Court Opinion

ID: 9579458
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 21:55:25.360467+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:35:31.508603
License: Public Domain

*402Thompson, Justice,
dissenting.
As the majority discusses in Division 5 of its opinion, the State introduced a copy of a letter, written in Spanish, that was allegedly written by David Arevalo to appellant while both men were inmates in the county jail. Appellant objected on several grounds to the State’s attempt to introduce a copy of the letter, including the State’s alleged failure to properly authenticate it.12 Because I believe that the letter was not properly authenticated and that introduction of the letter was harmful to appellant in both phases of his trial, I dissent.
The letter at issue was allegedly obtained by the district attorney’s office from an attorney representing an inmate named Jose Bahena. Mr. Bahena had allegedly obtained the letter from David Arevalo while serving as an unofficial jailhouse mail carrier, had somehow arranged for a photocopy of the letter to be made, and had then provided the photocopy to his attorney. David Arevalo was allegedly brought to the district attorney’s office where he acknowledged authoring the letter with appellant as the intended recipient. However, neither Mr. Bahena nor David Arevalo were called as witnesses in appellant’s trial, and the only evidence presented to support any of the foregoing allegations by the State regarding the letter’s provenance was the testimony of an investigator employed by the district attorney and the copy of the letter itself.
The investigator’s testimony relevant to the authentication of the letter consisted almost entirely of hearsay. The investigator identified the copy of the letter at issue as a document received at the district attorney’s office via facsimile machine from a person who identified himself as the attorney for Jose Bahena. The investigator testified that he learned, although how was never explained, that Mr. Bahena had been jailed in the same pod as either appellant or David Arevalo. When the trial court interrupted the witness’ direct examination to clarify which of the two brothers the witness was referring to, the witness admitted that he was not certain. The investigator then gave a hearsay account of a description allegedly given to him by Mr. Bahena of how Mr. Bahena had served as an unofficial mail carrier for David Arevalo, had retained the originals of several of David Arevalo’s letters, was keeping the original letter at issue in an undisclosed “secure place,” and had somehow arranged for a copy (the original letter at issue was never recovered) of the original letter *403to be made by an “outside source” when he was later imprisoned in another facility.
This hearsay account should not have been considered in support of the letter’s authenticity. Furthermore, the hearsay testimony actually suggested (1) that Mr. Bahena understood and possibly could write in Spanish, because it showed his ability to identify the letter as a document that would assist the State and possibly gain favorable treatment for him in his own criminal difficulties, and (2) that Mr. Bahena had been taken into David Arevalo’s confidence and, therefore, could easily have known the details addressed in the letter about the crimes and the Arevalo family.
The investigator further testified that David Arevalo, who had been given notice by the State of its intent to seek the death penalty against him and who it appears had been engaged previously in plea negotiations with the State, appeared “kind of shocked” when he was shown the letter at issue and verbally acknowledged that the letter was a correct copy of a letter he had written to appellant. However, appellant correctly argues that the investigator’s testimony recounting the “vocal act” by which David Arevalo allegedly acknowledged the letter was hearsay. See White v. State, 273 Ga. 787 (546 SE2d 514) (2001). The truthfulness of David Arevalo’s acknowledgment of authorship and of the intended recipient obviously bore directly on the question of the letter’s authenticity, and no effort whatsoever was made by the State before the trial court to invoke any exception to the hearsay rule, other than an entirely uncompelling argument suggesting David Arevalo’s out-of-court acknowledgment of the letter to the district attorney and his staff was somehow itself made during an alleged concealment phase of an ongoing conspiracy.
As noted previously, neither Mr. Bahena nor David Arevalo were called as witnesses, and no showing of the reason for their absence was even attempted. In fact, the investigator testified that he believed Mr. Bahena was incarcerated in a state prison at the time of appellant’s trial. After initially indicating the contrary, the district attorney ultimately recognized and acknowledged before the trial court that Mr. Bahena was not even on the State’s witness list.
Discounting entirely each piece of inadmissible hearsay and considering only the admissible evidence presented to the trial court, I conclude that the State’s showing of the letter’s alleged authenticity was inadequate. Although the letter itself reveals that its actual author, whether David Arevalo, Jose Bahena, or some other person, possessed some knowledge of the crimes and the parties to the crimes and was able to write in Spanish, I find the totality of the admissible circumstantial evidence of the letter’s authenticity as an alleged letter written by David Arevalo to appellant to have been insufficient to authorize the letter’s introduction into evidence. See Fetty v. State, *404268 Ga. 365, 370 (6) (489 SE2d 813) (1997). Compare Johnson v. State, 273 Ga. 872-873 (1) (548 SE2d 292) (2001); Carter v. State, 252 Ga. 502, 507-508 (10) (315 SE2d 646) (1984).
Decided July 11, 2002
Reconsideration denied July 26, 2002.
Edwin J. Wilson, for appellant.
Daniel J. Porter, District Attorney, James M. Miskell, Elizabeth L. Jaeger, Assistant District Attorneys, Thurbert E. Baker, Attorney General, Karen A. Johnson, Assistant Attorney General, for appellee.
The improperly admitted letter was heavily relied upon by the State at trial to corroborate the inculpatory aspects of appellant’s partially-inculpatory videotaped statement and to suggest to the jury that appellant was the triggerman and had intended the victims’ deaths. I would hold, in light of an examination of the other evidence properly admitted at trial, that the erroneously-admitted letter harmed appellant in both phases of his trial, and, accordingly, I would reverse his convictions and sentences.
Because an examination of the issue of the letter’s inadequate authentication would fully dispose of the question of the letter’s admissibility at trial, I decline to express any opinion regarding the remaining contentions as to the letter’s admissibility.
I am authorized to state that Chief Justice Fletcher and Presiding Justice Sears join in this dissent.

 Appellant also raised a best evidence objection, and argued that the facts alleged by the State did not constitute a continuing conspiracy, that the State’s evidence of an alleged continuing conspiracy was almost entirely composed of inadmissible hearsay, and that the letter lacked sufficient indicia of reliability to be admissible even if there were a continuing conspiracy.