Abelino Hernandez v. State ( 2015 )


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  •                                                                     ACCEPTED
    13-14-00465-CV
    THIRTEENTH COURT OF APPEALS
    CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS
    3/18/2015 10:55:14 AM
    DORIAN RAMIREZ
    CLERK
    NO. 13-14-00465-CR
    IN THE COURT OF APPEALS        FILED IN
    13th COURT OF APPEALS
    FOR THE THIRTEENTH DISTRICT
    CORPUSOFCHRISTI/EDINBURG, TEXAS
    TEXAS         3/18/2015 10:55:14 AM
    AT CORPUS CHRISTI    DORIAN E. RAMIREZ
    Clerk
    ABELINO HERNANDEZ,
    Appellant,
    v.
    THE STATE OF TEXAS,
    Appellee.
    On Appeal from the
    th
    24 Judicial District Court
    Of Victoria County, Texas
    Cause No. 14-04-27866-A
    BRIEF FOR THE STATE OF TEXAS
    STEPHEN B. TYLER
    Criminal District Attorney
    Victoria County, Texas
    BRENDAN WYATT GUY
    Assistant Criminal District Attorney
    Victoria County, Texas
    205 N. Bridge St. Ste. 301,
    Victoria, Texas 77901-6576
    bguy@vctx.org
    (361) 575-0468
    (361) 570-1041 (fax)
    State Bar No. 24034895
    Attorneys for the State of Texas
    ORAL ARGUMENT NOT REQUESTED
    TABLE OF CONTENTS
    PAGE (S)
    TABLE OF CONTENTS ......................................................................... ii
    INDEX OF AUTHORITIES ...............................................................iii-iv
    STATEMENT OF THE FACTS .......................................................... 1-8
    SUMMARY OF ARGUMENT ............................................................. 8-9
    ARGUMENT ...................................................................................... 10-26
    I. The Appellant waived any objection to the
    admission of the AFIS related evidence by
    failing to timely object at trial ............................................... 10-13
    II. The AFIS related evidence was neither
    irrelevant nor unfairly prejudicial ........................................ 13-23
    III. Any error from the admission of the AFIS
    evidence was harmless ............................................................ 23-26
    PRAYER .................................................................................................. 27
    SIGNATURE ........................................................................................... 27
    CERTIFICATE OF COMPLIANCE ................................................... 28
    CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE ............................................................. 29
    Brief of Appellee                                    ii
    Victoria County Criminal District Attorney
    No. 13-14-00465-CR
    INDEX OF AUTHORITIES
    Texas Cases
    Bevill v. State, 
    573 S.W.2d 781
    (Tex. Crim. App. 1978)...................... 21
    Casey v. State, 
    215 S.W.3d 870
    (Tex. Crim. App. 2007) ............... 16, 23
    Dixon v. State, 
    2 S.W.3d 263
    (Tex. Crim. App. 1998) ......................... 10
    Ethington v. State, 
    819 S.W.2d 854
    (Tex. Crim. App. 1991) ............... 10
    Gigliobianco v. State, 
    210 S.W.3d 637
    ............................................. 17-18
    (Tex. Crim. App. 2006) ...................................................................... 21-22
    Ketchum v. State, 
    199 S.W.3d 581
    (Tex. App.-Corpus Christi 2006, pet. ref’d) ......................................... 23
    Lagrone v. State, 
    942 S.W.2d 602
    (Tex. Crim. App. 1997) ................. 12
    Marini v. State, 
    593 S.W.2d 709
    (Tex. Crim. App. 1980).................... 10
    Martinez v. State, 
    131 S.W.3d 22
    (Tex. App.—San Antonio 2003, no pet) ................................................ 12
    Mata v. State, No. 05-05-00504-CR, 
    2007 WL 882439
    (Tex. App.-Dallas 2007, pet. ref’d)
    (not designated for publication) ....................................................... 18-19
    Montgomery v. State, 
    810 S.W.2d 372
    (Tex. Crim. App. 1990) .......... 13
    Morales v. State, 
    32 S.W.3d 862
    (Tex.Crim.App.2000)........................ 13
    Mozon v. State, 
    991 S.W.2d 841
    (Tex. Crim. App. 2004) ................... 17
    Nino v. State, 
    223 S.W.3d 749
    (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 2007, no pet)................................... 12
    Brief of Appellee                                     iii
    Victoria County Criminal District Attorney
    No. 13-14-00465-CR
    Stone v. State, 
    17 S.W.3d 348
    (Tex. App.-Corpus Christi 2000, pet. ref’d) ......................................... 15
    Thrift v. State, 
    176 S.W.3d 221
    (Tex. Crim. App. 2005) ..................... 20
    Texas Rules
    TEX. R. APP. 9.4..................................................................................... 28
    TEX. R. APP. 33.1................................................................................... 10
    TEX. R. APP. 44.2................................................................................... 23
    TEX. R. EVID. 403 ................................................................................. 16
    Brief of Appellee                                  iv
    Victoria County Criminal District Attorney
    No. 13-14-00465-CR
    NO. 13-14-00465-CR
    IN THE COURT OF APPEALS
    FOR THE THIRTEEN DISTRICT OF TEXAS
    AT CORPUS CHRISTI
    ABELINO HERNANDEZ…..….…………………………………..Appelant
    v.
