Opinion ID: 1135212
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Admissibility of Witness Testimony

Text: In his fifth claim, England argues that the lower court erred in permitting DeLeon to testify to a fact we have yet to mentionthat England told DeLeon he would kill Michael Jackson. At trial, DeLeon testified that he told England that Jackson was going to get caught because he was driving the victim's car. England responded by saying, If he got me in trouble I would kill him. The trial judge properly admitted this evidence as a showing of England's desire to evade prosecution. We have previously held that [e]vidence that a suspected person in any manner endeavors to evade a threatened prosecution by any ex post facto indication of a desire to evade prosecution is admissible against the accused where the relevance of such evidence is based on consciousness of guilt inferred from such actions. Heath v. State, 648 So.2d 660, 664 (Fla.1994). Moreover, a defendant's attempt to intimidate a state witness is relevant and admissible. Id. In light of this authority, the trial judge did not err in admitting this testimony.