Morales v. State

222 S.W.3d 134, 2006 Tex. App. LEXIS 9771, 2006 WL 3234073
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedNovember 9, 2006
Docket13-05-188-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by25 cases

This text of 222 S.W.3d 134 (Morales 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
Morales v. State, 222 S.W.3d 134, 2006 Tex. App. LEXIS 9771, 2006 WL 3234073 (Tex. Ct. App. 2006).

Opinions

OPINION

Opinion by

Justice CASTILLO.

A jury found appellant, Jose Morales, guilty of aggravated sexual assault of a child. He was sentenced to ninety-nine years and assessed a $5,000 fine. Morales appeals. We affirm.

I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

On May 9, 2002, Yvette Benavides (Mrs. Benavides) dropped off her two minor daughters, B.B. and Y. B., at the home of her mother-in-law, Maria Benavides. The paternal grandmother provided child care for her two granddaughters between seven in the morning until four-thirty in the afternoon. Morales was married to Maria Benavides at this time,1 and was the girls’ step-grandfather. The children in the Be-navides family referred to him as “Joe-Joe.”

Since the youngest daughter, Y.B., was still asleep, Mrs. Benavides laid her down with the grandmother in the grandmother’s room. Meanwhile, the older daughter, B.B., then four years old, said she was not sleepy and wanted to watch cartoons. B.B. was laid on the living room couch to watch cartoons. Morales was present in the kitchen, having just returned home [139]*139from working the night shift. Mrs. Bena-vides left for work.

When Mrs. Benavides picked up her children after work, she observed B.B. wiggling around as if she had to use the bathroom. Mrs. Benavides, concerned she would have an accident, prodded her into the bathroom, following her to help her undress. B.B. then told her mother she did not want to go to the bathroom because it would hurt her. When asked what she meant, B.B. said she was not supposed to tell but would if her mother promised not to tell anyone else. B.B. revealed that Joe-Joe sat on the floor next to her while she was watching cartoons, and put his hands under her shorts and underwear, and then put his finger into her “private.” Jesse Benavides, B.B.’s father, arrived home soon after this statement was made, and B.B. repeated the same thing to him. He then called his mother and niece to come over to his home. Though they were in the house that morning, they did not know what had happened until B.B. retold her story to them. The grandmother then examined B.B. and testified she saw an injury to B.B.’s “privates.”

B.B.’s parents took her to Driscoll Children’s Hospital where she received a sexual assault examination. Three tears and a labial agglutination were found. A forensic interviewer recorded B.B.’s statement as to the incidents. The parents were told by Child Protective Services not to talk to B.B. about what happened. However, Mrs. Benavides testified at trial that B.B. stated, while being bathed, that she was mad at Joe-Joe for hurting her. Meanwhile, B.B.’s grandmother returned home to wait for Morales and confront him. She testified that when he returned from work the following morning, he denied the allegations but would say nothing further until he spoke to a lawyer.

In a pretrial hearing, the State requested the trial court find B.B. an unavailable witness under article 38.071 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure. See Tex. Code CRiM. PROC. Ann. art. 38.071, §§ 1, 2 (Vernon 2005). In making this determination, the court considered an admitted affidavit of a licensed counselor who had been seeing B.B. since the incident with Morales occurred, and the sworn testimony of Cynthia Villanueva, then assistant D.A., who testified that B.B. would suffer serious and undue psychological harm if made to testify. The trial court found B.B. unavailable and she did not testify. As B.B. was found unavailable under article 38.071, two additional videotapes were made and admitted into evidence at trial over Morales’s objections.

At trial, which commenced on February 22, 2005, Morales pled not guilty to the offense of aggravated sexual assault of a child. The State also tendered testimony of another child, C.T., who subsequently made an outcry statement against Morales. C.T., B.B.’s cousin, lived in Morales’s home and testified that on five separate occasions Morales inappropriately touched her. C.T.’s testimony was admitted over Morales’s objections.

II. POINTS OF ERROR

By two points of error, Morales asserts that the trial court erred in (1) allowing three videotapes of the child victim’s testimony into evidence, and (2) admitting extraneous offense evidence.

III. ADMISSION OF THREE VIDEOTAPES INTO EVIDENCE UNDER ARTICLE 38.071, § 2

A. Relevant Facts

In his first point of error, Morales contends the trial court erred in admitting the three videotapes of B.B.’s statement in [140]*140evidence under article 38.071 of the code of criminal procedure. See Tex.Code ÜRiM. PROC. Ann. art. 38.071 (Vernon 2005). In a pretrial hearing on March 30, 2004, the state sought to admit tape one in lieu of B.B.’s in-court testimony. Morales objected to the first recording as unfair and prejudicial. The court declared B.B. unavailable and allowed the parties to proceed under section 2(b) of article 38.071. See Tex.Code CRiM. PROC. Ann. art. 38.071, § 2(b) (Vernon 2005). Morales objected to conducting a second recording without determining whether to admit the first tape, arguing it would impair his rights under due process and due course of law protections. Morales then agreed to submit a list of questions for this second interview pursuant to section 2(b) of article 38.071, so as to exercise his right to confrontation.

At a second pretrial hearing on June 3, 2004, Morales objected to the second recording, arguing it failed to comply with article 38.071 because some of the questions he had submitted were omitted. Ms. Villanueva testified that at this pretrial hearing she, defense counsel, and the trial court acknowledged that some of the questions on the list for the second interview had been omitted.2 The forensic interviewer, Mr. Jimenez, who was established as an expert witness, testified that in this second recording, he did omit some questions that he felt were leading to ensure the tape would not be excluded from evidence.3

To ensure protection of Morales’s right to confrontation, the trial court ordered a third recording, over Morales’s objection. The trial court referred to this third tape as a continuation of the second tape. To again exercise his right to confront the witness, Morales submitted questions to be asked at the third interview. At the third interview, all of Morales’s questions were asked by the same interviewer. However, Morales complains that the manner in which the third interview was conducted destroyed any continuity it may otherwise have had with the second interview.

In the second interview, the forensic interviewer appears relaxed and friendly. He offers B.B. markers and makes conversation with her about swimming. His demeanor demonstrates warmth and friendliness, and his voice is neutral, showing neither surprise nor disdain in response to her answers. In the third interview, while his demeanor remains friendly he does not try to befriend B.B. He comes into the room, sits down in front of her, and explains that he is going to ask questions off the list. He does not chat with her and does not offer her any markers. He asks the questions straight off the list, offering little to no guidance when she appears confused.

In Smith v. State, 88 S.W.3d 652, 672 (Tex.App.-Tyler 2002, pet.

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222 S.W.3d 134, 2006 Tex. App. LEXIS 9771, 2006 WL 3234073, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/morales-v-state-texapp-2006.