    THE STATE OF TEXAS,…..……………………………………...Appellee
    * * * * *
    STATE’S BRIEF ON THE MERITS
    * * * * *
    TO THE HONORABLE COURT OF APPEALS:
    COMES NOW, THE STATE OF TEXAS, by and through her Criminal
    District Attorney, Stephen B. Tyler, and as Appellee in the above numbered
    and entitled cause, and files this the Appellee’s brief showing:
    STATEMENT OF THE FACTS
    On April 3, 2014, Appellant was indicted for the offense of
    aggravated robbery. [CR-I-5].
    Appellant’s case was called for trial on August 11, 2014. [RR-IV-1].
    During his voir dire, Appellant’s attorney questioned the venire panel about
    the presumption of innocence. [RR-IV-132]. No member of the panel
    expressed any reservations about giving the Appellant the presumption of
    Brief of Appellee
    Victoria County Criminal District Attorney
    No. 13-14-00465-CR
    1
    innocence. [RR-IV-132] After the completion of voir dire, the trial judge
    gave the members of the jury instructions.            [RR-IV-162-168].     These
    instructions included a direction that the jury was to follow the law given to
    them by the court and was not to indulge in guesswork or speculation. [RR-
    IV-163]. The trial court also instructed the jury that evidence consists only
    of the testimony of witnesses, and the exhibits admitted into evidence. 
    Id. The State’s
    first witness at trial was the victim of the offense, Ms.
    Josefa Tamayo. [RR-V-15]. Ms. Tamayo testified to being robbed by a
    man in March of 2013 while she was working the late shift at a Stripes
    convenience store. [RR-V-18-20]. She characterized her assailant as heavy-
    set, about 5’5 in height, and with a thermal t-shirt covering his face. [RR-V-
    19-20]. She also established that her assailant had a knife in his hand while
    robbing her. [RR-V-21-22]. She then testified to seeing blood on the
    robber’s fingers after he cut himself with his own knife, and that the robber
    dropped the knife when he fled the scene. [RR-V-22]. Ms. Tamayo also
    testified as to how the robber had cut himself while trying to open the cash
    register. [RR-V-31-32]. Ms. Tamayo then clarified that she was 5’5 in
    height, and the robber was “a little bit taller, not much” than her. [RR-V-32-
    33].
    Brief of Appellee
    Victoria County Criminal District Attorney
    No. 13-14-00465-CR
    2
    The State next called Sergeant Kelly Luther of the Victoria Police
    Department. [RR-V-39]. Sergeant Luther described being called out the
    night of the robbery to the robbery location where she observed both the
    knife and blood at the scene. [RR-V-43]. She specifically described finding
    blood on the door handle. [RR-V-44]. She then confirmed that the store
    video showed that robbery suspect having touched the door handle when he
    fled the location. [RR-V-45-46; State’s Exhibit 15]. Sergeant Luther also
    described locating blood on the knife. [RR-V-46; State’s Exhibit 8].
    The State then called Officer Javier Guerrero. [RR-V-55]. Officer
    Guerrero also testified to being called out to the robbery location, where he
    observed blood on the door and blood on the knife. [RR-V-59]. He then
    explained the process by which he collected the blood from both the door
    and from the knife. [RR-V-59-63]. Officer Guerrero also established the
    chain of custody for the State’s exhibits related to the blood samples he had
    collected [RR-V-64-72], and those exhibits were accepted into evidence.
    [RR-V-89; State’s Exhibits 17, 17A, 17B, 18].
    The State then called Officer Joshua Robinson. [RR-V-91]. Officer
    Robinson testified to being called to the robbery scene where he was
    responsible for collecting fingerprints.         [RR-V-94].   Officer Robinson
    indicated finding possible prints on the door and the cash register drawer
    Brief of Appellee
    Victoria County Criminal District Attorney
    No. 13-14-00465-CR
    3
    pieces that were left at the store but stated he did not know how old those
    prints were. [RR-V-94]. Officer Robinson then testified that prints were
    lifted in this case, but that they did not match to anything. [RR-V-97].
    After Officer Robinson’s testimony was complete there was a lengthy
    bench conference concerning evidentiary issues.                        [RR-V-102-108].
    Appellant did not raise any concern about evidence about the AFIS system
    being admitted during this conference and did not request any sort of motion
    in limine or running objection against such evidence. 
    Id. When trial
    before the jury resumed, the State called Detective Amy
    Grothe.                [RR-V-108].           Detective Grothe testified to receiving an
    investigative lead that led her to request a buccal swab from the Appellant.
    [RR-V-112]. She also identified the Appellant in the courtroom. [RR-V-
    113]. Detective Grothe then indicated that the Appellant consented to giving
    a DNA sample, which was collected by another person, Holly Jedlicka. 
    Id. Detective Grothe
    then established that the defendant was about 5’7 in height
    and weighed 200 pounds, and that he was living in Victoria, about 2 miles
    from the scene of the robbery, at the time of the robbery. [RR-V-114].
    The State then called Holly Jedlicka, a Crime Scene Supervisor for the
    Victoria Police Department.                      [RR-V-114, 116].   Technician Jedlicka
    described taking a buccal swab from the Appellant on January 24, 2014.
