Opinion ID: 1182224
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The Evidence of Motive

Text: The final element in the state's case against defendant consisted of evidence of his sexual attraction to children and his fear of returning to prison. Portions of defendant's correspondence with Ernest Bernsienne revealed his predilections toward children. Particularly damaging were the following comments redacted from a letter written to Bernsienne two years before Mary was kidnapped: Ya see, it's time for true confessions. What I mean is, there is a fact about me that I am ashamed of. I believe it is considered so wrong that I have kept this part of me hidden from you. Rather than saying that I am attracted to people between the ages of seven and twelve, I felt a more complete explanation is necessary. Another fear is that I am still attracted to kids but I can't handle another arrest! The state also introduced, through Bernsienne, the following oral statements defendant made concerning children: BERNSIENNE: He told me that he was upset because he had had a serious argument with his parents about his personal appearance, and I advised him at the time rather than stick around home and be angry, to go out for a ride and cool off, let his parents cool off, then go back and talk about it. He told me that he had, and that he had also, in the course of doing so, he had considered going out and picking up a child. .... I told him that if he did that the child would certainly go and tell someone, and he said this time he would make sure the child wouldn't talk. DISCUSSION OF ISSUES PRESENTED ON DIRECT APPEAL
Defendant argues that neither the kidnapping nor the murder charge is supported by sufficient evidence to justify the guilty verdicts. In reviewing this claim, we do not sit as a 5-justice jury, reevaluating the evidence to determine whether we would have convicted defendant on the evidence presented at trial. Such an approach would nullify the jury's function in this case. Rather, we must view the evidence in the light most favorable to sustaining the verdict, and we must resolve all reasonable inferences against defendant. State v. Guerra, 161 Ariz. 289, 293, 778 P.2d 1185, 1189 (1989). If substantial evidence exists to support the verdict, we will not disturb the jury's decision. By substantial evidence we mean evidence that would convince an unprejudiced thinking mind of the truth of the fact to which the evidence is presented. See State v. Tison, 129 Ariz. 546, 553, 633 P.2d 355, 362 (1981). As we stated in Tison, If reasonable [persons] may fairly differ as to whether certain evidence establishes a fact in issue, then such evidence must be considered as substantial. Tison, 129 Ariz. at 553, 633 P.2d at 362. We therefore review the record to determine whether, from the evidence presented, a rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crimes of kidnapping and felony murder beyond a reasonable doubt. See Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 2789, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979); State v. Mincey, 141 Ariz. 425, 432, 687 P.2d 1180, 1187 (1984). Applying this standard, we hold that substantial evidence exists to support both the kidnapping and murder convictions. A. The Kidnapping In his brief, defendant contrasts evidence presented by the prosecution with conflicting evidence presented by the defense. For example, defendant stresses that the victim's mother testified that the victim would not have gone with a stranger voluntarily, yet no one near the scene heard a child scream or heard sounds suggesting that an accident had occurred between the victim's bike and defendant's automobile. Defendant also emphasizes that some witnesses claimed to have seen the victim at a local mall several hours after she disappeared. In addition, defendant notes that no evidence was found in his car to suggest that the victim had ever been inside it. This court has held that [r]eversible error based on insufficiency of the evidence occurs only where there is a complete absence of probative facts to support the conviction. State v. Scott, 113 Ariz. 423, 424-25, 555 P.2d 1117, 1118-19 (1976). Viewed in this light, our review of the record convinces us that the state presented ample evidence to permit the jury rationally to conclude that defendant kidnapped the victim. The following evidence is particularly damning:  Defendant was in the neighborhood on the afternoon the victim disappeared, a fact made virtually unquestionable by Sam Hall's sighting of a 280Z with license plates registered to defendant and his identification of defendant as the driver.  Testimony from one of the teenage boys placed defendant at the intersection where the victim's bike was found.  Prosecution experts testified, albeit not without disagreement from defendant's own experts, that paint and nickel transfers between the vehicle and the bike indicated that the two had come in contact, and that damage to defendant's car was consistent with striking a bicycle.  Three witnesses identified defendant and testified that they had seen a young child riding with him in his car.  Defendant's letters revealed his sexual attraction to young children. Defendant contends that, under the doctrine of corpus delicti, the state should have been precluded from introducing his letters to Bernsienne until it had established a reasonable inference of the corpus delicti of kidnapping through independent evidence. We disagree. Two elements comprise the corpus delicti of a crime: (1) the basic injury, which in this instance is the disappearance of a young girl, and (2) the fact that the basic injury was the result of a criminal, rather than a natural or accidental, cause. State v. Thomas, 78 Ariz. 52, 59, 275 P.2d 408, 413 (1954). In Arizona, the prosecution must establish a reasonable inference of the corpus delicti before it may introduce defendant's extrajudicial confession or admission as additional evidence of the crime. See State v. Gillies, 135 Ariz. 500, 506, 662 P.2d 1007, 1013 (1983); State v. Janise, 116 Ariz. 557, 559, 570 P.2d 499, 501 (1977). We note initially that even if defendant's letters to Bernsienne were admissions requiring corroboration under the corpus delicti doctrine, see Udall, Arizona Law of Evidence § 179 (1960), the evidence presented to the jury, independent of the statements in the letters, established  at the very least  a reasonable inference of the corpus delicti. When viewed as a whole, the circumstances of the child's disappearance, the expert testimony concerning the paint and nickel transfers, and the eyewitness testimony placing defendant in the neighborhood and in a 280Z with a young child