Court Opinion

ID: 9778000
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 20:29:49.842766+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:33:03.001357
License: Public Domain

BUTTS, Justice,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. The indictment in this case is based on TEX.PENAL CODE ANN. § 22.021(a)(5) (Vernon Supp.1986). The evidence shows that policewoman Garcia was the outcry witness. When the State first put her on the witness stand, she testified only to answering the police call on a rape case and transporting the child/complainant to the hospital. A hearsay objection at that time would not be well taken. When next she testified, the child had already testified rather hesitantly about the events. When Garcia was asked what the complainant told her, the defense objected, “Again, we’ll object to that as hearsay.” [The “again” referred to the previous time when Officer Garcia testified.]
There is no dispute that the testimony which followed the question was hearsay. But the next logical query in a rape case is, was the hearsay admissible or inadmissible? The objection, to go to the basic problem in a rape case, should be that the hearsay testimony was “bolstering” and therefore inadmissible, or that it was not a “spontaneous exclamation” or “res gestae” of the event, or some other specific objection. Often hearsay is admissible in rape cases; therefore, this was a general objection which preserved nothing for review. The trial court correctly overruled it.
The facts are clear that the child and her younger sister returned to their home around noon following the incident. The younger sister had reported something to *688her mother, and the mother attempted to question the complainant, hut she would not say anything. Finally the mother discovered the bloodstained panties and again attempted to get information from the child, but without success. The father was summoned from work, and it was his decision to call the police. The child cried, but she was reluctant to talk to her parents. This is understandable since appellant is the brother of the child’s mother.
When Officer Garcia arrived with a male police officer, the child refused to talk to the man and chose to talk to the woman. The parents were sent from the room, and the child still cried, but she revealed the story to the policewoman.
In King v. State, 631 S.W.2d 486, 491 (Tex.Crim.App.1982) the court wrote,
[I]t is a well recognized exception to the general prohibition against hearsay evidence, that statements made while in the grip of violent emotion, excitement or pain, and which relate to the exciting event, are admissible under the rationale that the capacity for reflection necessary to the fabrication of a falsehood is lost. (Citations omitted)
Immediately after policewoman Garcia heard the story and saw the bloodstained panties, she removed the child to the hospital. There it was determined that some lacerations were located in the area around the vagina, and the bloodstains came from those. The child stated she was hurt by appellant. To say that this eleven year old child made these statements to the officer based on reason and reflection is not realistic. Further, the five-hour delay in telling what had transpired with her uncle did not prohibit the use of the res gestae exception to the hearsay rule in this case.
It is also noteworthy that on cross-examination by the defense, policewoman Garcia was asked whether the child had told her that appellant “had done something nasty” to her. This was recitation of the same statement that appellant calls objectionable as hearsay on appeal. The error, if any, in its former admission was thus obviated by the defense.
I would hold the objection to be a general one, not going to any particular reason for excluding the testimony. Moreover it was not urged in a timely manner since the one objection came before the answers of the witness and not after. More importantly, I would hold the statements were spontaneous exclamations (res gestae of the event) and, as such, were admissible, even had there been a specific objection. Therefore, I dissent.