AFFIRMED and Opinion Filed February 26, 2013.
In The
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No. 05-11-01270-CR
ADRIAN QUEZADA JR., Appellant
V.
THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee
On Appeal from the Criminal District Court No. 3
Dallas County, Texas
Trial Court Cause No. F09-30155-J
OPINION
Before Justices Lang-Miers, Myers, and Richter
Opinion by Justice Lang-Miers
Adrian Quezada Jr. pleaded guilty to manslaughter with a deadly weapon, a motor
vehicle. The trial court found appellant guilty of manslaughter with a deadly weapon, not a
firearm, and assessed punishment at ten years’ confinement and a $2,000 fine. In his sole issue
on appeal, appellant argues that the trial court abused its discretion by permitting a lay witness to
give scientific expert testimony to prove extraneous bad acts during the punishment phase of
trial. Finding no reversible error, we affirm the trial court’s judgment.
The Honorable Martin E. Richter, Retired Justice, Court of Appeals, Fifth District of Texas at Dallas, sitting by assignment.
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BACKGROUNP
Appellant drove while intoxicated and killed Robert Joslin when he hit the vehicle Joslin
was driving. Accident reconstructionist and Grand Prairie police officer Crystal Ziegler testified
that appellant was driving an Expedition at a speed of 87 miles per hour when he approached a
red traffic light at which the vehicle driven by Joslin, a iTyearold high school senior, was
stopped behind an SUV. Joslin’s vehicle was sandwiched between appellant’s Expedition and
the SUV. The force of the impact jammed the rear of Joslin’s vehicle into the front seat and
caused the SUV to go through the intersection and come to a stop on the other side, Joslin, his
passenger, and appellant were taken to the hospital. Joslin died from his injuries. Appellant’s
toxicology report showed a blood alcohol concentration level of .20.
At the suggestion of his attorney, appellant voluntarily wore a Secure Continuous Remote
Alcohol Monitor (SCRAM> device or “bracelet” around his ankle to monitor his alcohol
consumption while on pretrial release. At some point, the court held appellant’s bond insufficient
and he was arrested pending trial. Appellant waived a jury and pleaded guilty to the court under
the condition that he would not seek probation.
During the sentencing hearing, the State called Vickers Cunningham, former Dallas
criminal district court judge and Chief Operating Officer of Recovery Healthcare Corp., the
company that provided and monitored appellant’s SCRAM device. Cunningham testified that
Recovery Healthcare “monitors the tracking and treatment and education of criminal justice
offenders in Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana.” He testified that the SCRAM device “is a fuel
cell that takes a sample every 30 minutes sampling the individual’s insensible perspiration.” He
explained that if the device detects “transdermal alcohol,” it sends a report through the internet to
the company’s offices where it alerts “a human to look at the data and determine whether or not
an individual has been consuming alcohol or tampering with the device.” He testified that in the
previous year his company monitored 4700 individuals, and the SCRAM technology performed
over 27 million alcohol tests.
Following this testimony by Cunningham, appellant objected and questioned the witness
on voir dire about his qualifications to give scientific opinions about the SCRAM device, After
the voir dire examination, the trial court did not qualify Cunningham as an expert witness, but
did allow Cunningham to testify as the company’s custodian of records. The State then offered
into evidence an exhibit containing multiple pages of data from appellant’s SCRAM device.
Defense counsel objected to the admission of the exhibit arguing that the State had “not laid the
proper predicate for the introduction of” the exhibit. The trial court admitted the exhibit.
The State asked Cunningham whether he was able to determine that appellant consumed
alcohol while he was wearing the SCRAM device. Defense counsel objected arguing that the
proper foundation was not established for Cunningham to answer the question. The trial court
instructed the State to rephrase “keeping in mind that this witness has been qualified only as a
custodian of records.” The State then asked Cunningham whether, “[biased on the report,” he
was “able to determine, based on the records, if [appellanti consumed alcohol.” Defense counsel
did not object. Cunningham testified that the records showed “a tampering event, and I need to
explain tampering.” As he began to explain that “[tjhe device has an internal infrared device that
sends out a signal of light,” defense counsel objected that Cunningham was testifying as an
expert. The trial court overruled the objection “as to that question.” Cunningham then gave a
lengthy explanation about appellant’s “baseline” reading, what happens when “something is
placed between [the devicel and the individual’s skin” and “causes the JR. infrared, to go out of
compliance,” and how certain data in the records of appellant’s SCRAM device showed “a major
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disruption in the ER sequence.” He stated that the records showed “a confirmed obstruction” on
certain dates. The trial court interrupted Cunningham and told the State to “laisk your next
question.” The State asked whether Cunningham was “able to determine in April, April 30th
through May 1st, that lappellanti had, in fact, a confinned tamper with the bracelet?” Defense
counsel did not object. The State asked whether there were any other confirmed tampers, and
Cunningham answered, all without objection.
