Leticia Nohely Ramirez v. State

Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided December 1, 2020·No. 06-19-00208-CR·Published

Opinion

In The Court of Appeals Sixth Appellate District of Texas at Texarkana

No. 06-19-00208-CR

LETICIA NOHELY RAMIREZ, Appellant

V.

THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee

On Appeal from the 76th District Court Camp County, Texas Trial Court No. CF-17-01806

Before Morriss, C.J., Burgess and Stevens, JJ. Memorandum Opinion by Chief Justice Morriss MEMORANDUM OPINION

Leticia Nohely Ramirez was convicted by a Camp County jury of manslaughter1 in the

death of Saul Martinez. After our review of the record and applicable law, we affirm the trial

court’s judgment, because (1) Ramirez did not preserve her claims that the trial court violated her

due process and due course of law rights, (2) the evidence is sufficient to sustain the jury’s

verdict, (3) excluding evidence of a violent altercation involving Ramirez’s victim was not error,

and (4) no cumulative error has been shown.

(1) Ramirez Did Not Preserve Her Claims that the Trial Court Violated Her Due Process and Due Course of Law Rights

Ramirez’s first two points of error complain of the trial court’s ruling limiting expert

testimony proffered by Ramirez. Ramirez wanted to call two expert witnesses to testify

regarding Martinez’s possible cause of death.

One desired expert was Dr. Ronald Tisdell, who held a doctorate in clinical

pharmacology and was also trained as a forensic toxicologist. Tisdell was allowed to testify to

the jury about the effects of cocaethylene, a toxic substance produced in the body when alcohol

and cocaine are combined. Cocaethylene has been “determined to cause sudden death in

people.” Tisdell cited “one study that’s demonstrated . . . up to 25 times higher risk of sudden

death when cocaethylene is present than with cocaine by itself.” This was excited delirium

syndrome, according to Tisdell.

1 See TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. § 19.04. Ramirez was indicted for murder, and the jury convicted on the lesser offense. 2 The trial court, however, ruled that Tisdell was not qualified to, and could not, offer

testimony that Martinez’s death was a result of excited delirium or opine that Martinez had a

substance abuse problem.2

Ramirez also made an offer of proof regarding an incident in Austin in March 2017,

where Martinez went from being a calm bar patron to suddenly harassing other customers and

picking a fight. Martinez was arrested as a result of this altercation; at the jail, the nurse refused

to admit him because of a high heart rate, and Martinez was hospitalized instead. Ramirez

wanted evidence of the Austin incident before the jury so her other expert, a former medical

examiner and pathologist, could consider that incident in explaining his opinion that Martinez

died from excited delirium syndrome. The trial court granted the State’s motion in limine, which

argued that the Austin event was offered only to show Martinez’s character or propensity to be

the first aggressor. The trial court sustained the State’s objections to the Austin event.

On appeal, Ramirez argues that the trial court’s limitation on the testimony of these

witnesses violated his due process rights under the United States Constitution (point of error one)

and the due course of law provision of the Texas Constitution (point of error two). Nowhere in

the record can we find anything close to a complaint to the trial court that comports with

Ramirez’s appellate complaints. A “point of error on appeal must comport with the objection

made at trial.” Wilson v. State, 71 S.W.3d 346, 349 (Tex. Crim. App. 2002). Ramirez never

argued to the trial court that its limitations on Ramirez’s proffered testimony violated her federal

2 After both sides questioned Tisdell at a Daubert hearing, the court directly asked Tisdell if he had ever “testified in the State of Texas as an expert regarding excited delirium?” Tisdell answered, “I haven’t testified concerning excited delirium. I -- during my education and during my practice, I have seen excited delirium.” 3 due process or state due course of law rights. Nor did she urge these points in her motion for

new trial. The only objections from Ramirez at trial were that she was “entitled to put on . . .

[her] best defense” and that she “need[ed] this information” about the Austin event before the

jury. In answering the State’s objection to testimony from Tisdell, Ramirez told the trial court

“Daubert’s[3] threshold has been met” and Tisdell’s “scientific knowledge” would “assist the

trier of fact.”

