ANGELA BARONE, APPELLANT,
v.
THE STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 3d DCA | 2003-04-09
No. 3D01-2471
Before SCHWARTZ, C.J., SHEVIN and WELLS, JJ.
841 So. 2d 653 Florida District Court of Appeal, Third District (2003) Positive Treatment
Cited by 6 cases

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.


Holding

The court held that the co-defendant's hearsay statement was inadmissible under the 'opening the door' or 'rule of completeness' doctrines because the defense's limited cross-examination on a collateral issue did not justify admitting the entire statement.


Headnotes

[1] A co-defendant's hearsay statement is not admissible under the "rule of completeness" when defense counsel's cross-examination of a detective on a collateral matter regar…

[2] The "opening the door" doctrine does not permit the admission of an entire hearsay statement of a non-testifying co-defendant based on defense counsel's limited cross-exa…

Previewing 2 of 4 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Facts & Procedural History

Angela Barone was convicted of drug trafficking offenses. At trial, the court admitted a post-arrest statement from her co-defendant, Gloria Baez, whi…

The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.


Opinion of the Court
SHEVIN, Judge.

SHEVIN, Judge.

Angela Barone appeals a judgment of convictions for conspiracy to traffic, trafficking and importation of phenethylamine. We reverse.

Barone and Gloria Baez, her travel companion, were arrested at Miami International Airport; a search of Barone’s luggage revealed drugs secreted in toiletry containers. Baez gave the following post-arrest statement:

I Gloria Baez was supposed to travel to Amsterdam with Angela — -Angela and I were supposed to pick up and each bring 3,000 pills each — I Gloria Baez decided that it was not worth it and left them behind.

Later we were supposed to deliver them to Cornelli.

While in Amsterdam, I help Angela with packaging (cleaning) the ecstacy. (I am willing to cooperate in helping contacting Cornelli).

Baez entered into a plea bargain with the state and was not tried with Barone. At trial, the court ruled that Baez’s entire statement was admissible after defense counsel cross-examined Detective Prellezo whether Baez, rather than Barone, named Cornelli as the intended recipient. Barone testified that she knew nothing about the drugs; she stated that the toiletry containers belonged to Baez, her co-defendant. Barone was convicted as charged. On appeal, Barone contends that the trial court abused it discretion in admitting Baez’s statement explaining her involvement, and implicating Barone in the charged crimes.

We agree and hold that the Baez’s hearsay statement1 was not admissible under either concepts of “opening the door” or the “rule of completeness.”2 Here, defense counsel questioned the arresting detective concerning his testimony that Barone provided him with the name of the intended recipient of the drugs. That cross-examination sought to show that the detective was mistaken when he testified that Barone gave him the recipient’s name. The limited and precise inquiry as to a collateral issue — the provider of the name — did not create any confusion justifying admission of the entire statement under the “rule of completeness.” See Gutierrez v. State, 747 So. 2d 429, 432 (Fla. 4th DCA 1999)(where state only intro duced couple of lines of a written statement to impeach testimony on a collateral matter, admission of remainder of statement is neither necessary nor fair). See also Evans v. State, 808 So. 2d 92, 104 (Fla.2001)(court properly limited detective’s cross-examination where detective did not testify as to partial statement that required further clarification), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 128 S.Ct. 416, 154 L.Ed.2d 297 (2002). Cf. Mendoza v. State, 700 So. 2d 670 (Fla.1997)(court did not abuse its discretion in admitting statement where defense counsel’s reading of random parts of statement likely left jury with mistaken impression that statement “differed substantially” from trial testimony), cert. denied, 525 U.S. 839, 119 S.Ct. 101, 142 L.Ed.2d 81 (1998).