    Brief of Appellee
    Victoria County Criminal District Attorney
    No. 13-14-00465-CR
    4
    [RR-V-119, 122]. She also explained that four fingerprint cards had been
    prepared with latent lifts on them as part of the investigation for this case.
    [RR-V-122].
    The prosecutor then asked Technician Jedlicka about AFIS. 
    Id. She replied
    that AFIS is the Automated Fingerprint Identification System, and
    that “every fingerprint known or unknown that we get comes through there.”
    [RR-V-123]. She then further stated that once you are booked into jail your
    fingerprints automatically go into AFIS. 
    Id. Neither the
    question asked by
    the prosecutor nor this answer were objected to by the defense. 
    Id. The prosecutor
    then asked if his fingerprints were in AFIS, and
    Technician Jedlicka indicated that as a state employee they would be in the
    system. 
    Id. These questions
    were also asked and answered without any
    objection from the defense. 
    Id. The prosecutor
    then asked if AFIS contained the records not just of
    criminals but also of everyone that works for the state or has had background
    checks run. 
    Id. Technician Jedlicka
    answered yes to this question as well.
    
    Id. It was
    only after that answer that Appellant’s attorney requested a
    bench conference with the judge. 
    Id. At the
    bench conference Appellant’s
    attorney indicated he objected because “we have crossed the line into the
    Brief of Appellee
    Victoria County Criminal District Attorney
    No. 13-14-00465-CR
    5
    jury thinking the prints that exist-“. [RR-V-123]. Appellant’s attorney did
    not finish his objection as the trial court overruled him. 
    Id. The prosecutor
    then asked Technician Jedlicka if the fingerprints
    collected in this case were compared against those in the AFIS database.
    [RR-V-124]. Technician Jedlicka indicated that was done by there was no
    match. 
    Id. She then
    testified that the Appellant’s own prints were also sent
    off to the Texas Department of Public Safety to be compared against the
    prints taken from the scene, and that again there was no match.                   
    Id. Technician Jedlicka
    then established that of the four prints collected from
    the robbery scene, DPS considered only one of them to be usable. 
    Id. She also
    explained the difference between usable and unusable prints and
    established there was no way to tell how old the prints were. [RR-V-124-
    125].
    Technician Jedlicka’s testimony concerning the buccal swab would
    lead to it being admitted as State’s Exhibit 19. [RR-V-125].
    The State then called Ms. Lisa Harmon Baylor, a forensic scientist
    with the Texas Department of Public Safety crime laboratory in Corpus
    Christi.           [RR-V-128, 130].          Ms. Baylor testified to performing a DNA
    analysis on State’s Exhibits 17A and 17B.                     [RR-V-138].   She then
    established that the blood sample taken from the door, when compared to the
    Brief of Appellee
    Victoria County Criminal District Attorney
    No. 13-14-00465-CR
    6
    known sample taken from the Appellant, produced results that “an unrelated
    person at random could be the source of this DNA profile” at odds of
    “approximately one in 130.4 quintillion for Caucasians, one in 89.77
    sextillion for blacks, and one in 739.6 quintillion for Hispanics.” [RR-V-
    152; State’s Exhibit 21]. Ms. Baylor further testified that such results meant
    to a reasonable degree of scientific certainty that the Appellant was the
    source of the blood found on the door. [RR-V-152]. Ms. Baylor also
    established that the concerning the blood sample taken from the knife, the
    odds of an unrelated person taken at random being the source of that sample
    was “one in 2.204 quintillion for Caucasians, one in 5.018 quintillion for
    blacks, and one in 15.93 quintillion for Hispanics” and that also was
    sufficient to establish to a reasonable degree of scientific certainty that the
    Appellant was the source of blood on the knife as well. [RR-V-154; State’s
    Exhibit 21].
    The court’s charge to the jury included an instruction that the jury
    could not consider the fact that the defendant had been indicted as evidence
    against him. [CR-I-25].
    The State’s closing argument did not make any reference to the
    defendant’s fingerprints being kept in AFIS. [RR-VI-25-33; 38-44.]
    Brief of Appellee
    Victoria County Criminal District Attorney
    No. 13-14-00465-CR
    7
    Appellant’s closing argument extensively attacked how the State
    collected evidence in this case [RR-VI-35-37].                                  Appellant’s closing
    argument also twice mentioned the State’s failure to obtain fingerprints.
    [RR-VI-36-37].
    On August 13, 2014, the jury found the Appellant guilty of aggravated
    robbery as alleged in the indictment. [CR-I-28; RR-VI-47]. The Appellant
    pled true to the sentence enhancements alleged against him and was
    sentenced to 30 years imprisonment. [CR-I-35-37].
    SUMMARY OF THE ARGUMENT
    The Appellant waived any error to the admission of the evidence
    regarding the AFIS database by failing to timely object. Appellant did not
    object after the prosecutor first asked about AFIS or even after the witness
    first indicated that people who had been arrested were kept in the AFIS
    system, but instead only objected after several questions on this matter had
    already been asked and answered.
