court excluded this evidence and did not allow a cross examination of V.C. regarding this accusation.

The Sixth Amendment guarantees an accused in a criminal prosecution the right to confront the witnesses against him. U.S. Const, amend. VI; Davis v. Alaska, 415 U.S. 308, 315, 94 S.Ct. 1105, 39 L.Ed.2d 347 (1974). A criminal defendant states a violation of the Confrontation Clause by showing that he was prohibited from engaging in otherwise appropriate cross-examination designed to show a prototypical form of bias on the part of a witness and thereby to expose to the jury facts from which jurors could appropriately draw inferences relating to the reliability of the witness. Olden v. Kentucky, 488 U.S. 227, 231, 109 S.Ct. 480, 102 L.Ed.2d 513 (1988). We weigh each Confrontation Clause issue on a case-by-case basis, taking into account the defendant’s right to cross-examine and the risk factors associated with admission of the evidence. Lopez v. State, 18 S.W.3d 220, 222 (Tex.Crim.App.2000). The trial court has broad dis *706 cretion to impose reasonable limits on cross-examination to avoid- harassment, prejudice, confusion of the issues, endangering the witness, and the injection of cumulative or collateral evidence. Id.

Ordinarily, specific instances of á witness’s misconduct may not be used to demonstrate a witness’s untrustworthy nature. Id. at 225; Tex.R. Evid. 608(b). However, the Confrontation Clause may occasionally require admissibility of evidence that the Rules of Evidence would exclude. Lopez, 18 S.W.3d at 225. In determining whether evidence must be admitted under the Confrontation Clause, the trial court must balance the probative value of the testimony against the risk its admission entails. Id. at 222. For evidence of extraneous allegations to be admissible to impeach the credibility of the complaining witness, and thus have a probative effect, there must be a showing that the accusations were false. Lape v. State, 893 S.W.2d 949, 956 (Tex.App.-Houston [14th Dist.] 1994, pet. refd); Hughes v. State, 850 S.W.2d 260, 262 (Tex.App.-Fort Worth 1993, pet. refd).

Here, appellant sought to demonstrate the falsity of the subsequent allegation through the testimony of Juan Castro, who denied he sexually assaulted his daughter, as well as by the fact that no charges were filed after a police investigation. Simple denial testimony is insufficient to establish falsity because it is inherently self-serving and unreliable. Quinn v. Haynes, 234 F.3d 837, 850 (4th Cir.2000); see also Karnes v. State, No. 05-92-02719-CR, 1994 WL 67725, at *1-2 (Tex.App.-Dallas March 4, 1994) (not designated for publication) (holding the trial court did not abuse its discretion in excluding evidence where the only evidence of false accusations was the denial by the persons accused and their assertions that they were not prosecuted). Additionally, the dismissal of charges against Castro does not prove that the allegations made by V.C. were false. See Lopez, 18 S.W.3d at 222 (finding where charges dropped, this could simply indicate a lack of evidence to prove the allegation at that time, or an administrative decision that, despite the allegation’s validity, the parties would best be served by closing the case); see also Hughes v. Raines, 641 F.2d 790, 792 (9th Cir.1981) (holding defendant’s denial and the non-prosecution of another for a rape alleged by the same complaining witness does not demonstrate falsity).

Thus, we hold that the trial court did not abuse its discretion because the proffered evidence does not establish falsity. Without proof that the allegation against Juan Castro was false, the evidence would have had no probative value in impeaching V.C.’s testimony and would have served only to unduly prejudice and confuse the jury. See Lopez, 18 S.W.3d at 226. Accordingly, we overrule appellant’s first point of error.

Hearsay Objection

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Garcia v. State, 228 S.W.3d 703, 2005 WL 2429795 (Tex. Ct. App. 2005).

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