Garcia-Berrios v. State
| Decision Date | 17 April 2020 |
| Docket Number | Court of Appeals Case No. 19A-CR-2405 |
| Citation | 147 N.E.3d 339 |
| Parties | Angel GARCIA-BERRIOS, Appellant-Defendant, v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee-Plaintiff. |
| Court | Indiana Appellate Court |
Attorney for Appellant: P. Jeffrey Schlesinger, Appellate Division, Office of the Public Defender, Crown Point, Indiana
Attorneys for Appellee: Curtis T. Hill, Jr., Attorney General of Indiana, Caryn N. Szyper, Deputy Attorney General, Indianapolis, Indiana
[1] Angel Garcia-Berrios appeals his convictions for murder and battery by means of a deadly weapon as a level 5 felony and his criminal gang enhancement. We affirm.
[2] On January 24, 2016, Garcia-Berrios, Rolando Manuel Leal, Jr.,1 and Rito Maciel, Jr.,2 went to a bar in East Chicago, and at some point Thaddeus Rodriguez, Jr.,3 contacted Maciel. Garcia-Berrios had a problem with Rodriguez and believed he had stolen a gold chain from his sister. Garcia-Berrios, Leal, and Maciel left the bar and drove around as Rodriguez and Maciel exchanged messages. Leal stopped the vehicle, retrieved a nine-millimeter Smith & Wesson and a nine-millimeter Glock from a door in the vehicle, and gave the Smith & Wesson to Garcia-Berrios. Maciel placed Rodriguez on speakerphone, and at some point Rodriguez revealed his location. The men drove to near the location and parked, and Leal and Garcia-Berrios exited the vehicle and told Maciel to stay in the vehicle.
[3] At some point, Rodriguez walked out of a residence, and Jesus Acosta, who was a neighbor outside making a phone call, greeted him. Garcia-Berrios and Leal ran towards Rodriguez and Acosta carrying their guns. Garcia-Berrios said "Merry Christmas ... mother-f-----" and shot Rodriguez multiple times. Transcript Volume IV at 35. Leal grabbed Acosta, struck him on the head with his gun, took him between two houses, threw him on the ground, and shot at him three times, striking him in the leg. Garcia-Berrios and Leal ran back to their vehicle and drove away. As they rode away, Garcia-Berrios said "[y]ou should've seen the look in his eyes when he seen me," "I told him, Merry Christmas, mother-f-----," and "he shouldn't have stole ... my sister's chain." Transcript Volume V at 143. Rodriguez's friend and neighbors called 911. A friend took Acosta to the hospital. Police responded and found Rodriguez unresponsive.
[4] Leal later gave the nine-millimeter Smith & Wesson to Luis Perez-Correa and told him to "get rid of the weapon because it was used on that Thaddeus thing." Id. at 9. Police later discovered the gun following a traffic stop of Perez-Correa. Further, law enforcement obtained a recorded conversation between Maciel and Leal in which Leal stated that he and a person by the name of "Angel" were at the scene of Rodriguez's murder. Transcript Volume VI at 57. Rodriguez's friend reported to police that, before he went outside, Rodriguez had been on the phone and referred to a person with the name of Angel, he did not state a last name, and she knew a person named Angel Feliciano. Police eliminated Feliciano as a suspect after confirming he was at work at the time of the murder. Six recovered nine-millimeter spent casings and other bullet fragments were determined to have been shot from the Smith & Wesson.
[5] The State charged Garcia-Berrios with: Count I, murder of Rodriguez; Count II, battery by means of a deadly weapon of Acosta as a level 5 felony; and Count III, criminal gang activity as a level 6 felony. It also filed an information alleging a criminal gang enhancement. Garcia-Berrios filed a motion in limine requesting the court to exclude the audio recording of Leal made by Maciel. After hearing argument, the court stated the recording did not contain statements in furtherance of a conspiracy. The State responded the recording could potentially be used for rebuttal if the defense were to open the door, and the court agreed.
