Opinion ID: 1060063
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Admissibility and Consideration of Evidence Received

Text: We now turn to the victim impact evidence actually received by the trial court during the sentencing phase of Beck's trial. In doing so, we stress that this was a trial without a jury. In responding to Beck's generalized objections to its receiving victim impact evidence, the trial court stated that it would assess each statement to determine whether the relationship of the declarant to the victims was sufficient to warrant the trial court's consideration, limiting that consideration to the testimony of family members and close friends of the victims. The trial court further stated that it was mindful of the types of statements that would be inappropriate for its consideration. Although provided with the opportunity to review the victim impact evidence prior to sentencing, Beck did not raise any particularized objection to the admission of any statement or testimony. Accordingly, we need only consider whether the trial court erred in considering the evidence received. As noted above, the determination of admissibility of relevant evidence is within the sound discretion of the trial court. In order to exercise that discretion, the trial court must weigh the relevance and probative value of the evidence against its potential undue prejudice to the defendant. A judge, unlike a juror, is uniquely suited by training, experience and judicial discipline to disregard potentially prejudicial comments and to separate, during the mental process of adjudication, the admissible from the inadmissible, even though he has heard both. Eckhart v. Commonwealth, 222 Va. 213, 216, 279 S.E.2d 155, 157 (1981); see also Williams v. Commonwealth, 234 Va. 168, 182, 360 S.E.2d 361, 369 (1987), cert. denied, 484 U.S. 1020, 108 S.Ct. 733, 98 L.Ed.2d 681 (1988). Here, the trial court's statements clearly establish its awareness of this responsibility. In reviewing an exercise of discretion, we do not substitute our judgment for that of the trial court. Rather, we consider only whether the record fairly supports the trial court's action. We find that none of the declarants of the victim impact evidence received by the trial court was so far removed from the victims as to have nothing of value to impart to the court about the impact of these crimes. Thus, the determination that this evidence was relevant and probative of the issue under consideration was clearly within the trial court's discretion. Similarly, our review of the content of the victim impact evidence reveals no statement concerning the impact of the crimes so inherently prejudicial that its admission would constitute an abuse of discretion. Accordingly, to whatever extent that the trial court chose to consider the evidence it received, we cannot say that doing so constituted an abuse of its discretion.