Opinion ID: 1058329
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Admission of Guartos' Statement

Text: As noted previously, Guartos, who had been separately tried and convicted before the Gomez-Londono trial, provided an oral statement to the police regarding the crime. Because Guartos invoked his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination at the Gomez-Londono trial, the prosecution sought to admit testimony as to his statement under the hearsay exception for statements against penal interest. See Tenn. R. Evid. 804(b)(3) [7] . Londono objected, arguing that admitting the statement would violate his Sixth Amendment right to confront Guartos. Gomez also initially objected to the statement's admission, but he withdrew the objection after the prosecution agreed not to seek admission of a certain part of the oral statement. After confirming that Gomez had withdrawn his objection, the trial court carefully considered Londono's objection. Ultimately, the trial court allowed the detectives to testify about interviewing Guartos and to testify about his oral statement, but the detectives did not testify about the portion to which Gomez had objected. Detective Haney testified as follows: [Guartos] stated that he and others were in Nashville. They used two rented vans which they got from someone in Miami. One was a wine colored or red. [sic] The other was white. They stayed at the Howard Johnson Motel and used two rooms. He and a woman took the seat out of the white van at the motel because they needed more room. He stated that they got two-hundred-thirty-thousand dollars ($230,000.00) for the watches from the robbery and he used his share of forty-thousand dollars ($40,000.00) to buy his home in Miami. Immediately after each detective testified, the trial court provided a cautionary instruction, which limited jury consideration of Guartos' statement to the issue of whether the conspiracy charged in Count I existed. The cautionary instruction expressly forbade jury consideration of Guartos' statement as to Gomez's and Londono's participation in the conspiracy. Both in his motion for new trial and on appeal to the Court of Criminal Appeals, Londono challenged the trial court's ruling as violative of his Sixth Amendment right to confront the witnesses against him. The intermediate appellate court applied Ohio v. Roberts, 448 U.S. 56, 100 S.Ct. 2531, 65 L.Ed.2d 597 (1980), abrogated by Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36, 124 S.Ct. 1354, 158 L.Ed.2d 177 (2004), the then-controlling precedent for analyzing challenges based on the Confrontation Clause. In Roberts , the United States Supreme Court held that out-of-court statements made by a nontestifying declarant are constitutionally admissible against an accused at trial only if the prosecution demonstrates that the declarant is unavailable and establishes either that the statements fall within a firmly-rooted hearsay exception or that the statements possess particularized guarantees of trustworthiness. Id. at 66, 100 S.Ct. 2531. Applying this test, the Court of Criminal Appeals concluded that the trial court had properly admitted testimony summarizing Guartos' oral statement. Although it did not fall within a firmly-rooted exception to the hearsay rule, the Court of Criminal Appeals concluded that the testimony was nonetheless supported by sufficient guarantees of trustworthiness to justify its admission. In an opinion filed February 18, 2004, the Court of Criminal Appeals thus rejected Londono's Sixth Amendment claim. Less than one month later, however, the United States Supreme Court rendered its decision in Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36, 124 S.Ct. 1354, 158 L.Ed.2d 177 (2004), which abrogated the two-prong test of Roberts . The Court in Crawford held that testimonial out-of-court statements by a nontestifying declarant may be admitted only if the declarant is unavailable to testify and the defendant had a prior opportunity to cross-examine the declarant. Crawford, 124 S.Ct. at 1374. The Crawford Court declared cross-examination to be the constitutionally prescribed method of assessing reliability of testimonial statements in criminal trials. Id. at 1370. Upon surveying the historical record, the Court derived two inferences about the meaning of the Sixth Amendment. Id. at 1363. First, the principal evil at which the Confrontation Clause was directed was the civil-law mode of criminal procedure, and particularly its use of ex parte examinations as evidence against the