Commonwealth v. Garcia, 476 Mass. 822

Background

Defendant (stepfather) was convicted by a Superior Court jury of raping his 19-year-old stepdaughter, Sally; conviction later appealed.
At trial Sally testified she awoke to the defendant performing digital penetration; defendant apologized and left; Sally left the apartment.
During trial the defense elicited (through the mother) that Sally had sarcastically claimed to be pregnant to express frustration, prompting the Commonwealth to seek context evidence.
The prosecutor was initially restrained from asking the mother about a private marital conversation in which the defendant allegedly confessed because of the spousal disqualification rule; after sidebar the judge allowed recall testimony from both mother and Sally.
The mother denied telling Sally of any confession; the jury then heard Sally testify that her mother had told her the defendant said he was sorry and thought Sally was his wife — admitted solely to impeach the mother.
The Supreme Judicial Court reversed the conviction, holding admission of the spouse’s alleged confession via Sally was improper and unduly prejudicial, creating a substantial risk of miscarriage of justice.

Issues

Issue	Commonwealth's Argument	Garcia's Argument	Held
Whether marital disqualification (§ 20, First) bars admission of a spouse’s private conversation when introduced through a third-party disclosure	A third-party disclosure (to Sally) removes the disqualification so Sally may relate the spouse’s statement	§ 20, First disqualifies testimony about private marital conversations even if a spouse has disclosed the conversation to a third party	Court held the disqualification barred admission here; Sally’s testimony about the marital conversation was improperly admitted and reversal required
Whether Sally’s testimony could be admitted as context for her sarcastic pregnancy claim	The confession was probative of why Sally made the pregnancy remark and thus admissible for context	Admission would introduce a highly prejudicial confession with minimal contextual probative value	Court held the confession was not admissible even for context because prejudice substantially outweighed probative value
Whether the evidence was admissible for impeachment of the mother	Commonwealth argued impeachment permitted when mother denied telling Sally about defendant’s statement	Garcia argued impeachment cannot introduce barred marital communications	Court held impeachment did not overcome the marital disqualification; admission was improper
Whether the error was harmless	Commonwealth argued any error was harmless given other evidence of guilt	Garcia argued the confession was highly prejudicial and influenced the jury	Court held error not harmless; conviction reversed and remanded

Key Cases Cited

Gallagher v. Goldstein, 402 Mass. 457 (affirming exclusion of private marital conversation when nonspouse objects)
Miller v. Miller, 448 Mass. 320 (private marital conversation admitted without objection may be considered for full probative effect)
Rosario v. Commonwealth, 430 Mass. 505 (warning that inflammatory testimony carries high probability of misuse)
Alphas v. Commonwealth, 430 Mass. 8 (error that materially influences verdict creates substantial risk of miscarriage of justice)
Phinney v. Commonwealth, 446 Mass. 155 (distinguishing hearsay rules from improper use of out-of-court statements for their truth)