The State asked Cunningham to explain the meaning of “transdermai alcohol.” Defense
counsel did not object. Cunningham testified that when an individual consumes alcohol he
eliminates approximately 1% through his skin. He said, “The fuel cell [in the SCRAM device] is
a very sensitive device and is able to detect very low levels transdermally, so it is actually
smelling or detecting alcohol being eliminated through the skin.” He said a notation of
“confirmed tampering” means the “tampering was in place for more than eight hours.” Referring
to the records from appellant’s SCRAM device, Cunningham testified that the data showed that
appellant had at least six confirmed tampering events and a confirmed consumption event during
a two-month period. Appellant wore the device for over a year. All of this testimony came in
without objection.
The State also presented evidence about how the accident happened and appellant’s prior
dealings with law enforcement. The defense called character witnesses. Following the
presentation of evidence, the trial court assessed appellant’s sentence at ten years’ confinement
and a $2,000 fine.
DISCUSSION
In his sole issue on appeal, appellant argues that the trial court abused its discretion by
permitting Cunningham to give expert, scientific testimony about the SCRAM device to prove
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that appellant consumed alcohol while awaiting trial. He argues that the error affected his
substantial rights to a fair punishment hearing because the testimony undercut his theory that he
was remorselul and accepted responsIbility.
Evidence of extraneous had acts is admissible during the punishment phase of trial if the
trial court deems the evidence relevant to sentencing. See Tix. CoDf CRIM. PROC. ANN. art.
37.07, § 3(a)( I) (West Supp. 2012), The State “may offer evidence of any extraneous crime or
bad act that is shown, beyond a reasonable doubt, either to have been (1) an act committed by the
defendant or (2) an act for which he could he held criminally responsible.” Haley i State, 173
S.W.3d 510, 514 (Tex. Crim. App. 2005). Because the question in the punishment phase is not
whether the defendant committed a crime, but rather what sentence should be assessed, “the
punishment phase requires the lfactfinderI only find that these prior acts are attributable to the
defendant beyond a reasonable doubt.” id. at 515.
We review a trial court’s decision to admit extraneous offense evidence for an abuse of
discretion. See id at 513—15. If we conclude that the admission of the evidence was error, we
will not reverse unless it affected appellant’s substantial rights to a fair sentencing trial. See
Cable c. State, 330 S.W.3d 253, 380 (Tex. Crim. App. 2010). “A substantial right is affected
when the error had a substantial and injurious effect or influence in determining the I fact
finderl’s verdict.” Id. in making this determination, we review the entire record. Id.
Appellant initially argues that the court’s ruling that Cunningham could testify as the
custodian of records of Recovery Healthcare “only addressed the admissibility of the monitoring
report.” We disagree. Appellant objected to Cunningham’s qualifications to give scientific
opinions about the SCRAM device, and it was after that objection that the court ruled that
Cunningham could testify as the custodian of records. Appellant did not argue that
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Cunningham’s testimony should be limited to admission of the monitoring reporL And when the
State later offered the monitoring report into evidence through Cunningham, appellant objected
only on the grounds that the State had not laid the proper predicate. Appellant never sought a
ruling restricting Cunningham’s testimony solely to the admission of the monitoring report, and
we do not construe the trial court’s ruling to so restrict his testimony.
Appellant also contends that, despite the limitation on Cunningham’s testimony, he gave
expert, scientific opinions about how the SCRAM device worked and that appellant tampered
with the device. Appellant cites Cunningham’s testimony about the device’s “fuel cell”;
“transdermal alcohol”; “the IR scheme”; and causes of disruptions to the device’s monitoring
ability. He argues that without Cunningham’s explanations, the State did not prove beyond a
reasonable doubt that appellant tampered with the device or consumed alcohol pending trial. And
he argues that without this testimony the argument for “such a stiff punishment for a first-time
offender is less persuasive”
Because the trial court allowed Cunningham to testify as the custodian of records, and
appellant did not object to that ruling, it was incumbent upon appellant to object when he
believed the State’s questions went beyond the testimony of a custodian of records. See TEX. R.
