State v. Martinez

A clearly made objection to an exhibit as a whole may be preserved but if the defendant does not distinguish between admissible and objectionable statements and the Court finds that any portion of that exhibit is admissible, the objection will no longer stand.

Defendant appealed his convictions of unlawful manufacture of methamphetamine, unlawful possession of methamphetamine, unlawful delivery of methamphetamine, felon in possession of a firearm, and endangering the welfare of a minor. Defendant contended that the trial court erred in allowing numerous text messages and two cell phones to be admitted into evidence. During the trial, Defendant objected to the admission of exhibits containing text messages, arguing that they were hearsay. The trial court overruled those objections for various reasons. On appeal, the State argued that Defendant did not properly preserve his claims because he objected to exhibits “as a whole” rather than specific text messages within those exhibits. The State further argued that the text messages were not hearsay and lastly argued that if an error occurred, it was a harmless one. This Court concluded that while Defendant did preserve his claims clearly, because they were Defendant did not specify certain text messages within the exhibits and because some of the text messages in the exhibit was admissible, then the entire exhibit was admissible. This Court further concluded that any error made regarding one of the exhibits being admitted into evidence was harmless. Affirmed.