The following is a summary of a selected criminal opinion issued by the Third Court of Appeals in January 2024. The summary is an overview; please review the entire opinion. Subsequent history is current as of Aug. 6, 2024.
TRIAL TESTIMONY — LICENSING STATUS OF WITNESS, RELIABILITY OF WITNESS, RELIABILITY OF OUTCRY WITNESSS, AND “BACKDOOR HEARSAY”: Trial court did not abuse its discretion by admitting: (1) testimony from an unlicensed sexual assault nurse examiner (SANE), (2) testimony from an outcry witness, and (3) “backdoor hearsay” statements.
Koury v. State, 684 S.W.3d 537 (Tex. App.—Austin 2024, pet. ref’d).
A jury convicted Koury of the offense of aggravated sexual assault of a child. On appeal, he argued that the trial court abused its discretion by admitting testimony from three witnesses.
First, he argued that the testimony of the SANE nurse who examined the victim was inadmissible because she was unlicensed at the time of the examination.
Specifically, Koury contended that because the nurse “could not have legally done the exam, any information she obtained during the examination of [the victim] was obtained unlawfully and [was] therefore inadmissible as evidence” under Texas’ exclusionary rule. The Court rejected this argument for two reasons. First, the victim’s treatment by an unlicensed nurse did not impact the defendant’s rights. He therefore lacked standing to complain about any evidence seized as a result, and he similarly lacked standing to challenge the admission of the victim’s statements to the nurse on the basis that they were obtained by violating her rights.