Court Opinion

ID: 9659960
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 21:59:38.685365+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:14:13.414816
License: Public Domain

WALKER, Chief Justice,
concurring.
While I concur in the result of this case, I strongly disagree with the majority’s analysis of the hearsay issue. Essentially, the majority holds that when a party, in this case the State, proffers evidence that contains hearsay, said party is saddled with the “burden” of establishing a legitimate purpose (an exception or otherwise) for the admission of said hearsay evidence, even in the absence of a request from either the trial court or opposing counsel for the party to provide the exception. In the instant case, appellant voiced a general hearsay objection which was simply and quickly overruled by the trial court without further comment or request for elaboration. Nevertheless, the majority finds error by the trial court in admitting the hearsay statement in question but further finds the error did not affect appellant’s substantial rights thereby affirming appellant’s conviction.
*534The majority cites two cases in support of their creation of this procedural “burden” vis-a-vis alleged inadmissible hearsay, DuBose v. State, 774 S.W.2d 328 (Tex.App.— Beaumont 1989, pet. refd) and Dorado v. State, 843 S.W.2d 37, 38 (Tex.Crim.App.1992). DuBose does not establish a per se rule requiring the proponent of any hearsay statement to, sua sponte, also voice the exception to the hearsay rule in order for said statement to be admissible. As I read Du-Bose, the proponent of a hearsay statement previously found to be “otherwise inadmissible” must thereafter establish some “legitimate purpose” for admissibility or a trial court errs in admitting it. Tex.R.Crim. Evid. 802 provides that hearsay is not admissible “except as provided by statute or these rules.” (emphasis mine). In the instant case, there was no prior finding that the out-of-court statement in question was “otherwise inadmissible.” Rule 802 expressly recognizes the existence of exceptions to the general rule of inadmissibility as to hearsay. At the risk of appearing rather elementary, the rule appears to contemplate the existence of two types of hearsay: admissible and inadmissible. Therefore, an objection solely based upon the term “hearsay” should not be considered to possess talismanie qualities always requiring a prompt and hearty “sustained” from the trial court.
In Dorado, the error involved the State’s failure to comply with a mandatory statutory provision involving notice to the defendant before “outcry testimony” will be admissible at trial as an exception to the hearsay rule. See Tex.Code Crim. Proo. Ann. art. 38.072, § 2(b) (Vernon Pamph.1998). As the testimony in question in the instant case did not involve “outcry testimony,” the Dorado case is completely inapplicable to the issue before us.
Absent from the majority’s opinion is our recent case of Kroopf v. State, 970 S.W.2d 626 (Tex.App. — Beaumont 1998, no pet.). Although not the author, I joined in the unanimous opinion. Kroopf was charged with possession of marijuana which authorities discovered in a certain apartment located in Beaumont. At trial, in order to prove Kroopfs connection with the apartment, the State attempted to introduce into evidence a letter Kroopf had received from a friend in which the friend listed Kroopfs address as that of the apartment in question. Id. at 628-629. In finding error by the trial court in admitting the letter, we held the following:
In its brief, the State argues the letter is admissible under rules 106 and 107 of the Texas Rules of Criminal Evidence, [footnote omitted] At trial, however, the State did not respond to Kroopfs hearsay objection. Even though the statement may be admissible as an exception to the hearsay rule, it was the burden of the State, as a proponent of the evidence, to invoke the exception. Moreno v. State, 858 S.W.2d 453 (Tex.Crim.App.1993); Smith v. State, 779 S.W.2d 417, 430 (Tex.Crim.App.1989). The trial court “thereby fell into error in admitting plain hearsay testimony.” Dorado v. State, 843 S.W.2d 37, 38 (Tex.Crim.App.1992).
Id. at 629. As in the instant case, we concluded that the error did not affect Kroopfs substantial rights so the point of error was overruled.
Having carefully re-examined the authority relied upon by us in Kroopf, I must now make a very humble about-face and turn away from the holding which I supported in that case regarding the hearsay issue. In Moreno, I can find no appellate complaint involving hearsay. The case, therefore, has no authoritative value whatsoever with regard to the hearsay issue raised in Kroopf. While the Smith case does contain a discussion of a hearsay complaint, there is nothing contained in that portion of the opinion to indicate that the Court of Criminal Appeals was placing any sort of burden on the proponent of hearsay. The Smith opinion does indicate that the State “argued at trial” that the elicited hearsay was admissible under a particular statutory provision. Id. at 429. The Smith Court then opined that the hearsay, if relevant at all, may have been admissible under the “present state of mind” exception to the hearsay rule. Id. at 430. Immediately thereafter, the Court states: “As proponent of the evidence, however, the State did not invoke this exception.” Id. This sentence, in my humble opinion, is *535merely an observation gleaned from the record and can in no way be construed as placing an affirmative burden on the proponent of hearsay to voluntarily accompany the proffer with an exception. Therefore, I find Smith also fails to contain any authority for the hearsay issue raised in Kroopf. In short, after carefully re-examining Kroopf and its authorities, I find that we wrongly held the trial court erred in admitting the letter because of the State’s failure to carry its burden to also voice an exception at the time of proffer.
To be sure, cases do require the proponent of hearsay to comply with mandatory language contained in a statute or rule in order for an exception to apply so as to make the tendered hearsay admissible. See Cofield v. State, 891 S.W.2d 952, 954 (Tex.Crim.App.1994) and Johnson v. State, 925 S.W.2d 745, 749-750 (Tex.App. — Fort Worth 1996, pet. ref d). In Long v. State, 800 S.W.2d 545, 548 (Tex.Crim.App.1990), the Court specifically placed such a burden on the State when attempting to admit “outcry” testimony under art. 38.072. The Court immediately noted the recognized exception when it stated:
However, because the trial court immediately overruled the objection, instead of immediately convening a hearing, the State was not required to indicate whether any exception was applicable, or to even show it had complied with the provisions of the statute.
Id. (emphasis mine)
I therefore conclude that absent a specific request, or a mandatory statute or rule explicitly to the contrary, specific authority does not exist requiring the proponent of hearsay to volunteer how such hearsay is admissible prior to or contemporaneously with proffering the evidence. Because the majority clearly creates such a duty on the proponent, I must indicate my disagreement by filing this concurrence.