Opinion ID: 1706879
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: questioning regarding the codefendant's confession

Text: Further, since we are reversing for a new trial, we also discuss the erroneous admission of the details of Grimshaw's confession implicating Ramirez. During the cross-examination of one of the detectives during the guilt phase, defense counsel inquired whether it was the true that Grimshaw had given so many versions of events that the police did not know who to suspect, whether it was true that Grimshaw led detectives on a merry chase in the wrong direction in a bogus search for the body, whether it was true that Ramirez cast blame on Grimshaw as the leader of events the night of the murder, and whether the detective had any evidence contrary to Ramirez's claims that he was not involved in the sexual assault on the victim and that he murdered her because Grimshaw told him to do so. On redirect, over objection, the prosecutor was permitted to elicit not just that Grimshaw's confession was evidence contradicting Ramirez's claims of what took place, but also details from Grimshaw's confession, including Grimshaw's statement that it was Ramirez who wanted to kill the victim. The prosecutor maintained to the trial court that he was permitted to elicit the details of Grimshaw's statements because Ramirez brought up the subject on cross-examination. The State concedes that under most circumstances it is error to admit the details of a non-testifying codefendant's confession into evidence against the defendant. This is because admission of a codefendant's statements is inadmissible hearsay and violates the Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution. See Lee v. Illinois, 476 U.S. 530, 541, 106 S.Ct. 2056, 90 L.Ed.2d 514 (1986); Bruton v. United States, 391 U.S. 123, 128, 88 S.Ct. 1620, 20 L.Ed.2d 476 (1968); Franqui v. State, 699 So.2d 1312, 1318 (Fla.1997), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 118 S.Ct. 1337, 140 L.Ed.2d 499 (1998), and cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 118 S.Ct. 1582, 140 L.Ed.2d 796 (1998). [9] A codefendant's statements are especially suspect because he has a strong motivation to implicate another, rendering these statements even less credible than ordinary hearsay. See Lee, 476 U.S. at 541, 106 S.Ct. 2056; Farina v. State, 679 So.2d 1151, 1155 (Fla.1996). However, the State maintains that the questioning was permissible during the State's redirect because Ramirez himself opened the door to this testimony during the cross-examination of the detective during the guilt phase of trial. As an evidentiary principle, the concept of opening the door allows the admission of otherwise inadmissible testimony to qualify, explain, or limit testimony or evidence previously admitted. Tompkins v. State, 502 So.2d 415, 419 (Fla.1986); see Huff v. State, 495 So.2d 145, 150 (Fla.1986); Blair v. State, 406 So.2d 1103, 1106 (Fla.1981). The concept of opening the door is based on considerations of fairness and the truth-seeking function of a trial. Bozeman v. State, 698 So.2d 629, 631 (Fla. 4th DCA 1997). For example, in McCrae v. State, 395 So.2d 1145, 1151 (Fla.1980), defense counsel through his questions on direct examination tactfully attempted to mislead the jury into believing that [the defendant's] prior felony was inconsequential. This Court held that to negate the misleading impression given by defense counsel's question, the prosecutor was entitled to elicit the nature of the prior felony conviction on cross-examination. See id. at 1152. The Court found that the defendant's line of questioning could have deluded the jury into equating appellant's conviction of assault with intent to commit murder with his previous misdemeanors. Consequently, the state was entitled to interrogate [the defendant] regarding the nature of his prior felony in order to negate the delusive innuendoes of his counsel. Id. at 1152. The phrase opening the door has been utilized interchangeably with the rule of completeness. See, e.g., Larzelere v. State, 676 So.2d 394, 402 (Fla.1996). The rule of completeness, however, is a separate evidentiary concept that falls within the general principle of door-opening. Codified at section 90.108, Florida Statutes (1995), the rule of completeness provides that [w]hen a writing or recorded statement or part thereof is introduced by a party, an adverse party may require him or her at that time to introduce any other part or any other writing or recorded statement that in fairness ought to be considered contemporaneously. This rule has been applied to verbal statements as well. See Christopher v. State, 583 So.2d 642, 646 (Fla. 1991); see also Reese v. State, 694 So.2d 678, 683 (Fla.1997). Fairness is clearly the focus of this rule. Jordan v. State, 694 So.2d 708, 712 (Fla.1997). Thus, when a party introduces part of a statement, confession, or admission, the opposing party is ordinarily entitled to bring out the remainder of the statement. See Larzelere, 676 So.2d at 402; see also Christopher, 583 So.2d at 646. This rule is not absolute, and the correct standard