Opinion ID: 1912218
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: ribera's prior statements

Text: Garcia first contends that the trial court erred by failing to allow him to impeach Ribera with Ribera's prior inconsistent statements. At trial, defense counsel attempted to impeach Ribera with statements that he made in an eight-hour videotaped interview with the Hialeah Police Department that occurred in May 1986. Defense counsel asserted that the videotaped statements contained material inconsistencies with Ribera's trial testimony. [10] The trial court precluded any use of the videotaped statements because they: (1) were taken in preparation and in the course of a polygraph examination; (2) were not made under oath; and (3) did not specifically concern Ribera's factual account of the Amador and Alfonso homicides. We conclude that the trial court's failure to permit the use of the videotaped statements as impeachment was error. At trial, the major point of contention between the parties on this issue was whether Ribera's videotaped statements were admissible because the statements were made preparatory to the administration of a polygraph examination. On appeal, however, the State does not attempt to defend the trial court's ruling on that basis. Indeed, a statement is not inadmissible solely because it is given before a polygraph examination. Cf. Johnson v. State, 660 So.2d 637, 642 (Fla.1995) (As a general rule, the fact that a polygraph examination or the prospect of receiving one has preceded or accompanied a confession does not of itself render the confession inadmissible. Rather, there must be a sufficient showing of physical or psychological coercion, intentional deception, or a violation of a constitutional right.) (citation omitted). Thus, the trial court erred as a matter of law when it refused to permit Garcia to impeach Ribera because the statements were taken in preparation and in the course of a polygraph examination. Likewise, the trial court erred as a matter of law when it refused to permit the impeachment because the statements were not made under oath. Indeed, there is no requirement that a statement be made under oath in order for it to constitute impeachment evidence. See Charles W. Ehrhardt, Florida Evidence § 608.4, at 456 (2001 ed.). On appeal, the State's major contention is that the videotaped statements did not constitute proper impeachment because the statements did not specifically concern Ribera's factual account of the Amador and Alfonso murders. The State also argues in the alternative that the omission of the impeachment was harmless error because Ribera was impeached with other statements. Both the United States and Florida constitutions provide that a defendant has the right to confront adverse witnesses. See U.S. Const. amend. VI; art. I, § 16(a), Fla. Const. The right of cross-examination is implicit in the constitutional right of confrontation and helps assure the `accuracy of the truth-determining process.' Conner v. State, 748 So.2d 950, 955 (Fla.1999) (quoting Chambers v. Mississippi, 410 U.S. 284, 295, 93 S.Ct. 1038, 35 L.Ed.2d 297 (1973)). Cross-examination is the principal means by which the believability of a witness and the truth of his testimony are tested. Davis v. Alaska, 415 U.S. 308, 316, 94 S.Ct. 1105, 39 L.Ed.2d 347 (1974). Thus, the question in this case is whether the trial court impermissibly limited Garcia's cross-examination right and, if so, whether the limitation was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. We first address whether any part of the videotaped statements would constitute proper impeachment. Garcia contends that the first area of significant impeachment would be to contradict the image Ribera presented at trial as a dutiful family man who associated with Garcia and Pardo only in the hope that they would help him out of financial distress by including him in a drug deal. In particular, Ribera testified at trial that he was never involved in any drug deals and that he wanted to be involved in a drug deal with Garcia and Pardo [b]ecause of the money, the cash, the money that I saw how they dressed, the life style at that time. In addition, at trial Ribera denied knowing or speaking to Sergio Godoy, except as a customer at the video store where he worked. In contrast, in the videotaped statements, Ribera stated that the financially distressed Garcia and Pardo asked Ribera for help in the drug business. Ribera explained in the videotaped statements that Godoy asked Ribera to help both Garcia and Pardo because they were desperate for money and that Garcia personally appealed to Ribera for help. Ribera also stated that Garcia's money problems were so severe that he was about to lose his trailer, and so he was trying to get a job from Ribera at the video store. Additionally, Ribera claimed that he loaned Garcia $1000 to fix steps for his mother. We agree with Garcia that these statements are in stark contrast to the relationship portrayed by Ribera at trial and that they had the potential for constituting powerful impeachment as to the nature of the relationship between Garcia and Ribera. Related to the inconsistencies in the portrayal of the relationship between Ribera and Garcia was the picture Ribera painted of