    The AFIS related evidence was neither irrelevant nor unfairly
    prejudicial. The evidence was relevant both to help persuade the jury that
    the        investigating                     officers   had   performed   a   thorough,   competent
    investigation, utilizing every resource available to them, and as part of the
    State’s efforts to pull the sting from it not obtaining any usable fingerprint
    Brief of Appellee
    Victoria County Criminal District Attorney
    No. 13-14-00465-CR
    8
    evidence in this case. Nor was the evidence unfairly prejudicial. The AFIS
    evidence had probative force, and the danger of it confusing, misleading, or
    inflaming the jury was very slight since the evidence at trial clearly
    established that it was not only suspected criminals that were in the AFIS
    database but also all State employees and everyone who had ever received a
    State background check. Nor did the State spend a substantial amount of
    time developing this evidence. As such the trial court acted well within its
    discretion in concluding the probative value of the AFIS evidence was not
    substantially outweighed by its danger of unfair prejudice, and that
    conclusion should be upheld.
    In the alternative, even if the admission of the AFIS evidence was
    deemed to be error, that error would be harmless.              The State had
    overwhelming evidence of Appellant’s guilt, while the prejudicial impact of
    improper consideration of the AFIS evidence would be very slight, due to
    both the nature of that evidence and to the active steps the trial prosecutor
    took to minimize any improper consideration of the evidence. As such it is
    clear that any erroneous admission of the AFIS evidence would not have
    improperly affected the verdict in this case, which means any such error can
    be disregarded, and the conviction should be affirmed.
    Brief of Appellee
    Victoria County Criminal District Attorney
    No. 13-14-00465-CR
    9
    ARGUMENT
    I. The Appellant waived any objection to the admission of the AFIS
    related evidence by failing to timely object at trial.
    To preserve error for appellate review, the complaining party must
    make a timely objection. See Tex.R.App. P. 33.1(a); Dixon v. State, 
    2 S.W. 3d
    263, 265 (Tex. Crim. App. 1998). The requirement of timeliness means
    the objection must be made at the earliest possible opportunity. Marini v.
    State, 
    593 S.W.2d 709
    , 714 (Tex. Crim. App. 1980). If possible this should
    be done before the objectionable evidence is actually admitted, but if that is
    not possible than the objection must occur as soon as the objectionable
    nature of the evidence becomes apparent.                See Ethington v. State, 
    819 S.W.2d 854
    , 858 (Tex.Crim.App.1991).
    In regards to the evidence concerning the Automated Fingerprint
    Identification System (AFIS), Appellant failed to make the required timely
    objection and thus waived any error as to the admission of that evidence.
    The trial record makes clear that neither the prosecutor’s initial question of
    “And now can you explain to the jury what AFIS is real quick?” nor
    Technician Jedlicka’s answer of:
    AFIS is the Automated Fingerprint Identification System
    It’s for-it’s ran through DPS and basically every
    fingerprint known or unknown that we get comes
    through there. Once your booked into any jail facility
    Brief of Appellee
    Victoria County Criminal District Attorney
    No. 13-14-00465-CR
    10
    your prints automatically go in there for comparison.
    produced any sort of objection from the Appellant. [RR-V-122-123]. If the
    Appellant believes the testimony about AFIS is irrelevant (as he is now
    arguing) than that specific objection should have been lodged as soon as the
    prosecutor asked a question referencing AFIS. Likewise if the Appellant
    believes that the evidence about the AFIS database having information on
    people who have been jailed is unfairly prejudicial, then he should have
    objected as soon as the witness testified that anyone who was booked into a
    jail facility had their prints go into AFIS.
    Appellant did not object to either the prosecutor’s question about
    AFIS or the witnesses’ answer. [RR-V-122-123]. The prosecutor then
    asked a second question about AFIS without objection, which the witness
    also answered without objection. [RR-V-123]. After which the prosecutor
    asked a third question about AFIS without objection, which the witness also
    answered in full, and only then did the Appellant request a bench conference
    where he registered an objection to the AFIS related questioning. [RR-V-
    123].
    As such it is clear that Appellant did not timely object to either the
    admission of evidence about AFIS or the admission of evidence that the
    AFIS system included records of people who had been arrested. Instead
    Brief of Appellee
    Victoria County Criminal District Attorney
    No. 13-14-00465-CR
    11
    Appellant allowed that testimony to be admitted without any objection and
    only belatedly raised an objection after two other questions had been asked
    and answered. Multiple courts have concluded that when an objection is not
    submitted until after additional questions have been asked then the objection
    is untimely. See Nino v. State, 
    223 S.W.3d 749
    , 755 (Tex. App.—Houston
    [14th Dist.] 2007, no pet) (where prosecutor asked leading question “laced
    with” offensive information, witness answered, and prosecutor asked
    another question before defendant objected, objection was not timely);
    Martinez v. State, 
    131 S.W.3d 22
    , 38 (Tex. App.—San Antonio 2003, no
    pet) (objection was too late where after question, witness answered and
    prosecutor moved on to another question before defense counsel objected).
    Texas law is very clear that if a party fails to object until after an
    objectionable question has been asked and answered and can show no
    legitimate reason to justify the delay, the objection is untimely and error is
    waived. Lagrone v. State, 
    942 S.W.2d 602
    , 618 (Tex. Crim. App. 1997).
    Appellant did not object to any of the AFIS related questions until after they
    had already been asked and answered. Nor has Appellant provided any
    legitimate reason to justify his delay in objecting to these questions.
