Rodriguez v. State

903 S.W.2d 405, 1995 Tex. App. LEXIS 1645, 1995 WL 353428
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJuly 20, 1995
Docket06-94-00099-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by53 cases

This text of 903 S.W.2d 405 (Rodriguez 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
Rodriguez v. State, 903 S.W.2d 405, 1995 Tex. App. LEXIS 1645, 1995 WL 353428 (Tex. Ct. App. 1995).

Opinions

OPINION

GRANT, Justice.

Antonio Rodriguez appeals from a conviction for aggravated sexual assault. He was found guilty by a jury and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Rodriguez makes the following contentions: (1) that he was denied the right to a fair trial, due process of law, and the right to present witnesses under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution; (2) that the trial court erred in warning the defendant’s witness of her Fifth Amendment privilege; (3) that the trial court erred in overruling a motion for continuance for sixty days, which would have allowed Barbara Hipps to testify; (4) that the trial court erred in dismissing and excusing the witness Hipps rather than requiring her to testify in the presence of the jury; (5) that the trial court erred in excluding excited utterances made by Hipps at the time of her arrest; (6) that the trial court erred in excluding excited utterances made by Hipps after her arrest; (7) that the trial court erred in allowing a police officer to give opinion testimony concerning Hipps’s statement; and (8) that the trial court erred in overruling Rodriguez’s hearsay objection to Sergeant Rich’s testimony.

Looking into an apartment through an open window, two witnesses saw Barbara Hipps performing sex with several men. They also saw one of these men, who they later identified as Rodriguez, forcing Hipps’s six-year-old deaf child to perform oral sex.

By his first point of error, Rodriguez contends that he was denied the right to a fair trial, due process of law, and the right to present witnesses under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. Rodriguez argues that he subpoenaed and wished to present testimony of Hipps, the mother of the victim, who had been present at the scene of the offense.

Shortly after the offense, Hipps wrote in a statement1 to police:

When I went in there I told him to stop and he told me shutup and I was scared. [408]*408He was making my daughter give him head. I told him to stop. I didnot (sic) want this to happen. I don’t even know what his name is.

Rodriguez contends that Hipps was familiar with him and knew his name, and, therefore, Hipps’s statement to police was proof that he was not involved.

Rodriguez attempted to call Hipps as a ■witness. Under oath, Hipps, out of the presence of the jury, explained that she had been subpoenaed by both sides, Rodriguez first, then the State: She agreed to testify for Rodriguez, but after consulting with an attorney appointed by the court, she decided not to testify, invoking her Fifth Amendment privilege.

Though Rodriguez has a Sixth Amendment right to compulsory process, that right does not override a potential witness’s Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. Grayson v. State, 684 S.W.2d 691, 696 (Tex.Crim.App.1984); Ellis v. State, 683 S.W.2d 379 (Tex.Crim.App.1984).

Rodriguez contends that the prosecutors prevented Hipps from testifying by threatening her with prosecution. Hipps first spoke with the prosecuting attorneys, then spoke with Rodriguez’s attorney. She told Rodriguez’s attorney that she would testify. Later in the day, she was brought into court where the judge spoke with her. The judge asked the prosecuting attorneys what the prosecutors intended to do with respect to her case. They stated that she was under investigation. At that time an attorney was appointed for Hipps. After consulting with her attorney, she stated that she would not testify and that she would invoke her Fifth Amendment right. We find no evidence in the record where the prosecutor threatened Hipps or told her not to testify. This point of error is overruled.

In his second point of error, Rodriguez contends that the trial court committed reversible error in the process of warning Hipps of her Fifth Amendment privilege. Before testifying, the trial court informed Hipps of her Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. The court, however, never told Hipps that the Fifth Amendment can only be used in good faith when there is in fact good reason to fear some incrimination. The trial court simply stated, “You have a right to invoke that privilege if you choose to and not answer any questions put to you by either side. Now you understand that?”

Rodriguez contends that it is error to incorrectly explain the Fifth Amendment to a witness, citing Webb v. State, 409 U.S. 96, 93 S.Ct. 361, 34 L.Ed.2d 330 (1972). The State notes that in that case, however, the United States Supreme Court indicated that the judge’s lengthy and intimidating warning strongly suggested that the judge’s comments were the cause of the witness’s failure to testify. Webb, 409 U.S. at 97, 93 S.Ct. at 353. In the case at bar, however, the trial court simply explained that Hipps had the right to testify and also the right to invoke the Fifth Amendment privilege. Hipps was also advised by her attorney. This point of error is overruled.

By his third point of error, Rodriguez contends that the trial court erred in overruling a motion for a sixty-day continuance. Once Rodriguez learned of the State’s investigation of Hipps, he made a motion for continuance so that “the State can complete their (sic) investigation of Witness BARBARA HIPPS and thus free her to testify for the Defendant.”

The determination of whether to grant a motion for continuance lies within the sound discretion of the court and shall not be granted as a matter of right. See Tex.Code CRIM.PROcAnn. art. 29.06(6) (Vernon 1989). All motions for continuance must be sworn to by a person having personal knowledge of the facts relied on for the continuance. See Tex.Code Crim.ProcAnn. art. 29.08 (Vernon 1989). Rodriguez’s motion for continuance was not sworn. When a defendant’s motion for continuance is not sworn by a person having personal knowledge of the facts relied on for the continuance, nothing is presented for review. Montoya v. State, 810 S.W.2d 160, 176 (Tex.Crim.App.1989), cert. denied, 502 U.S. 961, 112 S.Ct. 426, 116 L.Ed.2d 446 [409]*409(1991). TMs point was, therefore, waived and presents no error.

By his fourth point of error, Rodriguez contends that the trial court erred in dismissing Hipps, rather than requiring her to testify because she had waived her Fifth Amendment privilege. After Hipps invoked the Fifth Amendment, the judge excused her.

Rodriguez argues that after being given written Miranda2 warnings, which included the warning that any statement made could be used against her at trial, Hipps stated in writing that she was present in the room at the time a Mexican-American male committed the offense on her daughter. Further, Hipps answered questions as to her name and address after responding to the State’s subpoena. She testified that she knew the defendant Antonio Rodriguez and knew him by the name of Tony. For these reasons, Rodriguez contends that Hipps waived her Fifth Amendment privilege.

The Fifth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, extended to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment, provides that no person shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself or herself. See U.S. ConstAmends. IV & XIV.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
903 S.W.2d 405, 1995 Tex. App. LEXIS 1645, 1995 WL 353428, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rodriguez-v-state-texapp-1995.