would easily satisfy the requirement of proof independent of an extrajudicial confession or admission to create an inference that the victim's disappearance was the result of kidnapping. We do not believe, however, that the state was required to satisfy the corroboration rule in this case. Defendant's letters to Bernsienne were written before the victim was kidnapped, and the law is well-established that pre-offense statements do not require corroboration because they contain none of the inherent weaknesses of admissions made after the fact. See Warszower v. United States, 312 U.S. 342, 347, 61 S.Ct. 603, 606, 85 L.Ed. 876 (1941); United States v. Soulard, 730 F.2d 1292, 1298 (9th Cir.1984); Ogden v. United States, 303 F.2d 724, 742 (9th Cir.1962). Because defendant's written statements to Bernsienne were written before Mary was kidnapped, and because they tended to establish the corpus delicti of kidnapping and were relevant as tending to show motive, defendant's letters to Bernsienne were properly admitted at the time they were admitted. Of course, establishing the corpus delicti of the crime does not satisfy the requirement of proving defendant's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Based on our review of the record, however, we find that the evidence presented also was sufficient to justify the jury's guilty verdict on the kidnapping charge. Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to sustaining the verdict, certainly a juror presented with this evidence would not be unreasonable in concluding beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant kidnapped the victim. B. The Murder Defendant further argues that, even if sufficient evidence exists to support the kidnapping conviction, the state cannot prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he murdered the victim. The jury convicted defendant of felony murder pursuant to A.R.S. § 13-1105, which, in this case, requires proof that defendant kidnapped the victim and that, in the course of and in furtherance of the kidnapping, he caused the victim's death. Defendant contends, however, that the state failed to establish the corpus delicti of murder and that his murder conviction is therefore invalid. Under the corpus delicti doctrine, the state must prove that (1) the victim died and (2) the death was caused by criminal agency rather than suicide or accident. See Perkins, The Corpus Delicti of Murder, 48 Va.L.Rev. 173, 181-82 (1962). The state has satisfied the first corpus delicti requirement  Mary's remains were discovered in April 1985. Dr. Walter Birkby, a forensic anthropologist who positively identified the remains, confirmed this tragic fact. Because only a skull, mandible, and various other scattered bone fragments were recovered, Dr. Birkby and Dr. Richard Froede, the Pima County Medical Examiner, were unable to determine the cause of death. Defendant therefore argues that, even if he did kidnap Mary, no proof exists that he murdered her. He asserts that the state failed to establish that she did not die by accident or fall victim to foul play from an unknown superseding party. Defendant cites passages from several cases stating, in essence, that the presence of a dead body does not necessarily equate with murder. We fully agree. History is replete with macabre cases in which human remains are discovered and no evidence exists to suggest how the victim met his or her demise. This, however, is not such a case. Although authorities were unable to determine exactly how the victim died, proving the cause of death is not a necessary element of corpus delicti. See People v. Bolinski, 260 Cal. App.2d 705, 715, 67 Cal. Rptr. 347, 353 (1968). The record reveals extensive circumstantial evidence satisfying the corpus delicti requirement. See State v. Lantz, 72 Ariz. 115, 119, 231 P.2d 454, 456-57 (1951) (corpus delicti may be shown by circumstantial evidence); McCormick on Evidence § 145, at 368 (3d ed. 1984) (same). A young girl disappears from her neighborhood and later is found dead in the desert. This fact alone suggests the presence of criminal activity, for, given the facts of this case, it is difficult, if not impossible, to imagine that the child left a residential area, crossed a freeway, traversed a river bed, and went voluntarily to a sparsely populated desert location several miles from her home. Although we cannot know from the facts presented at trial exactly what happened to the victim when she was taken to the desert, we do know that (1) defendant, a convicted pedophile, was seen within yards of the girl literally seconds before she vanished; (2) witnesses identified defendant as the man they saw driving with a young child in his car; (3) defendant was seen later that afternoon with blood on his hands and clothing; and (4) defendant was also seen with cactus needles in his arms and legs. To demonstrate criminal agency, the state must establish that the victim's death was not caused by suicide or accident. In this case, of course, the latter possibility is the only legitimate alternative to murder. We conclude that the evidence presented, although circumstantial, plainly negated the possibility that the victim died as the result of an accident. We therefore hold that the state's evidence created a reasonable inference of the corpus delicti of murder. Janise, 116 Ariz. at 559, 570 P.2d at 501. With this requirement satisfied, the jury properly could consider defendant's admissions. These statements further substantiated the state's theory in this case and, coupled with the evidence already discussed, satisfied the final element in establishing murder  proving beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant killed the victim. After defendant's friends at De Anza Park noticed the blood on his hands, he told them that he had stabbed a man in a drug transaction and that he had taken the victim's body to the desert. He repeated this story several times during the next few days as he and McDonald traveled to Texas. Defendant also told McDonald and Parisien that he had gotten cactus needles in his arms and legs when he returned to the location where he left the body to retrieve keys he had dropped. Defendant also discussed the idea of disposing of his blood-stained clothes and, during his trip to Texas, he repeatedly sandpapered the blade of his knife. Viewing this evidence in the light most favorable to upholding the jury's finding, we conclude that the jury was presented with substantial evidence from which it could conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant murdered the victim. We therefore find the evidence sufficient to support defendant's first degree felony murder conviction.
