Clifford Bernard Nelson v. State, 06-14-00204-CR

Defendant Clifford Bernard Nelson convicted after bench trial of misdemeanor assault causing bodily injury (family violence); sentenced to 350 days jail and $500 fine.
Police found victim Erica Minifield shortly after an April 28, 2013 assault with fresh lacerations, a scalp gash stapled at the hospital, and high reported pain; officers made an audio/video recording of her statement at the hospital.
In the recorded statement and to medical personnel, Minifield identified Nelson as the person who beat her with a stick; at trial she recanted and said she did not recall who assaulted her.
Witnesses (friends and EMS/ER personnel) testified Minifield had told them Nelson or her "baby daddy" had assaulted her; medical testimony described injuries consistent with blunt-force trauma.
The trial court admitted Minifield’s recorded hospital statement over Nelson’s hearsay objection; Nelson appealed admission and also challenged sufficiency of the evidence identifying him as the assailant.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Admissibility of recorded hospital statement	State: recording admissible under hearsay exceptions (excited utterance; present sense impression; ongoing emergency) and for impeachment	Nelson: recording inadmissible hearsay, not a prior inconsistent statement or medical/mental condition statement; not proper impeachment since declarant hadn’t yet testified	Court: admissible as excited utterance under Tex. R. Evid. 803(2); no abuse of discretion in admission
Sufficiency of identification evidence	State: independent testimony (ER staff, EMS, friends) and Minifield’s prior statements suffice to identify Nelson as assailant even without recording	Nelson: without the hospital recording, evidence is insufficient to identify him as the perpetrator	Court: evidence legally sufficient—factfinder could credit the contemporaneous statements and other witnesses over trial recantation; conviction affirmed

Zuliani v. State, 97 S.W.3d 589 (Tex. Crim. App. 2003) (standards for excited utterance/admission of hearsay)
Davis v. Washington, 547 U.S. 813 (2006) (ongoing emergency framework for admissibility of statements to police)
Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36 (2004) (Confrontation Clause principles regarding prior testimonial statements)
Brooks v. State, 323 S.W.3d 893 (Tex. Crim. App. 2010) (legal-sufficiency review under Jackson/Brooks)
Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (1979) (standard for sufficiency of the evidence)
Vinson v. State, 252 S.W.3d 336 (Tex. Crim. App. 2008) (factors for determining whether statements were made during an ongoing emergency)