[6] During trial, defense counsel argued in his opening statement that Maciel gave law enforcement Garcia-Berrios's name, "[t]he difficulty with that is other information surfaces over the course of the months after Thaddeus Rodriguez's murder, which includes information about Rolando Leal and his crew called EBK crew, which stands for Everybody Killer crew," "Leal and the three other members of that crew were implicated in some way by some source that made it to the detectives," and "[v]irtually no investigation was done to eliminate those -- that crew as the culprits here." Transcript Volume III at 156-157. Perez-Correa testified on cross-examination by defense counsel that Richie Campos, Josue Anaya, and Dequan Birdsong were members of Leal's crew called "EBK," which stood for "Everybody killer." Transcript Volume V at 16-17. Perez-Correa indicated that, after his arrest with the gun he received from Leal, he gave law enforcement the names of Leal, Campos, Anaya, and Birdsong as the actors in Rodriguez's murder. On redirect examination, Perez-Correa testified that he heard the information about Leal, Campos, Anaya, and Birdsong from Leal. The State moved to use the recording of Leal, stated Perez-Correa indicated he obtained his information about the EBK being present at the time of the murder from Leal, and argued it should be able to use the recording to show Leal and "Angel" were the only two people present at the time of the murder. Id. at 27. The court took the request under advisement. Later, during Maciel's testimony, the court told defense counsel "if you start saying ... those four guys were involved ... then I'm going to let [the prosecutor] play this," and defense counsel replied, "I understand." Id. at 157.
[7] On cross-examination of Hammond Police Detective Stuart Hinson, defense counsel asked if he was aware of "the information Luis Perez-Correa offered up ... about Rolando Leal and the EBK crew's involvement," and Detective Hinson responded that Birdsong had already been eliminated as a suspect. Transcript Volume VI at 33. Defense counsel asked if Anaya was questioned about the murder, and Detective Hinson replied Anaya had already been eliminated as a suspect. When asked "[b]y limiting the focus of your investigation to only two people, you saw no need to interview Mr. Anaya or Mr. Birdsong or Mr. Campos any further after you spoke with Rito Maciel ... isn't that true," Detective Hinson replied "I wasn't aware of those names specifically myself as being involved in this crime until Luis Perez-Correa brings that information in August" and "[b]y that time we had already been able to eliminate them as suspects." Id. at 39.
[8] The State renewed its motion to admit a portion of the recorded conversation between Leal and Maciel to explain the reason certain people were eliminated as suspects. Garcia-Berrios argued he had not opened the door. The court stated the defense's theme had been "[t]hat all [these] people were involved in this thing" and "[s]o [Detective Hinson] should be able to say no, I didn't interview him because I have [ ] Leal on tape in front of [ ] Maciel saying that he and Angel were there." Id. at 46. Defense counsel noted Leal said "Angel," and the prosecutor indicated she could say that no last names were used. Id. The court did not admit the recording but allowed the prosecutor to ask Detective Hinson why he eliminated certain people as suspects.
[9] On redirect examination of Detective Hinson, the State asked why Campos, Anaya, and Birdsong had been eliminated as suspects, and Detective Hinson testified: "I was in possession of recorded conversation between Rito Maciel and Rolando Leal in which Rolando Leal says that he and a person by the name of Angel were at the scene, at the Thaddeus Rodriguez' homicide." Id. at 57. The prosecutor asked "[w]as a last name given in that recording," and Detective Hinson answered "[n]o." Id.
[10] The jury found Garcia-Berrios guilty of murder under Count I, battery by means of a deadly weapon as a level 5 felony under Count II, and criminal gang activity as a level 6 felony under Count III. The jury later found Garcia-Berrios guilty of the allegations in the criminal gang enhancement information. The court sentenced Garcia-Berrios to sixty years for murder under Count I and enhanced the sentence by sixty years. It sentenced him to three years under Count II, concurrent with the sentence under Count I, and did not enter judgment on Count III.
[11] Garcia-Berrios first claims the trial court improperly admitted a portion of Detective Hinson's testimony. The trial court has broad discretion to rule on the admissibility of evidence. Bradley v. State , 54 N.E.3d 996, 999 (Ind. 2016). A trial court's ruling on the admission of evidence is generally accorded a great deal of deference on appeal. Hall v. State , 36 N.E.3d 459, 466 (Ind. 2015), reh'g denied . We do not reweigh the evidence; rather, we consider only evidence that is either favorable to the ruling or unrefuted and favorable to the defendant. Beasley v. State , 46 N.E.3d 1232, 1235 (Ind. 2016).
[12] Garcia-Berrios argues Detective Hinson's testimony regarding Leal's statement was inadmissible hearsay and was extremely prejudicial to him. He also argues he was denied his right of confrontation and, while he did not object on that basis below, the error was fundamental error. The State responds that Garcia-Berrios opened the door as part of his defense strategy and cannot show fundamental error.
[13] "Opening the door refers to the principle that where one party introduces evidence of a particular fact, the opposing party is entitled to introduce evidence in explanation or rebuttal thereof, even though the rebuttal evidence otherwise would have been inadmissible." Wilder v. State , 91 N.E.3d 1016, 1023 (Ind. Ct. App. 2018) (quoting Sampson v. State , 38 N.E.3d 985, 992 n.4 (Ind. 2015) ). Evidence which opens the door must leave the trier of fact with a false or misleading impression of the facts related. Id. When that happens, the State...
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