Defendant claims that he was denied effective assistance of counsel because of inadequate pretrial representation by his first trial attorney, Lamar Couser. Couser served as defendant's court-appointed counsel for the first 7 months of his prosecution. As a general rule, ineffective assistance of counsel claims should be raised in post-conviction relief proceedings pursuant to rule 32, Arizona Rules of Criminal Procedure. State v. Valdez, 160 Ariz. 9, 770 P.2d 313 (1989). If the record clearly indicates that the ineffective assistance of counsel claim is meritless, however, this court may consider the issue on direct appeal. State v. Carver, 160 Ariz. 167, 771 P.2d 1382 (1989). We address the merits of defendant's claim in this direct appeal because, viewing the record in its entirety, we conclude that defendant's claim is meritless. This court applies a two-pronged test to determine whether a conviction should be reversed on grounds of ineffective assistance of counsel. Defendant must affirmatively show that (1) counsel's performance fell below an objective standard of reasonableness, as defined by prevailing professional norms, and (2) the deficient performance resulted in prejudice to the defense. Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984); State v. Nash, 143 Ariz. 392, 397, 694 P.2d 222, 227 (1985); State v. Lee, 142 Ariz. 210, 214, 689 P.2d 153, 157 (1984). If an ineffectiveness claim can be rejected for lack of prejudice, the court need not inquire into counsel's performance. Strickland, 466 U.S. at 697, 104 S.Ct. at 2069. We will find prejudice if defendant establishes a reasonable probability that the verdict in this case might have been affected by the alleged error of counsel. See State v. Walton, 159 Ariz. 571, 592, 769 P.2d 1017, 1038 (1989), aff'd, 497 U.S. 639, 110 S.Ct. 3047, 111 L.Ed.2d 511 (1990). As a preliminary matter, we note that a strong presumption exists that counsel's performance fell within the broad range of conduct considered reasonable. Strickland, 466 U.S. at 689, 104 S.Ct. at 2065; Nash, 143 Ariz. at 398, 694 P.2d at 228. That is, judicial scrutiny of such conduct is highly deferential, granting wide latitude to the tactical choices of counsel. Nash, 143 Ariz. at 398, 694 P.2d at 228. Within this framework, a detailed review of defendant's allegations is warranted. Defendant contends that his counsel filed an insufficient number of pretrial motions. Counsel filed 9 motions during a 7-month period, 4 of which defendant alleges were routine. Not only does defendant fail to overcome the strong presumption that counsel's conduct was reasonable, but he also fails to show any resulting prejudice. Although this court will presume prejudice when defense counsel fails entirely to subject the state's case to meaningful adversarial testing, United States v. Cronic, 466 U.S. 648, 659, 104 S.Ct. 2039, 2047, 80 L.Ed.2d 657 (1984); Nash, 143 Ariz. at 398-99, 694 P.2d at 228-29, we do not find that this case represents such an extreme failure on counsel's part. Consequently, defendant must show that the reliability of the guilt determination was undermined by counsel's alleged omissions. Cronic, 466 U.S. at 659 n. 26, 104 S.Ct. at 2047 n. 26. Defendant has not done so and, therefore, we reject this claim for lack of prejudice. Similarly, defendant challenges his counsel's failure to file a notice of change of judge. See rule 10.2, Arizona Rules of Criminal Procedure. This court recognizes the strong presumption that such a choice is trial strategy. State v. Carver, 160 Ariz. 167, 175, 771 P.2d 1382, 1390 (1989). Defendant fails to offer any evidence to counter this presumption. Furthermore, even assuming that counsel's choice was unreasonable, no prejudice resulted because the judge to whom defendant's case was originally assigned was removed when defendant's own motion was granted. Defendant argues that his counsel failed properly to examine or investigate the paint smear because he neither (1) requested that the bicycle be made available for testing nor (2) investigated alternative sources of the paint smear. Both claims can be rejected for lack of prejudice. First, defendant admits that a defense expert later examined the paint smear. Although this examination took place approximately two years after the state's examination, defendant has not shown that the time lapse resulted in prejudice to the defense. Second, defendant offers no proof that investigations into possible alternative sources of the paint smear would have yielded anything valuable to the defense. Thus, the required showing of prejudice has not been met. Defendant next argues that his counsel made two errors regarding the grand jury proceedings: (1) he did not present any evidence; and (2) he did not object to the Pima County Grand Jury hearing evidence when the venue of the kidnapping case had been moved. In both instances we find that counsel's choices can be regarded as tactical decisions rather than error. Defendant's conclusory allegations that these tactical choices were detrimental are not sufficient to displace the wide latitude this court grants to such choices. Further, even assuming that counsel made an error, defendant does not demonstrate any resulting prejudice to him. An error  even one with the potential to affect a grand jury's charging decision  is rendered harmless by the trial jury's subsequent guilty verdict. See United States v. Mechanik, 475 U.S. 66, 73, 106 S.Ct. 938, 943, 89 L.Ed.2d 50 (1986) (petit jury's guilty verdict rendered harmless any conceivable error in the grand jury's charging decision caused by alleged violation of rule 6(d), Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure); State v. Just, 138 Ariz. 534, 541-42, 675 P.2d 1353, 1360-61 (App. 1983). Therefore, we reject these claims both for lack of merit and lack of prejudice. Defendant challenges two aspects of his