    Therefore Appellant’s eventual objection to this line of question was
    untimely and any error related to the AFIS related questions has been
    Brief of Appellee
    Victoria County Criminal District Attorney
    No. 13-14-00465-CR
    12
    waived.
    II. The AFIS related evidence was neither irrelevant nor unfairly
    prejudicial.
    Furthermore, even if the Appellant is deemed to have made timely
    objections concerning the AFIS related evidence, Appellant is still not
    entitled to any relief as the trial court acted well within its discretion in
    determining that the AFIS related evidence was neither irrelevant nor
    unfairly prejudicial.
    The test for relevance is whether a reasonable person would believe
    the particular piece of evidence is helpful in determining the truth or falsity
    of any fact that is of consequence to the case. See Montgomery v. State, 
    810 S.W.2d 372
    , 376 (Tex. Crim. App. 1990). Nor does evidence have to be
    dispositive of an issue to be relevant. Evidence merely tending to affect the
    probability of the truth or falsity of a fact in issue is still relevant.
    
    Montgomery, 810 S.W.2d at 376
    . All the evidence has to do is provide a
    “small nudge” towards proving or disproving some fact of consequence. 
    Id. This broad
    definition of relevance allows a liberal policy of admission of
    evidence for the jury’s consideration. Morales v. State, 
    32 S.W.3d 862
    , 865
    (Tex.Crim.App.2000).
    In the present case, it is clear the AFIS evidence was helpful in
    Brief of Appellee
    Victoria County Criminal District Attorney
    No. 13-14-00465-CR
    13
    proving a fact of consequence. Because the suspect had his face obscured
    during the course of the robbery, the State’s case was heavily dependent
    upon the forensic evidence obtained at the crime scene.          As such the
    thoroughness and competence of the law enforcement investigation was of
    definite importance in this case. Appellant obviously recognized that the
    nature of the police investigation was critical to this case as he extensively
    cross-examined the State’s witnesses on the nature of their investigation and
    devoted considerable time in his closing argument to attacking how the State
    collected evidence in this case. [RR-VI-35-37].
    The testimony about AFIS was therefore important because it helped
    demonstrate a fact of importance in the case: specifically that the police
    conducted a thorough investigation, utilizing every reasonable resource that
    was available to them. And naturally it was necessary to provide the jury
    with background information about what AFIS was and how it worked
    because without that information, the fact that the State had utilized AFIS as
    part of the investigation would mean nothing to the jury. The jury needed to
    know why utilizing AFIS demonstrated that the police had conducted a
    thorough, fair investigation, and that necessitated them knowing what AFIS
    was and why it was a useful investigative tool. Therefore the AFIS evidence
    was relevant to the State’s case as it helped demonstrate that the police had
    Brief of Appellee
    Victoria County Criminal District Attorney
    No. 13-14-00465-CR
    14
    performed a proper investigation in this case.
    Appellant now contends that the evidence about the lack of
    fingerprints was of no real value to the State’s case and could have been
    introduced through other means. As to the first point, it is a common trial
    tactic for parties to introduce evidence harmful to their own case so as to
    control how that evidence is brought before the fact finder and to hopefully
    “pull the sting” of the harmful evidence. See Stone v. State, 
    17 S.W.3d 348
    ,
    349 (Tex. App.-Corpus Christi 2000, pet. ref’d).           Thus it was entirely
    reasonable for the State to elicit from its own witnesses the fact that no
    fingerprints matching the Appellant were located at the scene.              The
    prosecutor had to expect that if he did not introduce the lack of fingerprint
    evidence the defense would, and that by introducing the evidence himself he
    could at least get value in showing the thoroughness and fairness of the
    police investigation in this case.
    As for Appellant’s second point, the fact that relevant evidence
    could have been presented through some other means does not make the
    evidence irrelevant. The AFIS related evidence was relevant both to pull the
    sting from the lack of fingerprint evidence and to give the jury the full
    context of how the State conducted its investigation in this case, and
    therefore the evidence was properly held to be relevant. The Appellant’s
    Brief of Appellee
    Victoria County Criminal District Attorney
    No. 13-14-00465-CR
    15
    proposed method might have been adequate for introducing sufficient
    evidence to “pull the sting” from the lack of fingerprint evidence, but it
    would have been wholly inadequate for giving context to how the State
    conducted its investigation.                        The evidence was relevant for multiple
    purposes, and the State therefore was justified in seeking to admit it in a
    manner that would address all of the ways in which the evidence was
    relevant.
    Of course just because evidence is relevant does not automatically
    make it admissible.                          Otherwise relevant evidence can still be deemed
    inadmissible if its probative value is substantially outweighed by the danger
    of unfair prejudice, confusion of the issues, or misleading the jury, or by
    considerations of undue delay, or needless presentation of cumulative
    evidence. See TEX. R. EVID. 403; Casey v. State, 
    215 S.W.3d 870
    , 879
    (Tex. Crim. App. 2007).
