Opinion ID: 1349911
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Defendant's Statements to a Detention Officer

Text: While being booked into the Maricopa County Jail, defendant told a detention officer, It looks like I'm going to be in jail for a very long time. He further stated: I did it. I drank a lot of bourbon and beer. I didn't mean for it to happen. At a pretrial hearing, the state argued that the above statement was inadmissible hearsay. In response, defendant claimed that the statement was admissible as a prior consistent statement. At that time, the trial judge postponed his ruling and asked the parties to submit authority to assist the court in rendering its decision. The following day, during the hearing on the motion in limine, defendant raised two new grounds for the statement's admissibility: (1) it was against defendant's penal interest, and (2) it was admissible under the state of mind exception. See rules 804(b)(3) and 803(3), Arizona Rules of Evidence. Without discussing the merits of defendant's additional arguments, the trial judge determined only whether the statement was a prior consistent statement. He then ruled that the prior consistent statement exception did not apply because the statement was not made prior to the defendant having a motive to fabricate. On appeal, defendant argues that the trial judge erred in so ruling because defendant's statement was admissible as a present sense impression and as a statement of his then-existing mental or emotional condition. See rules 803(1) and (3). We need not address defendant's claims of admissibility because any possible error is harmless. Defendant testified at trial that he may have consumed as many as 18 to 21 beers, that he shared a half-gallon of scotch with George and another friend, and that he drank some tequila. He further testified that he was drunk and that he did not intend to kill the victim. Officer Saldate's testimony at trial confirmed that defendant had confessed both that he did not intend to kill the victim and that he had consumed similar amounts of alcohol. As such, defendant's statement to the detention officer was merely cumulative to his confessions and trial testimony. We therefore find that, even assuming error occurred, any error in excluding this evidence was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. See State v. Jeffers, 135 Ariz. 404, 423, 661 P.2d 1105, 1124 (1983) (not reversible error when witness's statement offered by defendant improperly excluded by trial judge as hearsay because merely cumulative to other proffered testimony by witness).