counsel's conduct regarding examination of the victim's bones: (1) failure to obtain an additional medical expert after the appointed pathologist became a state's witness; and (2) failure to prevent burial of the bones. Given our decision today that defendant was not denied a fair trial when his motion for exhumation of the bones was denied, we conclude that the defense was not prejudiced by the inability further to examine the bones. See infra Part 4. Defendant argues that his counsel failed properly to investigate the case and interview witnesses. He contends that this deficient performance was immediately prejudicial to his defense because many of the witnesses were transients, drifters, drug addicts, and alcoholics, whose memories faded with the passage of time. Counsel, however, did interview a number of witnesses, so he did not fail entirely to subject the prosecution's case to meaningful adversarial testing. Thus, defendant is not entitled to a presumption of prejudice. See Cronic, 466 U.S. at 659, 104 S.Ct. at 2047. Defendant has not shown that any witness possessed any information helpful to his defense which, because undiscovered, undermined the reliability of the guilt determination. Therefore, we reject this claim for lack of prejudice. Defendant contends that his counsel failed to maintain a professional relationship with him because (1) counsel failed to communicate with him directly, but rather communicated through letters; and (2) counsel was burdened by an actual conflict of interest as evidenced by his concern over funds spent on the case. We reject the first claim for lack of prejudice. We have found only one instance in the record where Mr. Couser communicated to defendant by letter. This letter, which concerned Mr. Couser's disapproval of defendant's meeting with a newspaper reporter, reminded defendant that he had been counseled not to discuss his case with the media. We find that defendant was not prejudiced by this incident. We reject defendant's second claim of unprofessional conduct on the merits. Defendant must show that his counsel actively represented conflicting interests, not merely that a possibility of such a conflict existed. Cuyler v. Sullivan, 446 U.S. 335, 348, 100 S.Ct. 1708, 1718, 64 L.Ed.2d 333 (1980). Defendant's unsupported accusation that his counsel was inordinately concerned about the amount of money expended for his defense is insufficient to demonstrate a conflict of interest. Finally, defendant argues that the Pima County appointment system results in deficient representation for defendants. He urges that we review this system as we did the Mohave County system in State v. Smith, 140 Ariz. 355, 681 P.2d 1374 (1984). However, we find no indication of such systemic ineffectiveness here. Moreover, in Smith, in 1984, we referred to the Pima County system as an illustration of a system not burdened by such ineffectiveness. Smith, 140 Ariz. at 363, 681 P.2d at 1382. Therefore, we decline to engage in an extensive review of the Pima County appointment system. Considering all the circumstances of this case, we find that defendant was not denied effective assistance of counsel by Mr. Couser. Each of defendant's allegations lacks the support necessary to sustain an ineffectiveness claim. Additionally, the brevity of defendant's representation by his appointed attorney, the length and extent of his trial, and the competence of his retained attorney all militate against a determination that his defense was prejudiced.
Defendant claims that the trial court's refusal to suppress eyewitness identifications that were allegedly biased by suggestive, improper, tainted and unreliable pretrial identification procedures denied him due process of law. Defendant focuses primarily on the witnesses' exposure to extensive media coverage of the victim's disappearance and defendant's later arrest and prosecution, and he argues that this exposure so tainted the witnesses that any subsequent identifications were inherently unreliable. We address the question of media exposure separately from other possibly suggestive pretrial viewings of defendant. A. Media Exposure To consider fully defendant's claim that exposure to publicity tainted the subsequent witness identifications, we first examine the scope and nature of the media coverage of this case. The victim's abduction became an immediate media sensation in the Tucson area. In the hours following the kidnapping, the media disseminated information to the community concerning the search for the young girl and the nascent investigation into her disappearance. Perhaps fueled by the resulting atmosphere of intense community concern and outrage over the senselessness of the crime, the press continued to devote significant coverage to the case, with defendant's arrest and subsequent prosecution receiving particular attention. As the trial judge would later remark, To live in Pima County and avoid exposure to this coverage would have required one to be a hermit living in a cave. Press coverage of defendant included:  photographs of him being arrested and transported in handcuffs;  close-up photographs of his face;  videotapes of him being arrested and escorted from a police vehicle by law enforcement officials;  videotapes of his return to Tucson;  extensive videotaped coverage of his hearings;  voice-overs and/or lead-ins accompanying the videotapes identifying Atwood as the suspect and the defendant, with frequent references to his prior convictions and parole status; and  newspaper articles, accompanied by photographs of defendant, providing information about his background, prior convictions, and parole status, and discussing evidence incriminating him in the victim's kidnapping and murder. Approximately one year before his trial, defendant moved to suppress the identification testimony of 14 witnesses, claiming that some might have been subject to