In addition, the limited questioning did not open the door to admission of the statement; the inquiry merely sought to address the issue of which of the two women' provided the detective with the intended recipient’s name. The remainder of the co-defendant’s statement did not “qualify, explain, or limit” the detective’s testimony. The cross-examination “did not throw the door open wide enough to admit the entire confession of a [non-testifying] co-defendant.” Pacheco v. State, 698 So. 2d 593, 595-96 (Fla. 2d DCA 1997). See Ramirez v. State, 739 So. 2d 568, 578 (Fla.1999), cert. denied, 528 U.S. 1131, 120 S.Ct. 970, 145 L.Ed.2d 841 (2000). Therefore, the hearsay statement was inadmissible.

The error was clearly harmful. The co-defendant’s statement directly implicated Barone and bolstered the detective’s disputed testimony. The admission of this unimpeached eyewitness testimony had a devastating effect on Barone’s defense. See Garcia v. State, 816 So. 2d 554, 563 (Fla.2002); Brooks v. State, 787 So. 2d 765, 779-80 (Fla.2001); Tindall v. State, 645 So. 2d 129 (Fla. 4th DCA 1994).

Accordingly, we reverse the judgment of convictions and remand for a new trial.3

. The state does not dispute that the statement is hearsay that does not fall within any hearsay exception and violates the Confrontation Clause. Ramirez v. State, 739 So. 2d 568, 578 (Fla.1999), cert. denied, 528 U.S. 1131, 120 S.Ct. 970, 145 L.Ed.2d 841 (2000).

. The "rule of completeness” is a separate evidentiary rule within the general principle of "opening the door.” Ramirez, 739 So. 2d at 580. The premise of both concepts is fairness. Id. at 579-80. The "opening the door” concept permits the admission of otherwise inadmissible evidence to "qualify, explain or limit” previously admitted evidence. Id. at 579. The "rule of completeness” provides that “[w]hen a writing ... is introduced by a party, an adverse party may require ... her at that time to introduce any other part ... that in fairness ought to be considered contemporaneously.” § 90.108(1), Fla. Stat. (2002). The rule seeks "to avoid potential for creating misleading impressions by taking statements out of context.” Larzelere v. State, 676 So. 2d 394, 401 (Fla.), cert. denied, 519 U.S. 1043, 117 S.Ct. 615, 136 L.Ed.2d 539 (1996); Miller v. State, 780 So. 2d 277, 280 (Fla. 3d DCA 2001).

. Because we are reversing the convictions, it is unnecessary to reach the remaining points on appeal. As to the state's closing argument, we remind the state that it is improper' to argue that defendant has not testified truthfully without a record basis. See Craig v. State, 510 So. 2d 857 (Fla.1987), cert. denied, 484 U.S. 1020, 108 S.Ct. 732, 98 L.Ed.2d 680 (1988); Cooper v. State, 712 So. 2d 1216 (Fla. 3d DCA 1998).


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Jackson v. State, 947 So. 2d 480 (Fla. 3d DCA 2006)
    …we conclude that because the State opened the door during its case-in-chief by calling witnesses who testified that Mr. Brown was not a drug dealer, it was error to preclude the defense from eliciting testimony to the contrary. See Barone v. State, 841 So. 2d 653, 655 n. 2 (Fla. 3d DCA 2003)(“The ‘opening the door’ concept permits the admission of otherwise inadmissible evidence to ‘qualify, explain or limit’ previously admitted evidence.”)(quoting Ramirez v. State, 739 So. 2d 568, 579 (Fla.1999)). Moreover,…
  • Kenyatta Brooks v. State, 992 So. 2d 335 (Fla. 3d DCA 2008)
    …PER CURIAM. Affirmed. See Barone v. State, 841 So. 2d 653, 655 n. 2 (Fla. 3d DCA 2003) (The concept of “opening the door” allows the admission of otherwise inadmissible evidence to qualify, explain, or limit previously admitted testimony or evidence.). SUAREZ and CORTINAS, JJ., concur.…
    1 / 2

Authorities Cited (21 total)

View all 21 cited authorities →

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw