Bahena v. State

634 S.W.3d 923

Raul BAHENA, Appellant

v.The STATE of Texas

NO. PD-0653-20

Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas.

Delivered: November 24, 2021

John Crump, for State.

Crespin Michael Linton, Houston, for Appellant.

OPINION

McClure, J., delivered the opinion of a unanimous Court.

At trial, Appellant objected that a State's witness was not the custodian of records for a disc containing recordings of jailhouse calls. On appeal, the court of appeals determined that the witness was the proper custodian of records and upheld the trial court's admission of the disc. However, the majority noted that Appellant failed to challenge—at trial and on appeal—that the State's witness was not another qualified witness, and this failure forfeited any appellate review on that issue.

We disagree that the Appellant's failure to object on the specific ground that the State's witness was not another qualified witness foreclosed consideration of review on that prong of Rule of Evidence 803(6)(D). However, we agree with the court of appeals’ conclusion that the State satisfied the hearsay exception through the in-court testimony of the custodian of records. We go one step further and hold the State's witness was qualified to testify to authenticate the jail call recordings. Therefore, we affirm the court of appeal's judgment upholding the trial court's admission of the evidence.

Background

Appellant Raul Bahena was charged with aggravated robbery. The complainant testified at trial and identified Appellant as the man who robbed her of her backpack at gunpoint in a park. The State also called Sergeant Larry Franks with the Harris County Sheriff's Office to testify about recorded phone calls made from jail. Sgt. Franks testified that he was the supervisor of the Tactical Intelligence Unit with the Harris County Sheriff's Office. As part of his duties, Sgt. Franks and his staff were charged with "gathering and disseminating phone calls from the inmates into the jail and out of the jail."

Sgt. Franks testified about the manner in which the calls could be accessed by people in the Tactical Intelligence Unit. Specifically, he stated that the calls are stored according to each inmate's assigned number, or System Person Number (SPN), which the inmate enters into the phone, along with a personal identification number, before a call can be made.

Sgt. Franks identified Pete Galvan, a deputy whom Sgt. Franks supervised, as the individual who compiled the jail calls in this case. Sgt. Franks testified it was Galvan who stored and transferred these calls to the disc. However, Galvan was not available to testify at trial. Sgt. Franks testified that Galvan was "also a custodian of records," and he said it was the normal practice of the sheriff's office to retain the calls. Sgt. Franks said that the calls in this case were made from the jail by a caller using Appellant's identification numbers and codes, though the name and SPN of a different inmate were on the disc label.

Following Sgt. Franks's testimony, Appellant objected that the State had not timely designated Sgt. Franks on its witness list and that he was not the custodian of records of the jailhouse calls.

The trial court overruled the objections and allowed the admission of the calls. The State played recordings of phone calls made on seven separate dates in 2017 and 2018. In them, a caller with a male voice discusses the robbery and the possibility of paying the victim to recant or not cooperate with the prosecution. In some calls, the caller speaks with people about not attending trial and evading subpoenas. In one call, the caller expresses regret for pointing his gun at one of his cousins, considering that to be the reason he was caught and put in jail because it prompted her to "call the law."

The jury found Appellant guilty of the offense charged in the indictment. Following a punishment hearing before the trial court, the trial court assessed Appellant's punishment at twenty-five years’ confinement.

Direct Appeal

On direct appeal, Appellant asserted, among other grounds, that the trial court abused its discretion in overruling Appellant's objection that Sgt. Franks was not the custodian of records for the jailhouse calls.¹

In its brief to the court of appeals, the State argued that the evidence established that Sgt. Franks was a custodian of records for the jail calls. The State also argued, for the first time, that being a custodian of records is not a necessity under Rule 803(6) and that the evidence also established that Sgt. Franks was "another qualified witness" as defined by Texas Rule of Evidence 803(6)(D).

