Mendiola v. State

61 S.W.3d 541, 2001 WL 884187
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedOctober 11, 2001
Docket04-97-00813-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 61 S.W.3d 541 (Mendiola 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
Mendiola v. State, 61 S.W.3d 541, 2001 WL 884187 (Tex. Ct. App. 2001).

Opinion

OPINION ON REMAND

KAREN ANGELINI, Justice.

This appeal is from a conviction on three counts of indecency with a child by sexual contact. The jury found Rudolph G. Men-diola guilty and sentenced him to twelve years confinement. We affirmed his conviction and sentence. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted Mendiola’s petition for discretionary review to determine whether we erred in determining that certain evidence, offered by Mendiola, was not a “matter ... relevant to sentencing” under Art. 37.07 § 3(a) of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure. The court reversed our judgment and remanded the case on this sole issue. The court ordered us to reconsider Mendiola’s argument in light of Rogers v. State, 991 S.W.2d 263 (Tex.Crim.App.1999). Mendiola v. State, 21 S.W.3d 282, 285 (Tex.Crim.App.2000). Upon consideration of Rogers, we affirm.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

We review the trial court’s decision to admit extraneous offense evidence with the abuse of discretion standard. Mitchell v. State, 931 S.W.2d 950, 953 (Tex.Crim.App.1996); Welch v. State, 993 S.W.2d 690, 697 (Tex.App.—San Antonio 1999, no pet.). We will uphold the trial court’s ruling if it is within the zone of reasonable disagreement. Montgomery v. State, 810 S.W.2d 372, 391 (Tex.Crim.App.1990) (op. on reh’g). Article 37.07 § 3(a) empowers the trial court with authority on the threshold issue of admissibility of relevant evidence during the punishment phase of a trial. Saldivar v. State, 980 S.W.2d 475, 504 (Tex.App.—Houston [14th *543 Dist.] 1998, pet. ref'd); see also Mitchell, 931 S.W.2d at 953.

Discussion

During the punishment phase of Mendi-ola’s trial, the State presented the testimony of Mendiola’s great niece, A.M. She testified that appellant had engaged in sexual contact with her. Mendiola’s attorney later questioned Mendiola’s daughter, Elizabeth Castillo, about the incident involving A.M. Counsel asked Castillo whether Men-diola had been indicted and whether the district attorney (D.A.) had dismissed the charges. The trial court sustained the State’s objections to relevance. Mendiola complains on appeal that the trial court erred in excluding the evidence that the D.A. dismissed the indictment. On original submission, we discussed the meaning of “relevant” set out in Rule 401 of the Texas Rules of Evidence and found “[a]ny evidence of dismissal of criminal charges for extraneous offenses ... was irrelevant to prove the truth or falsity of the acts.” Mendiola v. State, 995 S.W.2d 175, 184 (Tex.App.—San Antonio 1999) rev’d, 21 S.W.3d 282 (Tex.Crim.App.2000). Therefore, we held the trial court’s failure to admit the evidence was not an abuse of discretion. Id.

In reviewing our decision, the Court of Criminal Appeals noted that, under Article 37.07 § 3(a), any matter the trial court deems relevant to sentencing is admissible. Mendiola, 21 S.W.3d at 284. The issue, however, is the meaning of the word “relevant” at the punishment stage. Id. The court discussed the recent opinion of Rogers v. State in which it drew a distinction between the meaning of the term “relevant” in the punishment phase and the guilt/innocence phase. Although Rule 401 is “helpful” in determining relevance, it is not a “perfect fit” in the sentencing context. Id. Citing Miller-El v. State, 782 S.W.2d 892 (Tex.Crim.App.1990) the court noted that the admissibility of evidence during punishment is a function of policy rather than relevancy. Mendiola, 21 S.W.3d at 285. Thus, in Rogers, the court concluded that determining relevance, is a question of what is “helpful to the jury in determining the appropriate sentence for a particular defendant in a particular case.” Rogers, 991 S.W.2d at 265.

In Rogers, the defendant contended the trial court erred in admitting the length of the sentences in his three prior convictions. Id. The court cited the policy objectives listed in the Penal Code, emphasizing the need for punishment to prevent the “likely recurrence of criminal behavior.” Id. The court found that, in this instance, the sentence lengths were helpful to the jury in tailoring the sentence to the individual defendant. Id. at 265-66. The defendant had been convicted of robbery on three prior occasions and had been sentenced to fifteen years, fifteen years, and seventy-five years, respectively. The offense at issue was committed after defendant had escaped from jail. The evidence was informative to the jury because “[a] logical and permissible inference from the evidence is that the 75-year sentence was not severe enough to prevent the appellant from committing robberies or other violent crimes.” Id. at 266.

We now turn to whether, under Rogers, the trial court abused its discretion in excluding testimony regarding the D.A.’s dismissal of the indictment against Mendiola in the incident involving A.M. In doing so, we keep in mind the specific policy reasons Mendiola urges “such as admitting the truth in sentencing, giving complete information for the jury to tailor an appropriate sentence for appellant, and the policy of optional completeness.” See Mendiola, 21 S.W.3d at 285.

*544 Mendiola argues that in order to satisfy the truth in sentencing policy, he should have been able to provide the truth to the jury regarding the filing and dismissal of the indictment. The truth, according to Mendiola is “that the prosecutors who were relying so heavily on the alleged assault of [A.M.] to send Rudolph Mendio-la to prison had previously passed on the opportunity to prosecute that very case.” Likewise, Mendiola contends that admission of the evidence would serve the policy of informing the jury so they could tailor an appropriate sentence.

In considering whether these policies would truly be served by admitting the testimony, we must, in light of Rogers, decide whether the evidence would help the jury to determine an appropriate sentence. What truth would this evidence show and how would it help the jury in sentencing Mendiola?

The evidence would simply show that the D.A. indicted Mendiola and then dismissed the indictment. The evidence would not show the jury, however, why the D.A. dismissed the indictment.

The case of Smith v. State is instructive on this issue. In Smith v. State,

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61 S.W.3d 541, 2001 WL 884187, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mendiola-v-state-texapp-2001.