Opinion ID: 1937752
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: admissibility of photographs and jackets

Text: Admission or exclusion of photographs as evidence is within the discretion of a trial court, whose evidential ruling on the photographs will be upheld on appeal unless the trial court abused its discretion. State v. Birge, 215 Neb. 761, 340 N.W.2d 434 (1983). In addition to questions of admissibility regarding photographs as evidence, relevancy of offered evidence and exclusion of relevant evidence involve a trial court's discretion. Thus, whether a particular item of evidence has probative value and is, therefore, relevant, see Neb.Evid.R. 401 (Neb.Rev.Stat. § 27-401 (Reissue 1985)), or whether an item of evidence, although relevant, is excludable on account of the danger of unfair prejudice, confusion of issues, misleading the jury, undue delay in the proceedings, waste of time, or needless presentation of cumulative evidence, see Neb.Evid.R. 403 (Neb.Rev.Stat. § 27-403 (Reissue 1985)), may depend on a trial court's exercise of judicial discretion. In Wachtel v. Beer, 229 Neb. 392, 405, 427 N.W.2d 56, 64 (1988), this court characterized abuse of discretion: A judicial abuse of discretion does not denote or imply improper motive, bad faith, or intentional wrong by a judge, but requires the reasons or rulings of a trial judge to be clearly untenable, unfairly depriving a litigant of a substantial right and denying a just result in matters submitted for disposition through a judicial system. Newton v. Brown, 222 Neb. 605, 386 N.W.2d 424 (1986); Bump v. Firemens Ins. Co., 221 Neb. 678, 380 N.W.2d 268 (1986). The preceding characterization or description of abuse of discretion is somewhat incomplete, for the description does not contain reference to choice as a component of discretion. In its ordinary meaning, discretion is power of decision: individual judgment... power of free decision or choice within certain legal bounds ... specif: the latitude of decision within which a court or judge decides questions arising in a particular case not expressly controlled by fixed rules of law according to the circumstances and according to the judgment of the court or judge ... ability to make decisions which represent a responsible choice and for which an understanding of what is lawful, right, or wise may be presupposed. Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged 647 (1981). In Spalding v. Spalding, 355 Mich. 382, 384, 94 N.W.2d 810, 811-12 (1959), the Supreme Court of Michigan noted: [A]n abuse of discretion involves far more than a difference in judicial opinion between the trial and appellate courts. The term discretion itself involves the idea of choice, of an exercise of the will, of a determination made between competing considerations. Consequently, a judicial abuse of discretion exists when a judge, within the effective limits of authorized judicial power, elects to act or refrain from action, but the selected option results in a decision which is untenable and unfairly deprives a litigant of a substantial right or a just result in matters submitted for disposition through a judicial system. See, State ex rel. Simpson v. Vondrasek, 203 Neb. 693, 279 N.W.2d 860 (1979); Spalding v. Spalding, supra ; K.C. Davis, Discretionary Justice: A Preliminary Inquiry (1969); Rosenberg, Judicial Discretion, 38 The Ohio Bar 819 (1965). In Juhl's case, the photographs not only depicted the setting at the scene of the theft but corroborated the officers' accounts of their investigation and encounter with Juhl. Therefore, the photographs were relevant. See Rule 401. Moreover, Juhl has failed to demonstrate how he was unfairly deprived of a substantial right by the trial court's determination regarding the photographs' admissibility. We find no abuse of discretion in the trial court's admitting the photographs as proper evidence to prove the theft charge against Juhl. Next, Juhl argues that the jackets were improperly admitted because they were introduced through a witness, Sutherland, who had no personal knowledge of what Juhl was wearing on admission to the detention center. According to Juhl, Sutherland's testimony concerning the two jackets is inadmissible under Neb.Evid.R. 602 (Neb.Rev.Stat. § 27-602 (Reissue 1985)), which provides in part: A witness may not testify to a matter unless evidence is introduced sufficient to support a finding that he has personal knowledge of the matter. On admission to the detention center, every detainee surrendered all personal property, which was inventoried and kept in a property container. Evidence was received concerning the detention center's property records and the property container inscribed Clair Juhl. After Deputy Jensen searched Juhl's jacket at the Wayfarer parking lot and arrested him, an officer brought Juhl directly from the Wayfarer parking lot to the detention center. Consequently, Sutherland's testimony about his daily observations supplied a factual basis for the permissible inference that the jackets, kept at the detention center and produced at trial, were the same jackets worn by Juhl when he was arrested at the Wayfarer parking lot, the scene of the theft. The fact that Sutherland's observations were part of the bases for the inference does not render Sutherland's testimony inadmissible under Rule 602. On the basis of Juhl's objection, the trial court properly overruled Juhl's objection and admitted the jackets as evidence. See Rule 401 (definition of relevance). Juhl also argues that Sutherland was incompetent to testify about jail records. Juhl contends that he was not given reasonable notice before trial concerning use of a public record and reports, in conformity with Neb.Evid.R. 803(7) (hearsay exceptions) (Neb.Rev.Stat. § 27-803(7) (Reissue 1985)), which provides: Upon reasonable notice to the opposing party prior to trial, records, reports, statements or data compilations made by a public official or agency of facts required to be observed and recorded pursuant to a duty imposed by law, unless the sources of information or the method or circumstances of the investigation are shown by the opposing party to indicate a lack of trustworthiness. To preserve a claimed error in admission of evidence, a litigant must make a timely objection, which specifies the ground of the objection to the offered evidence. State v. Cox, 231 Neb. 495, 502, 437 N.W.2d 134, 139 (1989). Juhl did not make a hearsay objection to Sutherland's testimony. Rather, Juhl's objection was directed to Sutherland's competency as a witness and, apparently, was based on Rule 602. An objection which is based on a specific ground and properly overruled does not preserve an evidential question for appellate review on any other ground. See, State v. Cox, supra ; Havlicek v. State, 101 Neb. 782, 165 N.W. 251 (1917). There is no error regarding the trial court's admission of Sutherland's testimony over Juhl's objection concerning the records of the detention center.