State v. Garcia

• Decision Date: 24 June 1981
• Docket Number: No. 12854,12854
• Citation: 630 P.2d 665,102 Idaho 378
• Parties: The STATE of Idaho, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Amelia P. GARCIA, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: Idaho Supreme Court

Page 665

630 P.2d 665

102 Idaho 378

The STATE of Idaho, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Amelia P. GARCIA, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 12854.

Supreme Court of Idaho.

June 24, 1981.

Dean J. Miller and Dean E. Miller of Gigray, Miller, Downen & Weston, Caldwell, for defendant-appellant.

David H. Leroy, Atty. Gen., Michael B. Kennedy, Deputy Atty. Gen., Boise, for plaintiff-respondent.

McFADDEN, Justice.

In a two-count information, the State charged the defendant-appellant, Amelia P. Garcia, and Gilberto Flores with murder in the first degree and conspiracy to commit murder. The charges stemmed from the death by strychnine poisoning of Flores' wife, Maria, on September 25, 1976, in Caldwell, Idaho.

Count I of the information charged that Garcia and Flores, with premeditation and malice aforethought, murdered Maria by means of strychnine which Garcia disguised as medication and mailed to Maria at the request and direction of Flores.

Count II charged that between September 6 and 25, 1976, Garcia and Flores conspired to commit the crime of murder in the first degree, and that in furtherance of the charge of conspiracy Flores requested and directed Garcia to furnish by mail strychnine disguised as medication to Maria, and procured and mailed to Garcia three $100.00 money orders as payment for her participation.

Upon motion by Garcia's counsel, separate trials were granted. Thereafter Flores changed his plea from not guilty to guilty under the conspiracy count, and the State moved to have the first degree murder count dismissed as to him. The trial court was advised that consideration for this plea bargain was that Flores would testify for the State at Garcia's trial. The plea of guilty to the conspiracy count was accepted, the first degree murder count was dismissed, and on November 18, 1977, Flores was sentenced to one year imprisonment and fined $1,000.

Garcia's trial commenced on December 5, 1977, and ended on December 9, 1977. The key witness for the State was Gilberto Flores. Flores' testimony showed that he and his deceased wife had been close acquaintances of Garcia for some time. After his separation from Maria in September 1976, Flores testified that he called Garcia, at her home in Texas, on numerous occasions to discuss his marital problems. Flores further testified that he did not ask Garcia to assist him in killing his wife, but rather, the suggestion of poisoning his wife came from Garcia. Flores stated that he subsequently mailed Garcia three $100 money orders.

The second witness for the State was Mrs. Herrera, a cousin of Maria. Maria had moved in with Mrs. Herrera when she left Flores, and lived with her for about a week. On September 25, 1976, Mrs. Herrera received in the mail a package for Maria. The trial court allowed, over objection, the testimony of Mrs. Herrera as to the addressee on the package and a general description of the package. Mrs. Herrera testified that the contents of the package consisted of a tube of cream and some "mejorales," i. e., homemade analgesic tablets or pills for colds and headaches. She was also allowed to testify, again over objection, as to statements made by Maria at that time. Specifically, Mrs. Herrera testified that Maria, upon opening the package, stated, "Look how nice the lady is, she even sent me mejorales."

Following Maria's death, Mrs. Herrera placed a call to a Texas phone number, and talked to Garcia. During the conversation, Garcia admitted to Mrs. Herrera that she had sent a package in the mail to Maria containing a tube of cream and some mejorales. When asked by Mrs. Herrera if Flores had sent her any money, Garcia denied that she had received any money from him.

The State also introduced circumstantial evidence obtained during the investigation of the death of Maria. In addition to the accomplice's testimony, there was the fact that Maria received a package containing mejorales from an unidentified sender on the date of her death, and that Garcia, while being interrogated by law enforcement officials, admitted receiving a money order in the sum of $100 from Flores. Upon this evidence, the State rested its case.

Garcia, in her defense, introduced evidence for the purpose of demonstrating the physical impossibility of the State's version of the case. The evidence was designed to show that strychnine could not have entered the body of Maria in combination with mejorales, and that it probably entered the body in combination with medication to which Gilberto Flores had access.

Subsequently, the jury returned verdicts of not guilty to the first degree murder count and guilty to the conspiracy count. Garcia then filed a motion for a judgment of acquittal, and alternatively, a motion for a new trial. Both motions were denied. Accordingly, on January 12, 1978, Garcia was adjudged guilty of conspiracy to commit murder in the first degree and sentenced to one year of imprisonment. On appeal, the judgment of conviction is affirmed.