accused. Id. Second, the Framers would not have allowed admission of testimonial statements of a witness who did not appear at trial unless he was unavailable to testify, and the defendant had had a prior opportunity for cross-examination. Id. at 1365. The Court concluded by reiterating its holding: Where nontestimonial hearsay is at issue, it is wholly consistent with the Framers' design to afford the States flexibility in their development of hearsay law  as does Roberts , and as would an approach that exempted such statements from Confrontation Clause scrutiny altogether. Where testimonial evidence is at issue, however, the Sixth Amendment demands what the common law required: unavailability and a prior opportunity for cross-examination. We leave for another day any effort to spell out a comprehensive definition of testimonial. Whatever else the term covers, it applies at a minimum to prior testimony at a preliminary hearing, before a grand jury, or at a former trial; and to police interrogations. These are the modern practices with closest kinship to the abuses at which the Confrontation Clause was directed. Id. at 1374 (footnote omitted). The Court used the term `interrogation' in its colloquial, rather than any technical legal [ ] sense and explained that a recorded statement, knowingly given in response to structured police questioning, qualifies under any conceivable definition. Id. at 1365 n. 4. Relying upon Crawford , both Londono and Gomez now argue that the introduction of Guartos' statement violated their Sixth Amendment right of confrontation. The State acknowledges that, had Crawford been decided prior to the Gomez-Londono trial, Guartos' statement would have been inadmissible; nonetheless, the State asserts that the defendants are not now entitled to relief on this basis. In particular, the State argues that Gomez either affirmatively waived or procedurally forfeited plenary appellate review of this issue. As to Londono, the State asserts that any error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. We begin by accepting the State's concession that Crawford would have precluded admission of Guartos' statement had Crawford governed the trial court's analysis of this issue. The statement, a product of police interrogation, qualifies as testimonial evidence, and the defendants had no prior opportunity to cross-examine Guartos. Thus, were Gomez and Londono tried today, Crawford would bar admission of Guartos' statement. What is not clear, however, is whether Crawford entitles Gomez or Londono to relief in this appeal.
The answer to this question begins with Griffith v. Kentucky, 479 U.S. 314, 107 S.Ct. 708, 93 L.Ed.2d 649 (1987). In Griffith , the United States Supreme Court held that a new rule for the conduct of criminal prosecutions is to be applied retroactively to all cases ... pending on direct review or not yet final.... Griffith, 479 U.S. at 328, 107 S.Ct. 708. By abrogating the two-prong test of Roberts and reshaping the analysis courts must apply when evaluating the admissibility of evidence under the Confrontation Clause, Crawford announced a new rule within the meaning of Griffith . See Graham v. Collins, 506 U.S. 461, 467, 113 S.Ct. 892, 122 L.Ed.2d 260 (1993) ([T]here can be no dispute that a decision announces a new rule if it expressly overrules a prior decision....); see also State v. Dedman, 136 N.M. 561, 102 P.3d 628, 636 (2004) (recognizing that Crawford announced a new rule); Commonwealth v. Gray, 867 A.2d 560, 574 (Pa.Super.2005) (recognizing that Crawford announced a new rule insofar as it overruled Ohio v. Roberts ). Furthermore, this appeal qualifies as a case pending on direct review at the time Crawford announced the new rule. At first glance, then, Griffith would seem to require us to apply the Crawford rule in this appeal, without regard to whether the issue has been preserved for review. Closer analysis reveals, however, that Griffith mandates plenary retroactive application of new rules to cases pending on direct review only if a defendant has timely raised and properly preserved the issue to which the new rule relates. In mid-1985 the defendants in Griffith petitioned the Supreme Court for certiorari while their convictions were still pending on direct review. Griffith, 479 U.S. at 318, 107 S.Ct. 708. On April 30, 1986, while the Griffith petition was pending, the United States Supreme Court decided Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79, 106 S.Ct. 1712, 90 L.Ed.2d 69 (1986). Griffith, 479 U.S. at 318, 107 S.Ct. 708. In