his relationship with Pardo and Pardo's family. At trial, Ribera denied that he was close to Pardo and he stated that he had not spoken to Pardo until March 1986 (two months after the murders that occurred in this case). At trial, Ribera testified to only one brief interaction with Pardo's wife and daughter. Yet on videotape, Ribera stated that he had gone horseback riding with Pardo's family and that Pardo's seven-year-old daughter knows how to use an Uzi. He also stated that Pardo's wife murders people also. A third and substantial area of claimed impeachment was the reason Ribera testified that he first went to the police. Ribera testified at trial that he went to the police because Rolando Garcia came to my house and told me he would kill my family and kill me. In contrast, in the videotaped statements Ribera told the police that no one threatened him and he denied that he came to the police because he was afraid of Garcia and Pardo. He also denied that Pardo and Garcia made him nervous because of the activities in which they were involved, claiming that he did not know much about them anyway. These inconsistencies also could cast serious doubt on Ribera's credibility as to his trial statements that Garcia threatened to kill him if he went to the police and his fear of Garcia. A last area of claimed impeachment was with regard to the level of knowledge about the details of the murders to which Ribera testified at trial. In over eight hours of videotaped statements in 1986, Ribera's only reference to these murders were that they told him to read this article and that they killed two people in Fountainblue and that he knew of the murder of this guy Mario. This stands in marked contrast to the detailed testimony at trial regarding what Garcia told him about the murders. The State contends that the videotaped interview did not focus on the Amador and Alfonso murders and that the lack of detail is not proper impeachment. We disagree. Although the videotaped statements did primarily focus on three other murders, this was not the sole focus of the eight-hour interview. In fact, Ribera testified at trial that when he went to the police in May 1986, Ribera told the police what Garcia and Pardo had told him about the murder of Mario. Ribera also testified at trial that he always told the police the truth and [he] told them everything. Any lack of detail about these two murders in Ribera's videotaped statements was material and may constitute permissible impeachment under these circumstances. See Sanjurjo v. State, 736 So.2d 1263, 1264 (Fla. 4th DCA 1999) (impeaching a witness with a prior statement includes allowing witnesses to be impeached by their previous failure to state a fact in circumstances in which that fact naturally would have been asserted.) (quoting State v. Smith, 573 So.2d 306, 313 (Fla.1990)); see also Davis v. State, 756 So.2d 205, 207 (Fla. 4th DCA 2000) (citing Sanjurjo and holding that the defendant was permitted to impeach the witness with prior, material omissions from her statement to police). Similarly, we conclude that the statements regarding the image Ribera presented of himself, the nature of Ribera's relationship with Pardo, and the reason why Pardo went to the police would have been relevant and important impeachment evidence. Therefore, we hold that in light of the impeachment value of the videotaped statements, the exclusion of these statements impermissibly limited Garcia's right to cross-examine the key witness against him. Moreover, any error in the exclusion of the impeachment evidence was compounded when during closing argument the State told the jury why they should believe Ribera: But you heard nothing in the testimony of Carlos Ribera to suggest that he sat in that chair and answered each and every question that was asked of him, either because he has been paid off or he had been threatened or he thinks that he will be threatened or he thinks that something will happen to him. That is pure speculation. The defense in this case had every opportunity to develop anything that they thought would be of use to them in their case. And that is part of our amazing system. That the defendant has a chance to sit in the courtroom with his accusers and the defense attorney has the chance to ask whatever the Court says is appropriate area for cross-examination. And nothing in this case developed that Carlos Ribera was lying, that Carlos Ribera received any benefit for coming into court or that he sat there and made up things against this defendant, because for some reason he was protecting himself in the future. (Emphasis supplied.) The exclusion of this relevant impeachment cannot be considered harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. No physical evidence linking Garcia to the murder scene and little physical evidence linked Garcia to the murders. Undoubtedly, Ribera was the lynchpin of the State's case and his credibility was critical to the strength of the State's case. If the jury did not believe Ribera's testimony about what Garcia allegedly told him, this alone could have been sufficient to create reasonable doubt. Therefore, reversible error occurred when the defense was deprived of the right to use any portion of the videotaped statements to impeach Ribera.