improperly suggestive identification procedures and that all had been tainted by pretrial publicity. In response to defendant's motion to suppress, the trial court held an 11-day Dessureault hearing, see State v. Dessureault, 104 Ariz. 380, 384, 453 P.2d 951, 955 (1969), to determine the admissibility of the various identifications. The trial court concluded that all 14 witnesses had been exposed to one or more pretrial viewings of defendant under circumstances that were inherently suggestive. The court stated: As a result of all this exposure every eye-witness has had one or multiple prehearing and pretrial viewings of the Defendant. Whatever the witnesses' opportunity and ability to make their original observations and then to recall and testify about them, those observations cannot be free of influence from their subsequent viewings of the Defendant in the various suggestive circumstances. The trial court, relying on Manson v. Brathwaite, 432 U.S. 98, 97 S.Ct. 2243, 53 L.Ed.2d 140 (1977), and its predecessors, then applied a totality of the circumstances analysis to determine whether the admission of the various identifications would violate defendant's constitutional right to due process. See Manson, 432 U.S. at 113-14, 97 S.Ct. at 2252-53; see also Neil v. Biggers, 409 U.S. 188, 93 S.Ct. 375, 34 L.Ed.2d 401 (1972); Simmons v. United States, 390 U.S. 377, 88 S.Ct. 967, 19 L.Ed.2d 1247 (1968); Stovall v. Denno, 388 U.S. 293, 87 S.Ct. 1967, 18 L.Ed.2d 1199 (1967). Based on its analysis, the court suppressed the identification testimony of two witnesses, but refused to suppress the identification testimony of the remaining 12 witnesses. We review a trial court's decision on a motion to suppress under a clear abuse of discretion standard. See State v. Fisher, 141 Ariz. 227, 236, 686 P.2d 750, 759 (1984) (It is well established in this state that a trial court's ruling on a motion to suppress will not be disturbed absent a clear abuse of discretion.), citing State v. Adamson, 136 Ariz. 250, 665 P.2d 972 (1983); State v. Ferreira, 128 Ariz. 530, 627 P.2d 681 (1981). Based on our review of the relevant authority and the record in this case, we conclude that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in refusing to suppress the identification testimony of any of the 12 witnesses who testified. Initially, we recognize that each of the cases relied on by the trial court in conducting its analysis concerned unnecessarily suggestive government identification procedures, and note that the record in this case reveals no such procedures. However, we do not believe that unnecessarily suggestive government identification procedures are a sine qua non of due process concerns. Rather, we believe that  reliability is the linchpin in determining the admissibility of identification testimony ..., Manson, 432 U.S. at 114, 97 S.Ct. at 2253 (emphasis added), and the trial court properly read Manson and its predecessors as requiring it to make an initial determination as to the reliability of the identification testimony of the 14 witnesses. Similarly, we believe that the trial court properly considered the totality of the circumstances in determining whether the identification testimony of the witnesses was reliable. Manson, 432 U.S. at 113-14, 97 S.Ct. at 2252-53. [1] Accordingly, we conclude that the trial court's analysis is supported by well-established Supreme Court precedent. We also believe that the trial court's decision to admit the identification testimony of 12 of the 14 witnesses is supported by the record. After conducting the Dessureault hearing, and after considering the factors bearing on reliability under the totality of the circumstances, the trial court concluded that the identification testimony of 12 of the 14 witnesses was reliable. Indicative of the trial court's conscientiousness in conducting this hearing is its finding that the identification testimony of two witnesses was not reliable. In addition to conducting a conscientious hearing, we believe that the trial court properly concluded that the identification testimony of 12 of the 14 witnesses was reliable. Although the record indicates that each of the 14 witnesses was exposed to inherently suggestive viewings of the defendant, the record does not indicate that the identification testimony of any of the 12 witnesses who testified was thereby rendered so unreliable that its admission would violate due process. We therefore find no error. B. Other Pretrial Viewings Our review of the record indicates that the only other potentially suggestive pretrial viewings of defendant were (1) a photo spread shown to a young witness; (2) the same photo spread as witnessed by the youth's mother as she looked over his shoulder; and (3) the showing of black and white photos of defendant to another witness, Michael Eggers, by an investigator hired by defendant's first attorney. The trial court considered each of these viewings in its ruling on defendant's motion to suppress. A trial court's decision concerning the reliability of an identification will not be overturned on appeal absent clear and manifest error. State v. Myers, 117 Ariz. 79, 84, 570 P.2d 1252, 1257 (1977). We find no such error in the trial court's determination; defendant's motion to suppress was properly denied. We also note that, even if these witnesses had been irreparably tainted by the pretrial viewings, no prejudice inhered to defendant. The young boy did not testify at trial, and his mother was called as a defense witness. Michael Eggers was called as a prosecution witness and he identified defendant as the man he had seen in a trailer park near the victim's school. However, assuming arguendo that his identification was tainted by the viewing of the photographs, that viewing was initiated by defense counsel's own investigator. Therefore, no basis existed for suppressing Eggers' identification.