The court of appeals upheld the trial court's ruling that admitted Sgt. Franks's testimony and the recordings of the jailhouse calls. Bahena v. State , 604 S.W.3d 527, 538 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2020). The majority stated that the required conditions of Rule 803(6) may be satisfied through the in-court testimony of either the custodian or another qualified witness. Id. The court of appeals then noted that Appellant did not object that Sgt. Franks was not "another qualified witness" or was not qualified to offer testimony under Rule 803(6). Id. The court relied on its own opinion in Melendez v. State , 194 S.W.3d 641, 644 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2006, pet. ref'd), for authority that, in order to preserve error for a Rule 803(6) objection, a defendant must argue both that the witness is not a custodian of records and that the witness is not otherwise qualified. Bahena , 604 S.W.3d at 538. Therefore, relying on its interpretation of its own precedent, the court of appeals held that Appellant forfeited his argument by failing to object that Sgt. Franks was not "another qualified witness" under Rule 803(6). Id.

Justice Hassan wrote a dissenting opinion in which she disagreed with the majority that Appellant forfeited his right to have the merits of his objection heard. Id. Justice Hassan stated that the majority "improperly casts aside Appellant's hearsay argument because he failed (at trial) to object based on the ‘qualified witness’ prong of Texas Rule of Evidence 803(6)." Id. at 543. Justice Hassan continued to review Appellant's claim on the merits and held that Sgt. Franks was not a custodian of records or a qualified witness under Texas Rule of Evidence 803(6) because there was no evidence he had "personal knowledge of the mode of preparation of the records." Id. at 543–44.

Appellant filed a petition for discretionary review with this Court, arguing that the court of appeals erred in deciding that Sgt. Franks was a custodian of records or another qualified witness for the purpose of admitting the phone call recordings. Specifically, Appellant argues that, while the court below decided, on the merits, that Sgt. Franks was a custodian of records, the majority did not actually address the merits of whether he was another qualified witness; instead, the court barred Appellant's complaint for failure to preserve error because he failed to specifically object that Sgt. Franks was not another qualified witness.

Appellant contends that Melendez did not stand for the proposition that error regarding "another qualified witness" must be preserved but that Melendez had failed to show evidence that the witness was not qualified. In other words, the court in Melendez conducted a merit analysis of the claim. In this case, Appellant argues that he objected to the State's admission of these inmate calls as a business records exception to the hearsay rule—Rule 803(6) of the Texas Rules of Evidence. As such, the objection shifted the burden of proof to the State to show that the evidence of the inmate calls was admissible under that exception.

We agree with Appellant. The court of appeals erred by stating that Appellant forfeited his right to appellate review by failing to specifically object that Franks was not "another qualified witness."

We take this opportunity to explicitly disavow and reject the notion that a defendant must specifically object to both prongs of 803(6)(D) to entitle him to a merits review of his hearsay objection. Nevertheless, we affirm the decision below, as the record shows that Franks was indeed a custodian of records or another qualified witness. Our analysis follows.

Analysis

First, the court of appeals’ reliance on Melendez as authority for the proposition that an Appellant must object under both prongs of 803(6) to preserve error for review is misplaced. Melendez involved a defendant who argued a business record was inadmissible hearsay because (1) someone from the business needed to authenticate it because the entries were made by someone from the business, and (2) the sheriff's deputy did not testify he was the custodian of records. Melendez , 194 S.W.3d at 644. Therefore, the issue was not that error had not been preserved by failing to object to the witness as not "another qualified witness," but that Melendez failed to present evidence to show that the witness was not a qualified witness. The court of appeals held that:

Rule 803(6) does not require that the witness be the person who made the record or even be employed by the organization that made or maintained the record, and appellant cites no authority imposing any such requirement. Therefore, [Melendez]’s second issue fails to demonstrate that [Deputy] Monfort was not a qualified witness for purposes of the business record exception to the hearsay rule.

Id.

Therefore, the court of appeals ruled against Melendez, not based on procedural default, but on the merits.

Second, even if Melendez stood for the proposition that a defendant must object to both prongs of Rule 803(6) to preserve error, this would be an erroneous holding. Once Appellant objected on the basis that Sgt. Franks was not the proper custodian of record, it became the State's burden as the proponent of the evidence to establish that the recorded jail calls were admissible. See Taylor v. State , 268 S.W.3d 571, 578–79 (Tex. Crim. App. 2008) ; ...