Title: State v. Rowell

State: new-mexico

Issuer: New Mexico Supreme Court

Document:

419 P.2d 966 (1966) 77 N.M. 124 STATE of New Mexico, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Mrs. John W. ROWELL, Defendant-Appellant. No. 8008. Supreme Court of New Mexico. November 7, 1966. *967 Robert S. Skinner, Raton, for appellant. Boston E. Witt, Atty. Gen., Gary O. O'Dowd, Asst. Atty. Gen., Santa Fe, for appellee. MOISE, Justice. Appellant was charged with uttering a forged check in Raton, New Mexico, on May 9, 1963. Her defense was an alibi, based upon the testimony of two disinterested witnesses and her mother to the effect that Mrs. Rowell was not in Raton the day the crime was committed. Toward the end of appellant's case, the district attorney, in cross-examining appellant's mother and after having established by her that defendant's given name was Carol Madelaine, asked the following question: An objection to the question and a motion for mistrial was promptly made. The trial judge denied the motion for a mistrial, but sustained the objection to the question and admonished the jury not to consider it in arriving at a verdict. Appellant did not take the witness stand. A verdict of guilty was returned by the jury, and this appeal is from the judgment and sentence based thereon. It is appellant's position that the question was not only improper, but that asking it in the form that was done would certainly tend to prejudice the jury, and that no attempts to admonish the jury to forget the question could possibly erase the effects. We agree. With certain qualifications, based upon reason and not here pertinent, it is generally held that proof of convictions of other and separate criminal offenses by the defendant is not admissible and that it is prejudicial error to admit such proof. We have so held in State v. Snyder, 28 N.M. 388, 212 P. 736; State v. Bassett, 26 N.M. 476, 477, 194 P. 867, and, more recently, in State v. Nelson, 65 N.M. 403, 338 P.2d 301. The reason for the rule is stated thus in 1 Wharton's Criminal Evidence (12th Ed.) 497, § 232: In the instant case, we are not concerned with the introduction of such evidence, but with the mere propounding of the question. In our view the same considerations which dictate exclusion of the evidence, as stated above, compel a similar holding upon the asking of a question such as was here propounded, under the circumstances here present. This is true when the question of prior convictions is asked a defendant himself, if the prosecutor is not proceeding in good faith or is not in position to refute a denial. See State v. Williams, 76 N.M. 578, 417 P.2d 62; 1 Wharton's Criminal Evidence (12th Ed.) 311, § 160. How much more serious it is to ask a question such as was asked here of a witness other than the defendant. Even if the answer had been in the negative it would mean only that she did not know of the fact, not that defendant had not been convicted. The question here objected to could have no possible place in the trial. The purpose could have been nothing other than to arouse the prejudices of the jury against appellant. Courts, including ours, have been most vociferous in protecting persons accused of crime from the results of such interrogation. See State v. Cummings, 57 N.M. 36, 39, 253 P.2d 321. We quote from People v. Wells, 100 Cal. 459, 34 P. 1078, where a comparable question concerning prior forgeries was asked of a prosecution witness in a forgery trial: See also, Leo v. State, 63 Neb. 723, 89 N.W. 303; State v. Fournier, 108 Minn. 402, 122 N.W. 329; Gill v. People, 139 Colo. 401, 339 P.2d 1000. We are convinced that the damage implicit in the asking of the question was in no way repaired by virtue of the fact that the objection was sustained. Neither was it overcome by the admonitions given the jury. We would be deluding ourselves if we were to believe that human nature being what it is, at least some of the jurors would not assume, because of the form of the question, that indeed appellant had been convicted of another forgery as stated by the district attorney. Whether or not she had was irrelevant in this case and, accordingly a reversal and new trial are inevitable. Neither is a different result required by the rule of State v. Dendy, 34 N.M. 533, 285 P. 486, to the effect that striking evidence from the record cures any error, and that as a general rule an instruction to a jury not to consider certain evidence will overcome any prejudice that might have crept in. In that case it was recognized that "* * * instances may arise where evidence is so material and highly prejudicial that no instruction which the court may give will cure the error of its admission." Here, we are not dealing with evidence admitted and withdrawn. Rather, the question is one of prejudice to the defendant arising out of the asking of an improper question for the ostensible purpose of planting ideas or thoughts in the minds of the jury. This must have been the purpose because until and unless appellant took the stand the subject matter of the question could not have gotten into evidence under any recognized rules of criminal procedure. Under the circumstances, how could it be asserted with any degree of conviction that the original purpose, once accomplished, could be negatived by anything that transpired thereafter. Compare State v. Norman, 72 S.D. 168, 31 N.W.2d 258; Paulson v. State, 118 Wis. 89, 94 N.W. 771; People v. Robinson, 273 N.Y. 438, 8 N.E.2d 25; Usrey v. State, 35 Ala. App. 434, 48 So. 2d 443. The following, which we quote from People v. Ozuna (1963) 213 Cal. App. 2d 338, 28 Cal. Rptr. 663, 666, we consider particularly pertinent: We do not consider anything said in State v. McKinzie, 72 N.M. 23, 380 P.2d 177, or in State v. Fernandez, 56 N.M. 689, 248 P.2d 679, dictates any different result than is here reached under the facts before us. We would also add that we are unconvinced by the State's arguments that the *970 question was proper to show a common scheme or plan, and accordingly had bearing on the guilt or innocence of the accused as approved in State v. Peke, 70 N.M. 108, 119, 371 P.2d 226. As a matter of fact, as already noted, the question was in a grossly improper form to prove anything. It could not possibly establish or accomplish anything but prejudice. We are impressed that this is a case where the following quotation from Miller v. Territory of Oklahoma (C.C.A.8) 149 F. 330, 339, 9 Ann.Cas. 389, announced in 1906, would seem to be appropriate: In view of our disposition of the point discussed above there is no need for us to consider and pass on appellant's second point. The cause is reversed and remanded with instructions to grant a new trial. It is so ordered. CHAVEZ, J., and WALDO SPIESS, J., Court of Appeals, concur.