Batson , the Court rejected a portion of the reasoning of Swain v. Alabama, 380 U.S. 202, 85 S.Ct. 824, 13 L.Ed.2d 759 (1965). In particular, the Court rejected Swain to the extent that it had defined a prima facie case in the context of discriminatory selection of the jury venire as requiring proof that the prosecution had in a series of cases repeatedly exercised peremptory challenges to strike black jurors. Batson, 476 U.S. at 96-100, 106 S.Ct. 1712. Abrogating this requirement, the Batson Court concluded that to establish a prima facie case a defendant need only show that the prosecution had used peremptory challenges to strike members of the defendant's race from the venire in the defendant's case. Id. at 93, 96-97, 106 S.Ct. 1712. On June 2, 1986, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Griffith on the limited issue of whether Batson could be applied retroactively to cases on direct appeal. Griffith, 479 U.S. at 320, 107 S.Ct. 708. In United States v. Johnson, 457 U.S. 537, 102 S.Ct. 2579, 73 L.Ed.2d 202 (1982), partially abrogated by Griffith v. Kentucky, 479 U.S. 314, 107 S.Ct. 708, 93 L.Ed.2d 649 (1987), the Court had held that a new rule of criminal procedure constituting a clear break with past precedent was not to be applied retroactively to cases pending on direct review. Because Batson had been a clear break with Swain, [8] its retroactive application to direct review cases was foreclosed by Johnson. Griffith, 479 U.S. at 326, 107 S.Ct. 708. Notably, each of the Griffith defendants had objected prior to Batson in the trial court to the prosecutor's racially discriminatory exercise of peremptory challenges. Furthermore, the Griffith defendants had preserved their objections at each stage of their direct appeals, even though they clearly had failed to satisfy Swain's prima facie showing requirement. Griffith, 479 U.S. at 316-20, 107 S.Ct. 708 (discussing procedural history of the two cases under review). Not surprisingly, the Griffith defendants lost at every stage because every court applied Swain and held the defense proof of discrimination inadequate. Griffith, 479 U.S. at 316-22, 107 S.Ct. 708. Nonetheless, the Griffith defendants continued to press and to preserve their claims that the prosecutor had exercised peremptory challenges in a racially discriminatory manner. Perseverance paid off for the Griffith defendants when the United States Supreme Court granted their certiorari petitions, discarded Johnson's clear break rule, and applied Batson retroactively to their appeal. Griffith, 479 U.S. at 326-28, 107 S.Ct. 708. Citing fairness considerations for defendants similarly situated to Batson, the Supreme Court reversed the Griffith defendants' convictions. Like the defendant in Batson , the Griffith defendants had properly presented and tenaciously preserved their constitutional challenge at trial and on appeal. Importantly, the Griffith defendants had raised and preserved this issue before the Supreme Court decided Batson , and had done so in the face of controlling precedent unfavorable to their position. Having thus reviewed its factual and procedural background, we conclude that Griffith does not mandate plenary retroactive application of new rules to pending direct review cases without regard to whether the claim of error has been properly preserved. Instead, Griffith simply overruled precedent which had precluded retroactive application of new rules to pending direct review cases. [9] Where, as here, a new rule is announced while a criminal case is pending on direct review, Griffith mandates plenary application of the new rule only if the issue to which the new rule relates has been timely raised and properly preserved. A criminal defendant who has failed to properly preserve the relevant issue is limited to seeking relief via plain error review. Furthermore, even those criminal defendants who properly preserve such issues are not automatically entitled to relief. After the United States Supreme Court concluded in Shea v. Louisiana, 470 U.S. 51, 59, 105 S.Ct. 1065, 84 L.Ed.2d 38 (1985), that the new rule which it had announced in Edwards v. Arizona, 451 U.S. 477, 101 S.Ct. 1880, 68 L.Ed.2d 378 (1981), applied to cases pending on direct review, the Court explained that retroactive application of the new rule was subject, of course, to established principles of waiver, harmless error, and the like. Shea, 470 U.S. at 58 n. 4, 105 S.Ct. 1065. Thus, a defendant may be entitled to plenary appellate review but not be entitled to relief on his claim.
