Higuera-Hernandez v. State
Annotate this CaseDefendant was convicted of malice murder, felony murder during the commission of a conspiracy to commit trafficking in cocaine, the underlying conspiracy offense itself, trafficking in a quantity of cocaine separate and distinct from that involved in the conspiracy count, and two counts of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. Defendant appealed from his convictions. The court held that the evidence was sufficient to authorize a rational trier of fact to find defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the crimes for which he was convicted. The court held, however, that the underlying conspiracy merged into the felony murder conviction. Therefore, the trial court erred in entering a separate judgment of conviction for the underlying conspiracy. The court held that defendant's claim under Massiah v. United States had not been waived. The court rejected, however, defendant's contention that the testimony of his cellmate regarding inculpatory statements allegedly made by defendant while they were cellmates for four days violated his Sixth Amendment right to counsel where the cellmate was not a professional informant in the sense that he was paid or in any way necessarily engaged by the State. The court also held that the trial court did not abuse its broad discretion by denying a continuance and refusing the harsh remedy of evidence exclusion for the untimeliness of discovery. The court further held that the trial court did not wholly fail to comply with USCR 32.1's seven day notice requirement. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment in part and reversed in part.
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