Opinion ID: 2519777
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Testimony of Efraim Porras.

Text: {34} Defendant asserts that the trial court erred when it admitted an out-of-court statement of co-defendant Martinez-Rodriguez as a statement against penal interest through the testimony of Porras. See Rule 11-804(B)(3) NMRA 2002. The trial court ruled in a pretrial hearing that the statement was admissible. The court found that the statement was significantly against Martinez-Rodriguez's penal interest, in that he did not attempt to shift responsibility to others but rather implicated himself in the murders to a greater degree, and he was not talking to the authorities in an attempt to get favorable treatment. {35} On appeal, Defendant claims that the statement did not qualify as a statement against interest and that its admission violated his confrontation rights under the Sixth Amendment. U.S. Const. amend. VI. As a general matter, we review a trial court's admission of evidence under an exception to the hearsay rule only for an abuse of discretion. State v. Torres, 1998-NMSC-052, ¶ 15, 126 N.M. 477, 971 P.2d 1267; accord State v. Benavidez, 1999-NMSC-041, ¶ 2, 128 N.M. 261, 992 P.2d 274; State v. Gonzales, 1999-NMSC-033, ¶ 5, 128 N.M. 44, 989 P.2d 419, cert. denied, 529 U.S. 1025, 120 S.Ct. 1434, 146 L.Ed.2d 323 (2000). {36} Rule 11-804 defines exceptions to the hearsay rule that apply when the declarant is unavailable as a witness; one of the exceptions is a statement against interest which is defined as follows: A statement which was at the time of its making so far contrary to the declarant's pecuniary or proprietary interest, or so far tended to subject the declarant to civil or criminal liability, or to render invalid a claim by the declarant against another that a reasonable person in the declarant's position would not have made the statement unless believing it to be true. Rule 11-804(B)(3). This type of statement is admissible as an exception to the hearsay rule because it is presumed that one will not make a statement damaging to one's self unless it is true. Weinstein & Berger, supra, § 804.06[1], at 804-47. A reviewing court must decide whether the trial court abused its discretion in making the determination that a statement so far tended to subject a person to criminal liability, rather than to relieve him or her of it, that a reasonable person in the declarant's position would not have made the statement unless he or she believed it to be true. Torres, 1998-NMSC-052, ¶ 16, 126 N.M. 477, 971 P.2d 1267. {37} In this case, Defendant does not challenge the unavailability of declarant Martinez-Rodriguez, see Rule 11-804(A), but rather the trial court's determination that the statement was against penal interest. As we understand Defendant's claim, he is maintaining that the statement is not against Martinez-Rodriguez's penal interest because he is not accepting responsibility, but rather trying to shift responsibility to the other defendants. He asserts that Defendant's having included the three others in his statement is an attempt to shift blame. Porras testified that when he first met Martinez-Rodriguez in the Salina jail, Martinez-Rodriguez told Porras that he and some others had killed three men by strangling them, one of whom had not yet been found by the authorities. Porras testified that Martinez-Rodriguez repeated the story when they next encountered each other. {38} We agree with the trial court that the statement equally incriminates Martinez-Rodriguez and the other defendants in the murders, rather than minimizing his culpability by shifting responsibility to them. [S]tatements that demonstrate a declarant's inside knowledge of a crime are also against the declarant's penal interest. United States v. Westmoreland, 240 F.3d 618, 627 (7th Cir.2001) (quoted authority and quotation marks omitted) (alteration in original). Moreover, after having been questioned by the police, Martinez-Rodriguez knew that he was a suspect in the murders when he made the statement implicating himself in these crimes. It was clearly against his penal interest, and he did not attempt to shift responsibility away from himself to the other three defendants. Because we do not think that a reasonable person would falsely admit his involvement in such serious crimes, we hold that the statement fell within the penal interest exception to the hearsay rule and the trial court did not abuse its discretion in admitting the statement. {39} We review de novo the question of whether the Confrontation Clause has been violated by the admission of hearsay evidence. Gonzales, 1999-NMSC-033, ¶ 16, 128 N.M. 44, 989 P.2d 419. In general, there is no Confrontation Clause problem in admitting a hearsay statement if the declarant is unavailable and the statement bears adequate indicia of trustworthiness. Id. ¶ 17. The requisite indicia of trustworthiness may be found either by determining that the hearsay exception is a firmly rooted one or that the circumstance surrounding the making of the statement bears adequate indicia of reliability. Ohio v. Roberts, 448 U.S. 56, 66, 100 S.Ct. 2531, 65 L.Ed.2d 597 (1980); see Westmoreland, 240 F.3d at 628 (recognizing that jailhouse confessions to cellmates are also trustworthy and admissible under Rule 804(b)(3)). This Court previously has held that the penal interest exception to the hearsay rule is a firmly rooted hearsay exception for purposes of satisfying the indicia of reliability requirement of the Confrontation Clause. Torres, 1998-NMSC-052, ¶ 32, 126 N.M. 477, 971 P.2d 1267; accord State v. Toney, 2002-NMSC-003, ¶¶ 10-11, 131 N.M. 558, 40 P.3d 1002; Martinez-Rodriguez, 2001-NMSC-029, ¶ 27, 131 N.M. 47, 33 P.3d 267; Gonzales, 1999-NMSC-033, ¶ 19, 128 N.M. 44, 989 P.2d 419. A hearsay statement that satisfies the penal interest exception under Rule 11-804(B)(3) will generally also satisfy the requirement of the Confrontation Clause because the issue of trustworthiness has already been resolved in favor of admissibility. {40} Defendant relies on the plurality opinion in Lilly v. Virginia, 527 U.S. 116, 119 S.Ct. 1887, 144 L.Ed.2d 117 (1999). However, as we have previously stated, the firmly rooted exception discussion in Lilly was contained in a plurality opinion, and thus is not binding on this Court. Toney, 2002-NMSC-003, ¶ 11, 131 N.M. 558, 40 P.3d 1002. More importantly, we declined to follow a similar argument in the motion for rehearing in Gonzales because, under our case law, the challenged statement in Lilly would not have survived a Rule 11-804(B)(3) analysis. Gonzales, 1999-NMSC-033, ¶¶ 36-37, 128 N.M. 44, 989 P.2d 419; accord Toney, 2002-NMSC-003, ¶¶ 10-11, 131 N.M. 558, 40 P.3d 1002; Martinez-Rodriguez, 2001-NMSC-029, ¶ 27, 131 N.M. 47, 33 P.3d 267. We are unpersuaded by Defendant's argument and reaffirm that, in New Mexico, a statement against penal interest within the meaning of Rule 11-804(B)(3) is a firmly rooted exception to the hearsay rule. The trial court did not err in admitting the statement of Martinez-Rodriguez into evidence as a statement against penal interest and permitting Porras to testify about that statement.