Gomez initially objected to the statement's introduction, but his objection was not based on the Sixth Amendment. Guartos told the police that the group had used two rented vans which they got from someone in Miami for twenty-five-hundred dollars ($2,500.00), and Gomez objected to allowing the detectives to testify about the amount paid for the rented van, in particular, the words for twenty-five-hundred dollars ($2,500.00). The prosecution agreed not to introduce testimony about this portion of the oral statement. In responding to questions from the trial court, Gomez confirmed that his objection had been limited as described above and also confirmed that his objection was withdrawn in light of the prosecution's willingness not to introduce that testimony. Gomez did not challenge the statement's admission in his motion for new trial or in his appeal to the Court of Criminal Appeals. Having failed to preserve the issue in the courts below, Gomez is limited in this Court to seeking relief via plain error review. Rule 52(b) of the Tennessee Rules of Criminal Procedure provides that [a]n error which has affected the substantial rights of an accused may be noticed at any time, even though not raised in the motion for a new trial or assigned as error on appeal, in the discretion of the appellate court where necessary to do substantial justice. (emphasis added); see also Tenn. R.App. P. 36(b) (A final judgment ... shall not be set aside unless, considering the whole record, error involving a substantial right more probably than not affected the judgment or would result in prejudice to the judicial process.) (emphasis added). Plain error review extends only to a clear, conspicuous, or obvious error which affects the substantial rights of the defendant. United States v. Olano, 507 U.S. 725, 732, 113 S.Ct. 1770, 123 L.Ed.2d 508 (1993) (analyzing the substantially similar Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 52(b)). Whether an error is plain or obvious is determined by reference to the law existing as of the time of appellate consideration. Johnson v. United States, 520 U.S. 461, 468, 117 S.Ct. 1544, 137 L.Ed.2d 718 (1997). Moreover, relief is warranted only if the plain error prejudiced the defendant by affecting the outcome of the trial court proceedings. Id. at 732-37, 113 S.Ct. 1770; State v. Faulkner, 154 S.W.3d 48, 58 (Tenn.2005). Although very similar to harmless error analysis, plain error review places on the defendant the burden of persuasion, whereas the State bears the burden of persuasion when an appellate court conducts a harmless error analysis. Olano, 507 U.S. at 732-37, 113 S.Ct. 1770. The substantive standards for plain error review are difficult to satisfy. An appellate court will reverse for plain error only if: (a) the record ... clearly establish[es] what occurred in the trial court; (b) a clear and unequivocal rule of law [has] been breached; (c) a substantial right of the accused [has] been adversely affected; (d) the accused did not waive the issue for tactical reasons; and (e) consideration of the error is necessary to do substantial justice. State v. Smith, 24 S.W.3d 274, 282 (Tenn. 2000) (quoting State v. Adkisson, 899 S.W.2d 626, 641-42 (Tenn.Crim.App.1994)). All five factors must be established, and an appellate court need not consider all five factors if any one factor indicates that relief is not warranted. Smith, 24 S.W.3d at 283. Consideration of factor (d) indicates that Gomez is not entitled to relief. The record clearly establishes what occurred in the trial court: Gomez withdrew his objection to Guartos' statement, and he did so for tactical reasons. [10] Here, Gomez did not simply fail to object. Instead Gomez objected to testimony indicating that the group had rented the vans for $2,500 from a person in Miami. Gomez withdrew his objection when the prosecution agreed not to elicit such testimony. The information about the price paid for the rental van did not directly implicate Gomez. Nevertheless, this information, considered in conjunction with the receipt police found in Gomez's apartment for a $2,500 money transfer from Gomez's roommate in Miami to an individual in Bogota, Columbia, reveals the tactical nature of Gomez's objection and his willingness to withdraw it. Having failed to satisfy at least one of the plain error review factors, Gomez is not entitled to relief on this claim.
