Court Opinion

ID: 9674050
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 04:22:28.07697+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:16:25.413117
License: Public Domain

OPINION
ROBERTS, Judge.
This is an appeal from a conviction for murder with malice under Arts. 1256 and 1257, V.A.P.C. Trial was before a jury and the jury assessed a punishment of seven years’ imprisonment.
This murder grew out of a family dispute. The deceased was a former husband of the appellant’s wife and had waged a long, and finally successful, battle for custody of the couple’s children. The evidence showed, however, that appellant’s wife was illegally retaining custody of one of the children, and this prompted the deceased to make periodic trips into her neighborhood to search for signs of the child. Appellant killed the former husband on one of these periodic surveillance trips into appellant’s neighborhood. The defense put great stock in showing the deceased to have a bad reputation as a husband and a father. Appellant’s wife testified that the deceased had been arrested or indicted for desertion or non-support in Dallas, Odessa, and Clovis, New Mexico. In rebuttal, the State adduced evidence that appellant’s wife was a bad mother. The State also attempted to prove that the deceased did not have the criminal record testified to by his former wife.
In this connection, the State called an investigator from the Dallas district attorney’s office who offered testimony that the National Criminal Information Center (N.C. I.C.) computer revealed no record of arrests or indictments concerning the deceased. Appellant objected to this testimony on the grounds that it was hearsay and the proper predicate had not been laid. In this appeal, appellant contends that the proffered testimony, which finally came in over his numerous and thorough objections, was hearsay not within the exceptions to the hearsay *330rule provided by Arts. 3731a or 3737e, V.T. C.A.
Appellant calls our attention to Sec. 5 of Art. 3731a, which governs admissibility of written statements to the effect that no record of a specified tenor exists. We note, however, that no written record was offered by the State or admitted into evidence by the court. Thus, the provisions of Sec. 5 obviously do not authorize the admission of this evidence. The witness offered oral testimony as to the contents of the N.C.I.C. computer print-out showing the non-existence of any arrests or indictments. Sec. 6 of Art. 3731a permits other methods of proving the lack of an entry in an official record if authorized by statutory or deci-sional law.
The witness’s parol offer constituted common law hearsay. Whether or not it came within the statutory exception to the hearsay rule for business records is a question of first impression in this Court. In fact, our research has revealed no case in which any Texas court has construed Art. 3737e, Sec. 3, V.T.C.A., the law applicable to this case. Nor is there a comparable provision in the federal “business records as evidence” act. 28 U.S.C., Sec. 1732.
Art. 3737e, Y.T.C.A., sets out the well-recognized “business records” exception to the hearsay rule. Subsection 1 thereof states three prerequisites to the introduction of a relevant business record or memorandum: (a) it must have been made in the regular course of business, (b) by an employee or representative with personal knowledge of its contents, (c) at or near the time in question. The record or memorandum may be offered by the entrant, custodian, or other qualified witness, even though he may lack personal knowledge of its contents. Art. 3737e, Sec. 2. Lumpkin v. State, 524 S.W.2d 302 (Tex.Cr.App.1975). “Business” is defined broadly enough in Sec. 4 to include the law enforcement agencies involved herein. Coulter v. State, 494 S.W.2d 876 (Tex.Cr.App.1973). Section 3 permits testimony as to the absence of such a record or memorandum and would seem to control the situation at bar. The only prerequisite stated in Sec. 3 to the introduction of such testimony showing the non-existence of an act, event, or condition is that the judge must find that such act, event, or condition would otherwise be recorded and preserved in the ordinary course of business at or near the time in question. Presumably the testimony contemplated by Sec. 3 should be given by the “entrant, custodian or other qualified witness” mentioned in Sec. 2.
In the case at bar, the witness did not show that the arrests and indictments which he said did not exist would otherwise have been entered in the computer in the ordinary course of law enforcement business. Without such proof, his testimony would have no probative value at all. See U. S. v. De Georgia, 420 F.2d 889 (9th Cir. 1969). In discussing the N.C.I.C. and other computer systems, it has been said:
“The major problems of the developing crime data networks are ones of controlling the accuracy, accessibility, scope and uses of crime information. Much of the basic data in such systems consists of local police reports, arrest records, rap sheets, and court records which are often inaccurate and incomplete. ... Incomplete information—recording a person’s indictment without his subsequent acquittal, for instance, or failing to withdraw an outdated warrant—could subject innocent parties to continued police pickups and interrogations.
* ¾: ⅜ ⅜ *
Crime records in a centralized data network may be subjected to tampering or accidental destruction. . . . ‘data saboteurs’ could intentionally destroy or obfuscate the computer files on particular criminals or purposefully introduce false information on innocent parties into the system. Poorly trained computer operators or illdesigned systems might inadvertently ‘dump’ vital data records.” *331Katzenbach, Nicholas de B. and Richard W. Tome, Crime Data Centers: The Use of Computers in Crime Detection and Prevention, 4 Colum. Human Rights L.Rev. 49, 52-53 (1972).
The chance that law enforcement officials in Odessa and Clovis, New Mexico, failed to enter information on arrests of and charges against deceased is not insubstantial. It was not even shown that the N.C.I.C. has computer terminals in Odessa or Clovis. The probative value of the witness’ testimony is thus open to serious question. See Romero v. State, 493 S.W.2d 206 (Tex.Cr.App.1973) for expressions of similar concern about the reliability of polygraph examinations.
The witness, an investigator for the district attorney’s office, stated that the “normal custodian” of the N.C.I.C. computer terminal was an employee of the sheriff’s department who had initialed the print-out from which the witness was testifying. It would appear then that he was not the “entrant or custodian” contemplated by Sec. 2 although the judge might have found that he was an otherwise “qualified witness” to give the testimony. This conclusion would be supported by the fact that the witness had regular access to the N.C. I.C. computer terminal, understood how the N.C.I.C. computer system worked, and knew how to operate the terminal fixture in the sheriff’s office. See Railroad Commission v. Southern Pacific Company, 468 S.W.2d 125 (Tex.Civ.App.1971) for a discussion of the requirements for “other qualified witness[es]” as well as other prerequisites to the introduction of such electronic records. However, it is apparent that the State did not adduce that part of the predicate specifically called for by Sec. 3. The witness’ testimony therefore did not comply with the statute and amounted to nothing more than rank hearsay.
It remains to consider the harmfulness of this error. Appellant’s defense relied heavily on proving the deceased’s bad character. The primary defensive issues were murder without malice and self-defense. The marital and custody disputes between the deceased and appellant’s wife were an integral part of the events leading to this killing. Appellant’s wife, whose credibility was severely impugned by the erroneously-admitted testimony, was one of appellant’s main witnesses. The only other instance in the record in which the State hinted that the deceased had no criminal record was also objected to by the appellant. And an investigator for the district attorney’s office apparently quoting from an N.C.I.C. computer print-out would be clothed with much indicia of respectability. We are unable to conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that the error complained of could not have affected the verdict in this case.
The conviction is reversed and the cause remanded.