Defendant contends that his right to a fair trial was violated by the trial court's refusal to order exhumation of the victim's remains. The skeletal remains were discovered in April 1985 and were buried one month later. Prior to burial, the remains were examined by Drs. Froede and Birkby, at the prosecution's request, and by Drs. Keen (the Yavapai County Medical Examiner) and Chilton (a forensic odontologist), at defense counsel's request. Apparently, all of the examiners reached similar conclusions  that the remains belonged to the victim, but that the cause of death could not be determined. At the time the victim's parents arranged for funeral services, Lamar Couser was defendant's attorney. Defendant had requested that Stanton Bloom represent him, but Bloom had not yet accepted the case. The prosecution therefore notified both Couser and Bloom of the pending burial. Couser, as attorney of record, chose not to seek a delay of the funeral to allow for further examination of the bones, despite Bloom's request that he do so. Funeral services took place on May 30, 1985. On November 4, 1985, Bloom, who had since assumed defendant's representation, moved for the exhumation of the remains. The motion stated that, [b]ecause the autopsies previously done on the bones of [the victim] were totally inconclusive, this Defendant moves that these bones be exhumed in order to administer justice. It is felt that evidence can be secured by disinterment which would create material valuable and highly relevant in establishing the accused's guilt or innocence. Bloom supplemented this motion with his own affidavit, stating that he had spoken with an expert, whose identity he refused to disclose, who had assured him that he would be able to determine the cause of death. The affidavit also indicated that the unknown expert's examination might entail sending the remains out of the United States. The motion to exhume was denied by the trial court without comment. The defense initiated special action proceedings seeking appellate review of this ruling, but both the court of appeals and this court declined to accept jurisdiction. See Arizona Court of Appeals, Division Two, 2 CA-SA 335 (jurisdiction declined Jan. 7, 1986), and Arizona Supreme Court, CV-86-0085-PR (petition for review denied March 25, 1986). The power to grant the exhumation of human remains lies within the sound discretion of the trial court, see, e.g., Moss v. State, 152 Ala. 30, 34, 44 So. 598, 599 (1907), and we will not overturn the court's decision on this matter absent an abuse of that discretion. We find no abuse in this case. The trial court was presented only with Mr. Bloom's cryptic promises that valuable and highly relevant evidence could be discovered by exhumation. However, he revealed neither the name of the expert nor the basis for the expert's conclusions. Exhumation of the victim's body is to be allowed only under extraordinary circumstances. Where existence of the evidence sought was so speculative and uncertain, and its value in aiding defendant's defense so conjectural and remote, the trial court properly exercised its discretion in refusing appellant's motion. Commonwealth v. Kivlin, 267 Pa.Super. 270, 281, 406 A.2d 799, 805 (1979); see also Annotation, Disinterment in Criminal Cases, 63 A.L.R.3d 1294, 1302 (1975) (exhumation is appropriate when absolutely essential to the administration of justice). We find no error in the denial of the motion to exhume the victim's remains.
Defendant claims that several instances of prosecutorial and police misconduct denied him a fair trial. We categorize these alleged instances of misconduct into 4 areas: (A) investigative misconduct by both the police and prosecution; (B) prosecutorial misconduct before the grand jury; (C) improper contact between the prosecution and the media; and (D) trial misconduct. [2] We examine each category separately. A. Alleged Investigative Misconduct 1. Burial of Victim's Remains Defendant argues that the prosecutor, John G. Davis, III, had agreed with Stanton Bloom (before Bloom became attorney of record) that the victim's remains would not be buried until mid-June 1985 to enable a defense expert to examine the bones. At the victim's parents' request, however, the remains were buried on May 30, 1985, before Bloom could have them examined. Defendant suggests that, in allowing the victim's parents to proceed with the funeral, the prosecution failed to preserve valuable evidence and thereby denied defendant a fair trial. Contrary to defendant's argument, we believe that he was not denied a fair trial. Two experts for the defense had already examined the victim's remains before funeral arrangements were made. The prosecutor notified both Couser and Bloom of the pending burial. Couser, who was still attorney of record, chose not to seek a delay of the funeral, despite Bloom's request to do so. Thus, the defense was offered access to the evidence before the remains were buried, and, in fact, two defense experts examined the remains. Additionally, both Drs. Birkby and Keen were unable to determine the cause or exact date of death, and the record does not reflect that additional examination of the victim's remains would have yielded any evidence useful to the defense. In fact, in his motion to exhume, defendant did not present any evidence  other than Bloom's personal affidavit  indicating that further examination of the bones would have proven fruitful. We therefore conclude that defendant was not denied a fair trial by the burial of the victim's remains. 