is whether, in the interest of fairness, the remaining portions of the statements should have been contemporaneously provided to the jury. Larzelere, 676 So.2d at 402. A good example of this principle is Walsh v. State, 596 So.2d 756, 757 (Fla. 4th DCA 1992), where the defendant opened the door to the admission of the codefendant's complete confession by asking questions on cross-examination designed to glean select portions from [the codefendant's] statement which implicated the [codefendant] in the murder, but not [the defendant.] In this case however, the defendant did not elicit any portions or parts of Grimshaw's confession from the officer during cross-examination. Thus, the rule of completeness did not apply to permit the introduction of the details of Grimshaw's confession on redirect. Because the rule of completeness does not apply in this case, the appropriate inquiry here is whether based on considerations of fairness, the door was opened wide enough by defense counsel's questions to permit otherwise inadmissible and unreliable statements to be admitted into evidence. The general unreliability of inadmissible evidence should be one of the court's considerations in determining whether fairness requires admission. Jordan, 694 So.2d at 712 (quoting Charles W. Ehrhardt, Florida Evidence § 108.1, at 35 (1995 ed.)). In Pacheco v. State, 698 So.2d 593, 595 (Fla. 2d DCA 1997), the Second District found that the State was properly allowed to ask whether the codefendant had implicated the defendant because defense counsel's questions implied that only one other person incriminated the defendant. However the State went too far when it elicited details of the confession: The detective's testimony and the taped statement, however, went well beyond the fact that [the codefendant] accused [the defendant] of participating in the crime. This evidence provided specific details about the commission of the offense, and it portrayed Pacheco as the instigator of the crime. [The defendant's] limited questions about Ms. Humphrey's role in his capture did not throw the door open wide enough to admit the entire confession of a codefendant who refused to testify. This evidence was inadmissible; it violated both the hearsay rule and the Confrontation Clause. Id. at 595 (emphasis supplied). The Second District found that the only issue from cross-examination that warranted explanation was whether anyone else had led the detective to suspect the defendant. Thus, the admission of the details of the codefendant's statement warranted reversal of the conviction. See id. at 595-96. In this case, the limited questions by the defense counsel on cross-examination of the officer that needed to be clarified or explained on redirect were whether there was any other evidence that pointed to Ramirez as the individual who raped the victim or contradicted Ramirez's assertion that he acted at Grimshaw's direction. This inquiry opened the door only to allow the State to explain that Grimshaw's confession contradicted these assertions. It did not open the door to the questions on redirect regarding the details of what Grimshaw stated when Grimshaw was unavailable for cross-examination. Further, the testimony about the contents of Grimshaw's statement was clearly inadmissible in the penalty phase where the state, again over objection, elicited even more highly inflammatory details of Grimshaw's confession. The State called one of the investigative detectives as the first penalty phase witness. He was asked to review for the jury the details of Grimshaw's confession, which included highly inflammatory statements that Ramirez verbally abused Grimshaw and threatened his life to secure his participation in the crime, anally raped the victim prior to her death, planned to set the victim's house on fire to destroy evidence, turned and smiled at Grimshaw after shooting the victim, and decided to kill the victim because she had seen his face. The State then used these hearsay statements against Ramirez to argue in support of the aggravating factors. The State agrees that this type of testimony is normally not admissible in the penalty phase. (Answer Brief at 28.) However, the State maintains that this testimony was admissible in this case because of the testimony concerning the confession previously allowed in the guilt phase. We disagree. As discussed previously, Ramirez's questions of the deputy did not open the door to the admission of the details of the confession during the guilt phase, much less to the additional graphic and damaging details admitted during the penalty phase. It is equally impermissible and violative of the defendant's constitutional rights in the penalty phase to allow the admission of the details of a non-testifying codefendant's confession where the defendant has not had an opportunity to confront or cross-examine that witness. See Gardner v. State, 480 So.2d 91, 94 (Fla.1985); see also Walton v. State, 481 So.2d 1197, 1200 (Fla.1985). Thus, even if we were not reversing for a new guilt phase, we would be compelled to reverse, at the very least, for a new penalty phase.