    In evaluating the relative probative value versus the unfairly
    prejudicial effect of evidence, trial courts must consider 1) the inherent
    probative force of the proffered item of evidence; (2) the proponent's need
    for that evidence; (3) any tendency of the evidence to suggest decision on an
    improper basis; (4) any tendency of the evidence to confuse or distract the
    jury from the main issues; (5) any tendency of the evidence to be given
    Brief of Appellee
    Victoria County Criminal District Attorney
    No. 13-14-00465-CR
    16
    undue weight by a jury that has not been equipped to evaluate the probative
    force of the evidence, and (6) the likelihood that presentation of the evidence
    will consume an inordinate amount of time or merely repeat evidence
    already admitted. Gigliobianco v. State, 
    210 S.W.3d 637
    , 641-642 (Tex.
    Crim. App. 2006). The trial court’s determination is only to be reversed
    after a “clear abuse of discretion.” Mozon v. State, 
    991 S.W.2d 841
    , 84
    (Tex. Crim. App. 2004).
    Considering the six Gigliobianco factors, it is clear the trial court did
    not abuse its discretion in finding the AFIS evidence was not unfairly
    prejudicial. As to the first and second factors, the evidence clearly had
    probative force. Probative force is not precisely the same thing as relevance.
    Instead probative force means how strongly an item of evidence serves to
    make more or less probable the existence of a fact of consequence to the
    litigation, coupled with the proponents need for that item. 
    Gigliobianco, 210 S.W.3d at 641
    . The prior discussion in this brief about relevance already
    addressed how the AFIS testimony served to make more probable the
    existence of a fact of consequence to the litigation, specifically that the
    police conducted a thorough, competent investigation, fully utilizing all
    available resources to investigate every investigative lead on the case.
    Furthermore, the State had a clear need for this evidence, as much of the
    Brief of Appellee
    Victoria County Criminal District Attorney
    No. 13-14-00465-CR
    17
    defense strategy for the case was in attacking the competence and
    thoroughness of the police investigation. If the jury lost confidence in the
    fairness and thoroughness of the police investigation they would be far more
    likely to disregard the other forensic evidence obtained by the investigating
    officers and without that evidence the State would have no case. Therefore
    the probative force of this evidence was clear, and the State had a definite
    need for the evidence.
    As for the third Gigliobianco factor, the tendency of this evidence to
    suggest decision on an improper basis was exceedingly slight. The evidence
    presented at trial was very clear that it was not only people who had been
    arrested that were in AFIS, but rather all State employees and anyone who
    had ever undergone a State background check were also in the system. [RR-
    V-123]. Indeed the prosecutor himself established that his own fingerprints
    were in the AFIS system. Because the evidence established that AFIS held
    data from a wide segment of the population, there is little reason to believe
    that jurors would infer the Appellant had a criminal history simply because
    his fingerprints were in AFIS.
    Notably, the Dallas Court of Appeals addressed a similar issue in the
    Mata case concerning evidence about the CODIS DNA database. See Mata
    v. State, No. 05-05-00504-CR, 
    2007 WL 882439
    , at 5 (Tex. App.-Dallas
    Brief of Appellee
    Victoria County Criminal District Attorney
    No. 13-14-00465-CR
    18
    2007, pet. ref’d)(not designated for publication). The defense in Mata raised
    the same concern that has been raised in this case, that jurors might think
    that someone in CODIS has been previously convicted of an offense. 
    Id. The Dallas
    Court of Appeals concluded though that since the evidence
    presented in that case showed that not just criminals had their fingerprints in
    CODIS but also government employees, the court could not make the
    assumption that the jurors would conclude that the defendant was a “known
    offender” rather than just a “known individual.” 
    Id. That same
    logic applies
    in the present case. Any danger that the evidence about AFIS would lead
    jurors to decide the case on an improper basis was removed due to the
    testimony that AFIS included data on non-arrestees. Therefore there was no
    unfair prejudice.
    Appellant’s argument that it is unlikely that jurors would believe a
    defendant accused of robbing a convenience store had ever been a former
    State employee or had received a State background check is unpersuasive
    and unsupported by any facts. Appellant voir dired on the question of
    whether the jury could give the Appellant the full presumption of innocence,
    and no juror indicated any problem with doing so.                  [RR-IV-132].
    Furthermore, prior to the case being submitted to the jury, the trial court
    gave the jury specific instructions that they could not consider the fact that
    Brief of Appellee
    Victoria County Criminal District Attorney
    No. 13-14-00465-CR
    19
    the defendant had been indicted as evidence against him. [CR-I-25]. The
    presumption is that juries follow the trial court’s instructions. See Thrift v.
    State, 
    176 S.W.3d 221
    , 224 (Tex. Crim. App. 2005).               Appellant has
    produced no evidence to rebut that presumption and establish that the jury
    disregarded the trial court’s explicit instructions. Therefore the presumption
    of proper jury conduct should hold.
    To believe that the jury would conclude that Appellant must have a
    criminal history due to being in AFIS, it is necessary to believe that the jury
    lied en masse during voir dire, ignored the court’s specific instructions not to
    hold the fact that he had been indicted against him, and apparently believed
    that no one who has ever worked for the State or received a background
    examination from the State could ever be accused of a criminal offense.
    None of those suppositions are supported by any evidence and the last
    requires a belief that is patently illogical. Therefore there is no rational basis
    to believe that the jury could have used the AFIS evidence for an improper
    purpose.
    It must also be noted that far more potentially prejudicial evidence
    about possible criminal history has been permitted than AFIS related data.
