Title: State v. Onorato

State: vermont

Issuer: Vermont Supreme Court

Document:

State v. Onorato (99-537); 171 Vt. 577; 762 A.2d 858 

[Filed 17-Oct-2000]

                                 ENTRY ORDER

                       SUPREME COURT DOCKET NO. 99-537

                            SEPTEMBER TERM, 2000

State of Vermont	               }	APPEALED FROM:
                                       }
                                       }
     v.	                               }	District Court of Vermont,
                                       }	Unit No. 2, Bennington Circuit
                                       }
William Onorato	                       }	DOCKET NO.1448-9-98 Bncr

                                                Trial Judge: William D. Cohen

             In the above-entitled cause, the Clerk will enter:

       After receiving a citation to appear in court on charges of sexual
  assault of a minor, defendant  William Onorato was found semi-conscious on
  the floor of his bedroom with a gun and what  appeared to be a suicide
  note.  Defendant filed a motion in limine to suppress evidence of the
  alleged  suicide note.  The trial court granted the motion, concluding that
  the note was not relevant and that  any probative value was "substantially
  outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice and confusion of  the issues." 
  The trial court denied the State's interlocutory appeal and request for a
  stay.  A single  justice granted the State's request for a stay of the
  court's ruling and permission for this appeal under  V.R.A.P. 5.1. (FN1)
  The State contends that: (1) evidence of attempted suicide is relevant as a
  matter  of law to show consciousness of guilt; and (2) the judge abused his
  discretion in excluding the  alleged suicide note.  We agree that evidence
  of attempted suicide may be relevant to show  consciousness of guilt, but
  decline to disturb the trial court's discretionary ruling that its
  probative  value in this case is outweighed by the danger of unfair
  prejudice and confusion.  We affirm.

       On September 9, 1998, defendant was questioned by a Bennington police
  detective on charges  of sexual assault of, and furnishing alcohol to, a
  minor.  After questioning, defendant was issued a  citation to appear in
  court on the following day.  Defendant failed to appear.  On the next day
  police  responded to a report that defendant had been seen with a gun. 
  When police arrived at defendant's  home, defendant's son stated that he
  feared his father had shot himself, as the butt of a rifle and his 
  father's feet were visible through the bottom of the bedroom door.  The
  police forced open the bolted  door and found defendant passed out on the
  floor. The defendant was arrested, brought into court,  and arraigned later
  that same day.  The police seized, inter alia, the rifle and what appeared
  to be a  suicide note.

 

  The note read, in pertinent part:

    Told you I couldent do jail time.  Im 47 years old.  If I got
    twenty years Ide  be 67 years old man.  I don't plan to retire in
    jail and please don't hold a  grudge on guns.  There is many ways
    to do this. . . . Im very sorry for  leaving you like this but
    rember Im in peace with myself now. . . . I know  this is hard but
    this is better than visiting between bars and is mutch   quicker .
    . . . Sorry to leave you kids this way.

       In granting defendant's motion in limine to exclude evidence of his
  alleged suicide attempt,  and his motion to suppress the alleged suicide
  note, the trial court's entry order stated "Letter is not  relevant and
  thus not admissible.  Further, any probative value is substantially
  outweighed by the  danger of unfair prejudice and confusion of the issues." 
  The trial court subsequently denied the  state's interlocutory appeal and
  request for a stay.   This appeal followed.

       The State first contends that, as a matter of law, evidence of
  attempted suicide is relevant to  show consciousness of guilt.  "'Relevant
  evidence' means evidence having any tendency to make the  existence of any
  fact that is of consequence to the determination of the action more [or
  less] probable  . . . ." V.R.E. 401.  "With a single exception, courts have
  unanimously held that an accused's attempt  to commit suicide is probative
  of a consciousness of guilt and is therefore admissible." Annotation, 
  Admissibility of Evidence Relating to Accused's Attempt to Commit Suicide,
  73 A.L.R.5th 615, 624  (1999) (internal citations omitted); see also
  Commonwealth. v. Sheriff, 680 N.E.2d 75, 83 (Mass.  1997) (evidence of
  defendant's attempted suicide was admissible, even if the defendant were
  able to  present plausible alternative explanations for his conduct); State
  v. Mann,