Appellant first contends that the trial court erred in admitting into evidence, over objection, declarations of the murder victim. Specifically, Mrs. Herrera was allowed to testify that Maria, upon opening the package containing the tube of cream and mejorales, stated "Look how nice the lady is, she even sent me mejorales." The declaration is alleged to be hearsay and inadmissible under any recognized exception to the hearsay rule. See generally Isaacson v. Obendorf, 99 Idaho 304, 581 P.2d 350 (1978); Patino v. Grigg and Anderson Farms, 97 Idaho 251, 542 P.2d 1170 (1975).

At trial the declaration in issue was offered to prove Maria's state of mind, specifically that she did not expect or anticipate receiving mejorales from the appellant. In connection with this theory, it should be noted that on several prior occasions the appellant had provided the victim with tubes of facial cream. This being the case, the initial question which must be addressed is whether Maria's state of mind is relevant to any issue in the case.

In almost all cases, statements made by a murder victim to a third party prior to the fatal incident are held to be inadmissible as hearsay. See People v. Purvis, 56 Cal.2d 95, 13 Cal.Rptr. 801, 362 P.2d 713 (1961); People v. Ireland, 70 Cal.2d 522, 75 Cal.Rptr. 188, 450 P.2d 580 (1969); Kennedy v. State, 385 So.2d 1020 (Fla.App.1980); State v. Wauneka, 560 P.2d 1377 (Utah 1977); State v. Kump, 76 Wyo. 273, 301 P.2d 808 (1956). However, in State v. Goodrich, 97 Idaho 472, 546 P.2d 1180 (1976), this court held that in limited circumstances statements made by a murder victim to a third party will be admissible under the state of mind exception to the hearsay rule. In so holding, the court stated "(A) statement offered to show the state of mind of declarant-victim, may be admissible under the 'state of mind' exception to the hearsay rule, where the declarant-victim's state of mind is relevant to an issue involved in the criminal proceedings. As with the admissibility of any piece of evidence, where the probative value of the statement is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice to the defendant, this evidence should be excluded." 97 Idaho at 477, 546 P.2d at 1185.

Thus, statements of a murder victim will be admitted only after a determination that the declaration is relevant, and that the need for and value of such testimony outweighs the possibility of prejudice to the accused.

In Goodrich, the court recognized that four rather well defined categories have developed in which the relevancy of such statements may overcome the possible prejudice of admitting hearsay testimony:

"Other states have found that a statement of fear of the defendant, made by the deceased victim to a third party, is relevant in a homicide case in the following instances: (a) when the defendant claims self-defense as justification for the killing. Where this defense is asserted, a defendant's contention that the deceased attacked him first, may be rebutted by extra-judicial declarations of the victim that he was afraid of the defendant, thus rendering it unlikely that the deceased was the aggressor in the first instance. See People v. Schindler, 273 Cal.App.2d 624, 78 Cal.Rptr. 633 (1969). (b) when the defendant seeks to build his defense around the fact that the deceased committed suicide. Evidence introduced which tends to demonstrate that the victim made statements inconsistent with a design to take his or her own life are relevant. See Commonwealth v. Del-Valle, 351 Mass. 489, 221 N.E.2d 922 (1966). (c) when the defendant claims the killing was accidental. See People v. Lew, 68 Cal.2d 774, 69 Cal.Rptr. 102, 441 P.2d 942 (1968). (d) when a specific 'mens rea' is in issue, e. g., was the killing premeditated or not? See People v. Hamilton, 55 Cal.2d 881, 13 Cal.Rptr. 649, 362 P.2d 473 (1961): overruled on other grounds, People v. Wilson, 1 Cal.3d 431, 82 Cal.Rptr. 494, 462 P.2d 22 (1969)." 97 Idaho at 477, n. 7, 546 P.2d at 1185, n. 7.

A further discussion of the first three categories can be found in United States v. Brown, 490 F.2d 758, 767 (D.C.Cir. 1973), where it was observed:

"While there are undoubtedly a number of possible situations in which such statements may be relevant, the courts have developed three rather well-defined categories in which the need for such statements overcomes almost any possible prejudice. The most common of these involves defendant's claim of self-defense as justification for the killing. When such a defense is asserted, a defendant's assertion that the deceased first attacked him may be rebutted by the extrajudicial declarations of the victim that he feared the defendant, thus rendering it unlikely that the deceased was in fact the aggressor in the first instance. Second, where defendant seeks to defend on the ground that the deceased committed suicide, evidence that the victim had made statements inconsistent with a suicidal bent are highly relevant. A third situation involves...