2. Police Investigation Defendant also claims that the police and prosecution failed adequately to investigate alternative theories of the case. He asserts that the prosecution did not fully investigate other supposed sightings of defendant or the possibility that some other person had kidnapped the victim. Although we will not address individually each of defendant's grievances with the investigatory process, the essence of the argument is that the prosecution singled out [defendant] and proceeded to build their case to the exclusion of other leads. As a preliminary matter, we note that our review of the record does not support defendant's claim that the prosecution singled him out. The police did in fact question, investigate, and evaluate the disparate sources of information concerning the case. Concededly, their investigation quickly narrowed its focus on defendant. This concentration, however, was engendered by the evidence pointing to him, not by an apparent desire of the police or prosecution to find a person upon whom to place the blame, regardless of that person's guilt or innocence. Nevertheless, we will reverse defendant's conviction because of prosecutorial misconduct if two conditions are satisfied: (1) misconduct is indeed present; and (2) a reasonable likelihood exists that the misconduct could have affected the jury's verdict, thereby denying defendant a fair trial. See State v. Bracy, 145 Ariz. 520, 526, 703 P.2d 464, 470 (1985). We decline to find that the police or prosecution acted improperly in failing exhaustively to investigate the hundreds of reports they received from Tucson citizens claiming to possess information concerning the case. This fact, coupled with our determination that the police did not improperly single out defendant to the exclusion of equally viable suspects, leads us to conclude that no misconduct occurred in the investigation of the victim's disappearance. We are therefore unpersuaded by defendant's argument. Of course, integral to defendant's argument is the suggestion that further or more thorough investigation would have revealed defendant's innocence. However, we will not speculate on appeal about what might have been or what could have happened. We again stress that we are not the jury. We have already concluded that ample evidence existed to support the convictions. Thus, even if we were to find that the police and/or prosecution acted improperly in failing to investigate alternative theories in this case, the record does not disclose a reasonable likelihood that their misconduct could have affected the jury's verdict. For this additional reason, we reject defendant's claim. 3. The Cuckoo File Defendant takes issue with the prosecutor's reference to his file of telephone calls and letters from Tucson residents as his cuckoo file. [3] He also complains about the timeliness with which the file was disclosed to the defense. We find no merit in either claim. First, the jury did not hear the file referred to as a cuckoo file; therefore, defendant can claim no prejudice from the use of this name. Second, although criminal defendants have a due process right to disclosure, Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963), this right only extends to the disclosure of material evidence. Thus, although untimely disclosure may be as constitutionally reprehensible as complete nondisclosure, reversal is appropriate only when it is reasonably probable that the jury's verdict would have been different had the evidence been disclosed at a time when it would have been of value to the defense. See, e.g., United States v. Juvenile Male, 864 F.2d 641, 647 (9th Cir.1988). The United States Supreme Court has held that [t]he mere possibility that an item of undisclosed information might have helped the defense, or might have affected the outcome of the trial, does not establish `materiality' in the constitutional sense. United States v. Agurs, 427 U.S. 97, 109-10, 96 S.Ct. 2392, 2400, 49 L.Ed.2d 342 (1976); see also United States v. Bagley, 473 U.S. 667, 682, 105 S.Ct. 3375, 3383, 87 L.Ed.2d 481 (1985) (The evidence is material only if there is a reasonable probability that, had the evidence been disclosed to the defense, the result of the proceeding would have been different. A `reasonable probability' is a probability sufficient to undermine confidence in the outcome.). Under this standard, the file did not constitute material evidence. We therefore find no error. [4] B. Alleged Misconduct Before the Grand Jury Defendant next complains that the prosecution presented misleading information to the Grand Jury that indicted him on the murder charge. We will not consider this issue on appeal; defendant raised the argument in a special action proceeding through which he sought review of the trial court's denial of his motion to dismiss the indictment. Both the court of appeals and this court declined to accept jurisdiction. See Arizona Court of Appeals, Division 2, 2 CA-SA 335 (jurisdiction declined Jan. 7, 1986); Arizona Supreme Court, CV-86-0085-PR (petition for review denied March 25, 1986). The issue is therefore moot. See State v. Agnew, 132 Ariz. 567, 573, 647 P.2d 1165, 1171 (App. 1982); see also United States v. Mechanik, 475 U.S. 66, 72-73, 106 S.Ct. 938, 943, 89 L.Ed.2d 50 (1986) (petit jury's guilty verdict rendered harmless any conceivable error in the grand jury's charging decision caused by alleged violation of rule 6(d), Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure); State v. Verive, 128 Ariz. 570, 574-75, 627 P.2d 721, 725-26 (1981) (defendant cannot, by appeal from conviction, obtain review of matters relevant only to grand jury proceedings that had no effect on the subsequent trial). C. Alleged Prosecutorial Contact with the Media Defendant asserts that the prosecution acted improperly in releasing certain information to the press. Although we recognize the potential for serious infringement of a defendant's right to a fair trial when the prosecution engages in extrajudicial contact with the media, see, e.g., United States v. Milanovich, 303 F.2d 626, 629-30 (4th Cir.1962), our concern in addressing alleged prosecutorial misconduct is the actual effect of the conduct on defendant's trial. [T]he touchstone of due process analysis in cases of alleged prosecutorial misconduct is the fairness of the trial, not the culpability of the prosecutor. Smith v. Phillips, 455 U.S. 209, 219, 102 S.Ct. 940, 947, 71 L.Ed.2d 78 (1982); cf. State v. Hallman, 137 Ariz. 31, 37, 668 P.2d 874, 880 (1983) (Misconduct alone will not cause a reversal, but only where the defendant has been denied a fair trial as a result of the actions of counsel.). Because we hold that defendant was not denied a fair trial because of pretrial publicity, we do not address the various alleged incidents of improper contact with the media. See infra Part 15. [5] D. Alleged Trial Misconduct Defendant raises several instances of alleged prosecutorial misconduct at the trial. We address each claim individually. 