As previously noted, Londono has consistently argued that the admission of testimony about Guartos' statement violated his Sixth Amendment right to confront the witnesses against him. He has preserved the issue to which Crawford's new rule relates and is entitled to plenary appellate review of this issue. The State concedes, and we agree, that admitting testimony summarizing Guartos'testimonial statement violated the rule announced in Crawford because Londono had no prior opportunity to cross-examine Guartos. Having found that Londono's constitutional right to confront Guartos was violated, the next question is whether his conviction must be reversed because of this error. To answer this question, we must first determine whether Crawford errors are structural errors that defy harmless error analysis or are instead trial errors that are subject to harmless error analysis. The historical development of the harmless error doctrine and its general application to constitutional errors has been thoroughly documented by this Court. See, e.g., Momon v. State, 18 S.W.3d 152 (Tenn. 1999); State v. Williams, 977 S.W.2d 101, 104 (Tenn.1998). Significant to this case is the established principle that only a very limited class of structural defects require automatic reversal. Momon, 18 S.W.3d at 165-66. Such errors deprive defendants of basic protections and compromise the integrity of the trial process itself. Id. at 165; see also Johnson, 520 U.S. at 468-69, 117 S.Ct. 1544 (citing examples of cases involving structural error, including Sullivan v. Louisiana, 508 U.S. 275, 113 S.Ct. 2078, 124 L.Ed.2d 182 (1993) (defective reasonable-doubt instruction); Waller v. Georgia, 467 U.S. 39, 104 S.Ct. 2210, 81 L.Ed.2d 31 (1984) (denial of public trial); Vasquez v. Hillery, 474 U.S. 254, 106 S.Ct. 617, 88 L.Ed.2d 598 (1986) (racial discrimination in selection of grand jury); McKaskle v. Wiggins, 465 U.S. 168, 104 S.Ct. 944, 79 L.Ed.2d 122 (1984) (denial of self-representation at trial); Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U.S. 335, 83 S.Ct. 792, 9 L.Ed.2d 799 (1963) (complete denial of the assistance of counsel); Tumey v. Ohio, 273 U.S. 510, 47 S.Ct. 437, 71 L.Ed. 749 (1927) (biased trial judge)). The United States Supreme Court and this Court have held that violations of the Confrontation Clause are subject to harmless error review. See, e.g., Coy v. Iowa, 487 U.S. 1012, 1021, 108 S.Ct. 2798, 101 L.Ed.2d 857 (1988) (holding that denial of face-to-face confrontation is subject to harmless error analysis); Delaware v. Van Arsdall, 475 U.S. 673, 684, 106 S.Ct. 1431, 89 L.Ed.2d 674 (1986) ([W]e hold that the constitutionally improper denial of a defendant's opportunity to impeach a witness for bias, like other Confrontation Clause errors, is subject to Chapman harmless-error analysis.); State v. Sayles, 49 S.W.3d 275, 280-81 (Tenn.2001); State v. Howell, 868 S.W.2d 238, 253 (Tenn. 1993). Crawford does not suggest otherwise. Those justices  including Justice Scalia, the author of the Crawford opinion  who disagreed with the Court's pre- Crawford conclusion in Lilly v. Virginia, 527 U.S. 116, 119 S.Ct. 1887, 144 L.Ed.2d 117 (1999), that the admission of an accomplice's confession did not violate the Confrontation Clause, nonetheless concurred in the judgment because they believed that harmless error review applied to the perceived violation. See Lilly, 527 U.S. at 143, 119 S.Ct. 1887 (Scalia, J., concurring in part and concurring in the judgment) (stating that admission of accomplice's statement against defendant violated Confrontation Clause, but that case should be remanded for harmless-error review); id. at 148, 119 S.Ct. 1887 (Rehnquist, C.J., concurring in the judgment, joined by O'Connor and Kennedy, JJ.), see also id. at 143, 119 S.Ct. 1887 (Thomas, J., concurring in part and concurring in the judgment) (joining plurality in remanding for harmless error review). Although Crawford preserves a criminal defendant's constitutional right to confront adverse witnesses, evidence admitted in violation of Crawford is an error in the trial process and not a defect affecting the framework within which the trial proceeds. Johnson, 520 U.S. at 468, 117 S.Ct. 1544. Thus, like other Confrontation Clause violations, we conclude that a Crawford error is subject to harmless error analysis and does not constitute structural error requiring automatic reversal. Furthermore, we conclude that the Crawford error in this case is harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. Guartos' statement did not directly implicate Londono or Gomez. Immediately after each detective testified about the statement, the trial court provided a cautionary instruction to the jury, limiting the jury's consideration of the testimony about the statement to the issue of whether the conspiracy existed and forbidding its consideration as to whether a particular defendant joined in the charged conspiracy. Jurors are presumed to follow the instructions of the trial court. State v. Robinson, 146 S.W.3d 469, 494 (Tenn.2004). Moreover, the other properly-admitted evidence of guilt was substantial. An eyewitness, Sloan, identified Londono from a photographic array and again at trial, testifying that she was very sure of the identification. Fingerprint evidence placed Londono at the motel room where various other incriminating items were found linking Londono to the crime. Londono's girlfriend, Jimenez, with whom he had lived in Miami at the time of the crime, testified extensively about Londono's involvement in the crime and about how they spent Londono's share of the money from the crime. Accordingly, in light of the vague nature of the statement, the trial court's limiting instruction, and the other substantial evidence of guilt, we conclude that the error in admitting testimony about Guartos' statement was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.