APP. P. 311; see also Lane v. State, 151 S.W.3d 188, 193 (Tex. Crim. App. 2004) (appellant
must object each time inadmissible evidence is offered); Leday v. State, 983 S.W.2d 713, 717—18
(Tex. Crim. App. 1998) (same). But appellant did not object each time the State’s questions
veered into the domain of an expert, and he did not object to the specific testimony he complains
about on appeal. In fact, without objection, Cunningham explained the meaning of “transdermal
alcohol.” Referring to the SCRAM reports, Cunningham also testified, without objection, about
confirmed tampers on April 4—5, April 30 through May 1, May 7—12, May 12—19, May 21—24,
and May 30 through June 1; and he explained that a notation of “confirmed tampering” meant
the “tampering was in place for more than eight hours.” He testified that the monitoring data
showed appellant had at least six confirmed tampering events and a confirmed consumption
event during a two-month period. We conclude that appellant did not preserve his complaints for
our review because he did not object to the testimony about which he complains on appeal.
But even if the trial court abused its discretion by allowing Cunningham to testify, we
conclude that the error did not affect appellant’s substantial rights to a fair sentencing trial.
The record does not show affirmatively that the trial court considered Cunningham’s
testimony about how the SCRAM device works, See Lockert v. State, 16 S.W.3d 504, 505—06
(Tex. App.—Houston fist Dist] 2000, pet. ref’d). And the SCRAM monitoring report
introduced into evidence through Cunningham as the custodian of records contained various
entries stating, “Confirmed tamper,” with a specific date and time, and “Confirmed tamper
Client is showing a pattern of non-compliance”; notations stating, “Client missed scheduled
communication time”; “Alert has been determined to be a confirmed violation”; “Bracelet has
not communicated with Modem for 24 hours”; “Bracelet and Modem Communication
Interruption”; and “No Readings from Bracelet for an Extended Period of Time.” The records
showed that after an alert of “potential consumption,” the company called appellant about the
alert and “he said he can’t drink” but that “he was ‘with’ his girlfriend.” The records also showed
that appellant was advised that his bracelet was too loose, but he said he did not want it tightened
and to leave it the way it was. Entries for May 4, 2010, stated “Confirmed consumption with
obstruction” and “Alcohol is detected[.j”
Other evidence offered during the sentencing hearing showed that appellant was
underage at the time of the accident and that he had been drinking because of a fight with his
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girlfriend, his cliilds mother, and because somebody in a white car had sideswiped his tmck and
did not slop. 1-Ic went to see a Iriend to talk and carried a I 2-pack of beer with him. Then he
refused his friend’s offer to stay there instead of driving.
The evidence showed that appellant compared this accident to one in Tarrant County
where the defendant was sentenced to four years and appellant said he did not believe he “should
even do two years” because it was an accident, he “only killed one person,” and his case “ain’t as
bad as the [Tarrant Countyl case.” The evidence showed that appellant had been arrested or
ticketed several times relating to underage alcohol or marijuana possession in the four years prior
to this accident; he smoked marijuana about four times a week from the ages of 14 to 17; he used
cocaine at age 1 8: and he skipped school and failed most of his classes. Appellant admitted that
he lied to the doctor who conducted his psychological evaluation, and the evidence showed that
appellant had discussed getting a tattoo in jail of the Texas Rangers when the sentencing hearing
was over and that he planned to fight his cell mate after the sentencing hearing because his cell
mate “keeps pushing me and I hide, you know, but I can’t hide for long...
Finally, the punishment range in this second.degree felony case was from two years to
twenty years and a fine up to $10,000. The trial court assessed appellant’s punishment at ten
years, in the middle of the range, and a $2,000 fine.
We resolve appellant’s sole issue against him.
- ELIZABETH LANG-MIERS -
JUSTICE
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JUDGMENT
ADRIAN QUEZADA JR., Appellant On Appeal from the Criminal District Court
No. 3, Dallas County, Texas
No. 05-1 U01270-CR V. Trial Court Cause No. F09-30155-J.
Opinion delivered by Justice Lang-Miers.
THE STATE OF TEXAS. Appellee Justices Myers and Richter participating.
Based on the Court’s opinion of this date, the judgment of the trial court is AFFIR1IED,
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Judgment entered this day of February, 2013.
ELIZABETH LANG-MIERS
JUSTICE