1. Witness's Reference to Polygraph Defendant asserts that the prosecutor engaged in misconduct by failing to warn a state's witness not to testify that he had taken a polygraph test. The prosecutor admitted failing to inform the witness, but he maintained that the omission was unintentional. In its brief, the state asserts that the witness's statement was made only after the defense counsel pressed him very hard to state precisely when he had first recalled a particular piece of information during the various interviews he had with police investigators. The state contends that defense counsel opened the door for the improper statement through his questioning, and that defendant therefore cannot claim error. See State v. Ikirt, 160 Ariz. 113, 115, 770 P.2d 1159, 1161 (1987); State v. Roberts, 144 Ariz. 572, 575-76, 698 P.2d 1291, 1294-95 (App. 1985). The statement concerning the polygraph was made while defense counsel was cross-examining Jack McDonald about when he remembered defendant's telephone conversation with his mother in which McDonald testified that defendant stated, Even if I did do it, you have to help me. Defense counsel was attempting to elicit from McDonald an explanation about why he did not mention the conversation to the police until several weeks after the Kerrville arrest: MR. BLOOM: Where were you when the information came to you after you had given all the long statements to the Police? Where was it this business of information came to your mind? WITNESS: I think it was when I was taking the lie detector test. Defendant argues that the issue is not that this statement was heard by the jury, but rather that the prosecutor failed to warn the witness not to mention the polygraph. Apparently, he asserts that, regardless of lack of prejudice to defendant, the prosecutor's failure to warn the witness was improper conduct rising to the level of constitutional error. We disagree. Our concern in examining any claim of prosecutorial conduct is with the fairness of the trial, not the culpability of the prosecutor. See Phillips, 455 U.S. at 219, 102 S.Ct. at 947. Thus, if prosecutorial misconduct were present in this case, that misconduct would not merit reversal of defendant's conviction unless it denied him a fair trial. See, e.g., Milanovich, 303 F.2d at 630; State v. Marquez, 113 Ariz. 540, 544, 558 P.2d 692, 696 (1976) (where the reference to the [polygraph] examination does not prejudice the defendant, there is no reversible error). We find that defendant was not denied a fair trial by the reference to the polygraph. Even without addressing the possibility that defense counsel opened the door to this testimony, the reference to the polygraph and the possible reflection it had on McDonald's veracity are insufficient, when viewed in relation to the totality of the evidence presented by the state, to suggest that defendant's right to a fair trial was abrogated by the incident. Finally, any possible error was rendered harmless by the court's immediate instruction to the jury to disregard the witness's answer. See State v. Bowen, 104 Ariz. 138, 141, 449 P.2d 603, 606 (1969). 2. Emotional Witness Defendant next argues that the prosecution engaged in misconduct in connection with the testimony of Sam Hall, the teacher who saw defendant's car in an alley near the Homer Davis Elementary School. Hall became emotionally upset during direct examination and the prosecutor attempted to calm him. Defense counsel moved for a mistrial, arguing that the testimony was a staged performance and that the witness had been prompted by the prosecution. According to the defense, this prompting was illustrated by the witness's charged responses to the prosecutor's questions and his contrastingly calm testimony during cross-examination. The trial court denied the motion for mistrial. We will not reverse the trial court's ruling on this issue absent an abuse of discretion. See Hallman, 137 Ariz. at 37, 668 P.2d at 880; State v. Williams, 121 Ariz. 213, 215, 589 P.2d 456, 458 (App. 1978); see also State v. Carr, 91 Or. App. 673, 675, 756 P.2d 1263, 1264 (1988). We find no abuse. Although the record reflects that Hall became agitated during his testimony and that he perhaps was overcome with emotion, the trial judge was in the best position to evaluate the effect of Hall's demeanor on the jury. See State v. Wayman, 104 Ariz. 125, 127, 449 P.2d 296, 298 (1969); State v. Chears, 231 Kan. 161, 166, 643 P.2d 154, 158 (1982). With the jury present, the trial judge discussed with Hall his emotional state and requested that he answer questions with yes or no whenever possible. In addition, the jury was instructed that it must not be influenced by sympathy or prejudice. The court's comments at the time of the incident, together with its instruction to the jury, sufficiently countered any negative impact Hall's loss of composure might have had on the jury. Further, we do not believe, given the length of the trial and the magnitude of evidence presented, that the jury was impermissibly tainted by the emotional display of one witness on the second day of trial. We therefore need not address defendant's underlying contention that the testimony was prompted or staged. 3. Testimony of Victim's Mother Defendant next argues that, by calling the victim's mother to testify in both its case-in-chief and as a rebuttal witness, the prosecution engaged in prejudicial misconduct designed to arouse sympathy from the jury. We do not believe, however, that allowing the victim's mother to testify constituted reversible error. Mary's mother was uniquely aware of her daughter's activities leading up to the kidnapping and, concerning her testimony in rebuttal, she was able to describe certain of her daughter's characteristics that conflicted with the testimony of persons who claimed to have seen the child at a local mall. Despite the potentially prejudicial effects of permitting a victim's mother to testify, we do not believe that the trial court in this case erred in allowing this probative testimony. See Corn v. Zant, 708 F.2d 549, 568 (11th Cir.1983) (The trial court has broad discretion in passing on the admissibility of evidence, including testimony that may be calculated to create prejudice against or sympathy for the accused. It is for the trial court to determine whether the probative value of the evidence is outweighed by possible prejudicial impact.); see also United States v. Donley, 878 F.2d 735, 738-39 (3d Cir.1989) (trial court has discretion to determine whether testimony of victim's mother is sufficiently probative to outweigh prejudicial effects); State v. Purcell, 117 Ariz. 305, 309, 572 P.2d 439, 443 (1977) (upholding trial court's decision to allow murder victim's son to testify).