    For instance it is long settled Texas law that in cases where the jury may be
    called upon to access punishment, the prosecutor may during voir dire
    Brief of Appellee
    Victoria County Criminal District Attorney
    No. 13-14-00465-CR
    20
    question the panel about sentence enhancements so long as the explanation
    of the law stays hypothetical and does not inform the jury of specific
    enhancement allegations against the defendant. See Bevill v. State, 
    573 S.W. 2d
    781, 783 (Tex. Crim. App. 1978). Such hypotheticals have far more
    potential to alert a clever jury that a defendant has prior criminal history than
    information about a database that contains information not just on prior
    arrestees, but also on all State employees and everyone who has received a
    State background check. As such if the former conduct is permissible then
    the later clearly does not risk signaling to the jury that a defendant has a
    prior criminal history.
    As to the fourth Gigliobianco factor, there was clearly no risk that the
    AFIS information would tend to confuse or distract the jury from the main
    issues of the trial. The concept of AFIS, that there is a government database
    with fingerprints in it, is a simple one, and the prosecutor quickly and
    efficiently moved through the AFIS questions. Thus there is no reason to
    believe these questions injected any confusion or distraction into the trial.
    Likewise as to the fifth Gigliobianco factor, there is no reason to
    believe AFIS related evidence would be given undue weight by the jury.
    While relevant to help show that the investigating officers did a thorough job
    in their investigation, it was just one of the pieces of evidence showing how
    Brief of Appellee
    Victoria County Criminal District Attorney
    No. 13-14-00465-CR
    21
    the investigation was conducted. Nor is evidence about the existence of a
    fingerprint database the type of evidence that is intrinsically inflammatory or
    otherwise likely to fixate a jury’s attention; especially when the jury is
    explicitly informed that the database is not just for suspected criminals but
    rather holds the fingerprints of everyone who has ever worked for the state
    government or received a background check from same.
    And as to the final Gigliobianco factor, it is clear the AFIS evidence
    did not consume a great deal of time or needlessly repeat existing evidence.
    The prosecutor asked a grand total of four questions about AFIS. [RR-V-
    122-124]. The answers to those four questions was all of seven sentences
    long (one of which was a single word sentence.) 
    Id. And after
    those brief
    questions, the prosecutor never mentioned AFIS again for the rest of the
    trial. Therefore the amount of time spent on this subject was minimal. Nor
    did these questions repeat existing evidence, as this was the only evidence to
    show that the investigating officers did a thorough job in attempting to
    match the fingerprints taken at the scene with known fingerprint samples.
    As such all six of the Gigliobianco factors support the trial court’s
    determination that the probative value of the AFIS evidence was not
    substantially outweighed by its danger of unfair prejudice.             The AFIS
    evidence’s probative value may have been relatively modest, but the danger
    Brief of Appellee
    Victoria County Criminal District Attorney
    No. 13-14-00465-CR
    22
    of unfair prejudice from that evidence was negligible, and the time spent
    developing the evidence was exceedingly minor. Therefore its probative
    value was clearly not substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair
    prejudice.
    The AFIS related evidence was neither irrelevant nor unfairly
    prejudicial and as such the trial court acted well within its sound discretion
    in allowing that evidence to be admitted into evidence. As such the trial
    court’s decision should be upheld on appeal.
    III. Any error from the admission of the AFIS evidence was
    harmless.
    In the alternative, even if there was error in the admission of the
    AFIS evidence, that error would be harmless given the overwhelming
    evidence of Appellant’s guilt.
    The erroneous admission of evidence is non-constitutional error
    under Rule 44.2(b) of the Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure. See Ketchum
    v. State, 
    199 S.W.3d 581
    , 593 (Tex. App.-Corpus Christi 2006, pet. ref’d).
    A criminal conviction should not be overturned for non-constitutional error
    if the appellate court, after examining the record as a whole, has fair
    assurance that the error did not have a “substantial and injurious effect or
    influence in determining the jury’s verdict.” 
    Casey, 215 S.W.3d at 885
    . In
    Brief of Appellee
    Victoria County Criminal District Attorney
    No. 13-14-00465-CR
    23
    the present case, it is clear that any error from the admission of the AFIS
    records would not have had a substantial and injurious effect or influence on
    the verdict, and thus such error would be harmless.
    Independent from the AFIS evidence, there was overwhelming
    evidence of Appellant’s guilt. The victim, Ms. Josefa Tamayo, established
    that the man who robbed her was slightly taller than her (she being 5’5) and
    was heavyset. [RR-V-32-33]. Detective Amy Grothe would later establish
    the Appellant was 5’7 and weighed about 200 pounds, a height and weight
    consistent with Ms. Tamayo’s description of the man who robbed her. [RR-
    V-114].             But far more conclusive was the evidence established by Ms.
    Tamayo and by the video tapes of the robbery that the robber cut himself
    with a knife and got his blood on both the knife and the door handle. [RR-
    V-21-22, State’s Exhibits 1-2, 8, 15]. That same blood evidence would then
    be established to a scientific certainty by forensic scientist Ms. Lisa Harmon
    Baylor as belonging to the Appellant. [RR-V-152, 154; State’s Exhibit 21].
