Good reminder, in a Fourth Court of Appeals Memorandum Opinion last week, to continue to object to hearsay testimony or request a running objection:
Maurice C. argues the trial court erred in overruling his hearsay objection to Iruegas’s testimony that the Department received a referral in November 2013 alleging neglectful supervision of the children because the parents were using drugs and at one point, the mother became intoxicated with alcohol and Xanax and attempted to slit her throat with a knife in front of her children. We review the admission of evidence for abuse of discretion. See Whirlpool Corp. v. Camacho, 298 S.W.3d 631, 638 (Tex. 2009).
Whether or not this testimony was inadmissible hearsay, any error is harmless because Maurice C. did not continue to object to Iruegas’s testimony or request a running objection. To obtain the reversal of a judgment based upon an error of the trial court in admission or exclusion of evidence, it must be shown that the trial court did in fact commit error and that the error complained of probably caused the rendition of an improper judgment or probably prevented the appellant from properly presenting the case to the court of appeals. See TEX. R. APP. P. 44.1(a); State v. Cent. Expressway Sign Assocs., 302 S.W.3d 866, 870 (Tex. 2009). Any error in excluding evidence is harmless if other admitted evidence reveals the same facts as that which is excluded. Bryant v. Transcon. Gas Pipe Line Corp., 821 S.W.2d 187, 188 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 1991, writ denied); see Cent. Expressway, 302 S.W.3d at 870 (“[T]he exclusion or admission is likely harmless if the evidence was cumulative, or the rest of the evidence was so one-sided that the error likely made no difference in the judgment.”). After Maurice C. objected to Iruegas’s testimony, Iruegas gave similar testimony without objection. Therefore, any error was harmless.