Martinez v. State

1995 OK CR 52, 904 P.2d 138, 66 O.B.A.J. 2895, 1995 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 58, 1995 WL 555409
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedSeptember 14, 1995
DocketF-88-241
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 1995 OK CR 52 (Martinez v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Martinez v. State, 1995 OK CR 52, 904 P.2d 138, 66 O.B.A.J. 2895, 1995 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 58, 1995 WL 555409 (Okla. Ct. App. 1995).

Opinions

OPINION

LANE, Judge:

This felony-murder case arises out of an arson fire which destroyed the home of Mary Castillo, and killed two of her five children in Frederick, Oklahoma, on June 6, 1987. Appellant, Gilberto Hernandez Martinez, was convicted of two counts of Murder in the First Degree in Tillman County District Court, Case No. CRF-87-48. The jury recommended a sentence of death on each count which the trial court imposed. Two errors require reversal of judgment and sentence and remand to the district court for retrial.

The defendant’s Sixth Amendment right to confront eye-witness David Castillo was violated when the trial court granted the State’s motion in limine which barred cross-examination regarding bias; and the jury was not instructed on the available sentencing option of life without the possibility of parole. We address only those issues requiring reversal.

While Mary Castillo was out with friends and her children were home alone, someone set fire to her house. Her three boys, David, Louis and Angel, escaped. Her daughters, Margaret and Reynalda, died from carbon monoxide poisoning. The only contested issue at trial was who set the fire. Uncontro-verted evidence established gasoline was poured along the baseboards of the living room, in two of the three bedrooms used by the children, and on the front door jamb. The two younger boys, Louis and Angel, shared a room, as did the two girls. Gasoline was poured in a pool in the middle of the boys’ room, and around Reynalda’s mattress. David had a room of his own and no gasoline was used there.

Gilberto Hernando Martinez is Mary Castillo’s boyfriend, and Margaret’s father. The State believed Martinez set the fire in revenge for Ms. Castillo dancing with another man at the Paso Del Norte bar earlier that evening. Martinez started a scuffle with her at the bar and knocked off her cowboy hat. As he left, he said in Spanish, “tu .vas a pager”, which was translated in the record as, “you are going to pay”. No witness knew to whom this statement was directed.

Two teenagers saw the appellant in the vicinity of the Castillo home around 1:00 and 1:30 a.m. One saw him carrying something under his arm. The house was engulfed by flame at 4:00 a.m. when a neighbor called the fire department.

[140]*140Eleven year old David Castillo, the only eye-witness,1 testified he was awakened by smoke, got up, and went into the kitchen. He was fully dressed. While hiding in the kitchen he saw the appellant pour gasoline out of a yellow container onto existing flames in the living room, and then go into the girls’ room. David testified that as Martinez left the house he poured gasoline at the front door and set the gas on fire. David was able to wake up his brothers and save them, but by the time he got to his sisters’ room, the intensity of the fire forced him back. He testified that when he got out of the house he saw the appellant running away.

David Castillo had a history of setting fires when his mother left him alone in charge of his younger brothers and sisters. He had set three fires in homes the family had rented. Two of these resulted in evictions of the family. He had also set fire to a garage and a car. The State filed a motion in limine to keep this evidence from the jury. The trial court sustained the State’s motion.

I. ISSUES RELATING TO GUILT AND INNOCENCE

A. SUFFICIENCY OF THE EVIDENCE

In his first proposition of error the Appellant argues the State presented insufficient evidence to prove he set the arson fire. He correctly cites the standard of review when both direct and circumstantial evidence are presented: viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, could any rational trier of fact have found each element of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. See Riley v. State, 760 P.2d 198, 199-200 (Okl.Cr.1988); Drew v. State, 771 P.2d 224, 227 (Okl.Cr.1989). Appellant then misapplies the standard.

David Castillo’s testimony was corroborated by the State’s arson inspector. The char patterns left by the accelerant are consistent with the places David testified he saw the appellant pour gasoline. This evidence, if believed, when viewed in the light most favorable to the prosecution, is sufficient to allow any rational trier of fact to find Martinez set the fire which killed the Castillo girls.

B. DENIAL OF CONFRONTATION: CROSS-EXAMINATION OF DAVID CASTILLO

The sufficiency of the evidence, however, depends on the credibility of David Castillo. Unknown to the jury, this witness’ credibility could have been severely impeached by the fact he set fires when his mother was out, and could have a reason to avoid blame for this one. This information was excluded from trial when the trial court granted the State’s motion in limine which provided:

Comes now the State of Oklahoma and moves this Court for an order in limine to limit the defense herein. It has come to the attention of the State that the defense herein intends to discredit the witness David Castillo by trying to show prior bad acts involving the setting of fires. That State moves for an order in limine directing that any such demonstration of prior bad acts by the witness be limited to actual convictions of a crime or juvenile ajudica-tions (sic) if any, of the witness David Castillo.

The State successfully defended its motion twice: prior to the defense cross-examination of David Castillo, and prior to the defense calling David Castillo as its own witness. On each occasion defense counsel argued he wanted to show David set the fires. This argument was successfully defeated by the prosecutors.

The State skillfully used sections of the Evidence Code to bar admission of this evidence. The prosecutor argued Section 2404(B) prohibits the introduction of prior bad acts to show a person acted in conformity therewith. This is correct. See 12 O.S. 1981, § 2404(B). The State also argued setting fires is not an act probative of untruthfulness and thus the evidence was also barred under Section 2608(B). Again, this is correct. See 12 O.S.1981, § 2608(B). De[141]*141fense counsel then argued the prior fires were admissible under Section 2405 to show habit or practice and the witness’ conformity to his habit. The trial court correctly found counsel’s argument unpersuasive. See 12 O.S.1981, §§ 2405 and 2406.

While the trial court properly ruled on the argument as presented, we do not end our review here. It is plain the defendant was denied his constitutional right under the Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment to cross-examine David Castillo regarding his bias and motive to lie. See Beck v. State, 824 P.2d 385 (Okl.Cr.1991); Delaware v. Van Arsdall, 475 U.S. 673, 106 S.Ct. 1431, 89 L.Ed.2d 674 (1986); Davis v. Alaska, 415 U.S. 308, 94 S.Ct. 1105, 39 L.Ed.2d 347 (1974). The State concedes this point in its brief by arguing:

Defense counsel can ask David if he set the fires.(sic) If he says no, defense counsel under Davis, 415 U.S. at 316, [94 S.Ct. at 1110], was certainly entitled to ask David about the other fires to show bias.

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Related

State v. Winfrey
337 S.W.3d 1 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 2011)
Martinez v. State
2003 OK CR 25 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 2003)
Mooney v. State
1999 OK CR 34 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma, 1999)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1995 OK CR 52, 904 P.2d 138, 66 O.B.A.J. 2895, 1995 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 58, 1995 WL 555409, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/martinez-v-state-oklacrimapp-1995.