    The odds of a random unrelated person providing the DNA match on the
    blood sample were literally in the quintillions as to both samples. 
    Id. That is
    as close to an absolute certainty as it is possible to be about anything.
    Thus there was overwhelming evidence showing that Appellant was the man
    who committed the aggravated robbery.
    Brief of Appellee
    Victoria County Criminal District Attorney
    No. 13-14-00465-CR
    24
    At the same time any prejudicial effect from the admission of the
    AFIS related information would be incredibly slight. No specifics were
    provided about any actual conviction Appellant ever received. Indeed the
    AFIS testimony did not even indicate that you had to have a conviction to be
    in their system. All it indicated was that people who were booked into a jail
    facility had their information go into AFIS. [RR-V-123]. That is not an
    indication of a conviction, since all it takes to go to a jail is simply being
    arrested. Innocent people can plausibly be arrested, and people can likewise
    be arrested for youthful indiscretions, or minor traffic offenses. The mere
    fact that a person has been to jail does not mean they are a bad person or that
    they have a predisposition to commit crimes, and it is implausible to believe
    that even if the jury believed from the AFIS testimony that Appellant had
    previously been arrested, that that testimony without any details about the
    circumstances surrounding that arrest, would so influence the jury as to
    impact their verdict. Our system presumes that our juries are rational and no
    rational fact finder would rush to judgment based on merely a hint that a
    defendant had once been arrested.
    The risk of an irrational response to the AFIS evidence was even
    further eliminated in this case because the trial prosecutor took active steps
    to minimize any potential for inflammatory impact from the AFIS evidence.
    Brief of Appellee
    Victoria County Criminal District Attorney
    No. 13-14-00465-CR
    25
    As already discussed the prosecutor specifically established that his own
    fingerprints were also in AFIS, thus implicitly arguing that you could be a
    law abiding person and still be in the system. [RR-V-123]. The prosecutor
    then reiterated that non-criminals have their fingerprints in AFIS. 
    Id. And after
    that the prosecutor never made any reference to AFIS again for the
    remainder of the trial. Between the prosecutor emphasizing that being in
    AFIS does not make you a criminal, and then the prosecutor not referencing
    AFIS again at any point in the trial, the potential improper prejudicial impact
    of any AFIS related evidence would obviously be greatly lessened. Given
    the prosecutor’s lack of emphasis on the AFIS evidence the jury would have
    no reason to think the AFIS evidence had any importance (other than in
    helping to show the thoroughness of the police investigation).
    As such when we balance the overwhelming evidence of Appellant’
    guilt, the inherent non-inflammatory nature of the AFIS evidence, and the
    active measures the trial prosecutor took to minimize any risk of misuse of
    the AFIS evidence, it is clear that the AFIS evidence would not have had a
    substantial and injurious effect or influence on the verdict. Accordingly,
    even if the admission of that evidence was error any such error was harmless
    and can be disregarded.
    Brief of Appellee
    Victoria County Criminal District Attorney
    No. 13-14-00465-CR
    26
    PRAYER
    WHEREFORE, PREMISES CONSIDERED, the State prays that this
    Honorable Court affirm the judgment of the trial court.
    .
    Respectfully submitted,
    STEPHEN B. TYLER
    CRIMINAL DISTRICT ATTORNEY
    /s/ Brendan W. Guy
    Brendan W. Guy
    Assistant Criminal District Attorney
    SBN 24034895
    205 North Bridge Street, Suite 301
    Victoria, Texas 77902
    E-mail: bguy@vctx.org
    Telephone: (361) 575-0468
    Facsimile: (361) 576-4139
    ATTORNEYS FOR THE APPELLEE,
    THE STATE OF TEXAS
    Brief of Appellee
    Victoria County Criminal District Attorney
    No. 13-14-00465-CR
    27
    CERTIFICATE OF COMPLIANCE
    In compliance with Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure 9.4(i)(3), I,
    Brendan Wyatt Guy, Assistant Criminal District Attorney, Victoria County,
    Texas, certify that the number of words in Appellee’s Brief submitted on
    March 18, 2015, excluding those matters listed in Rule 9.4(i)(1) is 5,656.
    /s/ Brendan W. Guy
    Brendan W. Guy
    Assistant Criminal District Attorney
    SBN 24034895
    205 North Bridge Street, Suite 301
    Victoria, Texas 77902
    E-mail: bguy@vctx.org
    Telephone: (361) 575-0468
    Facsimile: (361) 576-4139
    Brief of Appellee
    Victoria County Criminal District Attorney
    No. 13-14-00465-CR
    28
    CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
    I, Brendan Wyatt Guy, Assistant Criminal District Attorney, Victoria
    County, Texas, certify that a copy of the foregoing brief has been served on
    W. A. (Bill) White, Attorney for the Appellant, by depositing same in the
    United States Mail, postage prepaid on the day of March 18, 2015.
    /s/ Brendan W. Guy
    Brendan W. Guy
    Assistant Criminal District Attorney
    SBN 24034895
    205 North Bridge Street, Suite 301
    Victoria, Texas 77902
    E-mail: bguy@vctx.org
    Telephone: (361) 575-0468
    Facsimile: (361) 576-4139
    Brief of Appellee
    Victoria County Criminal District Attorney
    No. 13-14-00465-CR
    29