Ramirez never made a complaint on constitutional grounds to the trial court. She

therefore will not be heard to urge those arguments on appeal. “The purpose of requiring a

specific objection in the trial court is twofold: (1) to inform the trial judge of the basis of the

objection and give him the opportunity to rule on it; (2) to give opposing counsel the opportunity

to respond to the complaint.” Resendez v. State, 306 S.W.3d 308, 312 (Tex. Crim. App. 2009).

“Parties are not permitted to ‘bootstrap a constitutional issue from the most innocuous trial

objection,’ and trial courts must be presented with and have the chance to rule on the specific

constitutional basis for admission because it can have such heavy implications on appeal.”

Golliday v. State, 560 S.W.3d 664, 670 (Tex. Crim. App. 2018) (quoting Clark v. State, 365

S.W.3d 333, 340 (Tex. Crim. App. 2012)).4 Ramirez never complained to the trial court that the

court’s ruling violated her due process or due course of law rights. The court thus had no

opportunity to rule on those objections, and the State never had an opportunity to answer those

arguments. We overrule Ramirez’s first two points of error.

3 Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharms., Inc., 509 U.S. 579 (1993). 4 See also Reyna v. State, 168 S.W.3d 173, 179 (Tex. Crim. App. 2005) (appellant’s argument to the trial court to allow a line of testimony on basis of “credibility” did not preserve Confrontation Clause point of error). 4 (2) The Evidence Is Sufficient to Sustain the Jury’s Verdict

Ramirez also asserts that the evidence was not sufficient to support her conviction for

manslaughter. We disagree.

“In evaluating legal sufficiency, we review all the evidence in the light most favorable to

the trial court’s judgment to determine whether any rational jury could have found the essential

elements of the offense beyond a reasonable doubt.” Williamson v. State, 589 S.W.3d 292, 297

(Tex. App.—Texarkana 2019, pet. ref’d) (citing Brooks v. State, 323 S.W.3d 893, 912 (Tex.

Crim. App. 2010) (plurality op.); Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319 (1979); Hartsfield v.

State, 305 S.W.3d 859, 863 (Tex. App.—Texarkana 2010, pet. ref’d)). “We examine legal

sufficiency under the direction of the Brooks opinion, while giving deference to the

responsibility of the jury ‘to fairly resolve conflicts in testimony, to weigh the evidence, and to

draw reasonable inferences from basic facts to ultimate facts.’” Id. (quoting Hooper v. State, 214

S.W.3d 9, 13 (Tex. Crim.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Leticia Nohely Ramirez v. State, (Tex. Ct. App. 2020).

Leticia Nohely Ramirez v. State (Leticia Nohely Ramirez v. State) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Jackson v. Virginia
443 U.S. 307 (Supreme Court, 1979)
Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
509 U.S. 579 (Supreme Court, 1993)
Hooper v. State
214 S.W.3d 9 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2007)
Clayton v. State
235 S.W.3d 772 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2007)
Taylor v. State
268 S.W.3d 571 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2008)
Chamberlain v. State
998 S.W.2d 230 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1999)
Malik v. State
953 S.W.2d 234 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1997)
Wilson v. State
71 S.W.3d 346 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2002)
Hughes v. State
24 S.W.3d 833 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2000)
Resendez v. State
306 S.W.3d 308 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2009)
Moses v. State
105 S.W.3d 622 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2003)
Reyna v. State
168 S.W.3d 173 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2005)
Hartsfield v. State
305 S.W.3d 859 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2010)
Martinez v. State
327 S.W.3d 727 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2010)
Brooks v. State
323 S.W.3d 893 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2010)
De La Paz v. State
279 S.W.3d 336 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2009)
Montgomery v. State
810 S.W.2d 372 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1991)
Clark v. State
365 S.W.3d 333 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2012)
Quadreuy Flowers v. State
438 S.W.3d 96 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2014)
Buntion v. State
482 S.W.3d 58 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2016)