Opinion ID: 1096608
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: Admission of Testimony Regarding Officer's Warning to Dunn

Text: The second of three subparts to Conde's fifth claim involves the admission of testimony by a detective that the detective had warned the victim about the series of murders. When this detective was called to testify, the defense objected and questioned the relevance of the detective's testimony. The State proffered that the testimony would reveal the detective's warnings to Dunn, which were relevant to her state of mind, i.e., awareness of the danger and, in turn, to the identification of Conde, a soft-spoken and unthreatening person, as the murderer. The trial court allowed the testimony, and the detective testified that he had warned Dunn on approximately three occasions about the series of murders, advising her to stay near the other women in her area. The detective further testified that he saw Dunn working by herself about thirty-six hours before her body was found and again advised her to try to work with other women. According to the detective, Dunn's reply to these warnings was always to simply laugh and smile. As presented to the trial court, the prosecution's argument regarding the relevancy of this testimony was that, if Dunn was aware of the series of murders in her area, it seems more likely than not that her killer was someone exhibiting a calm, nonthreatening manner, given her voluntary departure with him. We agree with Conde that this evidence had marginal relevance. However, we do not find that the trial court abused its discretion in finding that the evidence had some relevance to the issue of identity. Moreover, any error in the admission of this evidence would be harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.