Background

• Victim Maxie Flowers was shot and killed while riding a bicycle in Galveston on October 13, 2011.
• Appellant Ralph Garcia, Jr. was tried for murder; no direct physical evidence linking him to the shooting (shotgun not recovered; shell casings found at scene; green shells in appellant’s bedroom).
• Sarah Alvarez, appellant’s ex-girlfriend, was the crucial eyewitness; she gave inconsistent statements at trial and to police but ultimately identified Garcia as the shooter after reviewing her prior videotaped statements.
• Officer Clemente Garcia (appellant’s cousin) testified that Alvarez told him she was present and an eyewitness; a nine-second videotaped remark to Officer Garcia—"I am the key to the whole thing because I was there with [appellant]... I could be charged with murder, too"—was played for the jury and admitted as a statement against penal interest.
• Appellant appealed, arguing the trial court abused its discretion by admitting Alvarez’s statement to Officer Garcia under the statement-against-interest hearsay exception and that admission was harmful given Alvarez’s central role and credibility issues.
• The Court of Appeals affirmed, holding any error in admitting the statement was harmless because the content was cumulative of other testimony already before the jury.

Issues

Key Cases Cited

• Tillman v. State, 354 S.W.3d 425 (Tex. Crim. App. 2011) (standard of review for admissibility of evidence)
• Coleman v. State, 428 S.W.3d 151 (Tex. App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 2014) (non-constitutional hearsay error subject to harm analysis)
• Brooks v. State, 990 S.W.2d 278 (Tex. Crim. App. 1999) (erroneous admission cured when same evidence admitted elsewhere without objection)
• Valle v. State, 109 S.W.3d 500 (Tex. Crim. App. 2003) (error in admission of evidence cured where same evidence comes in elsewhere without objection)