Opinion ID: 1874198
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: unpreserved evidentiary issues.

Text: Under KRE 103(e), we review unpreserved claims of evidentiary error for palpable error. A finding of palpable error must involve prejudice more egregious than that occurring in reversible error, Lawson, supra, § 1.10[8][b], at 54 n. 146, and the error must have resulted in manifest injustice. KRE 103(e); Brock v. Commonwealth, 947 S.W.2d 24, 28 (Ky. 1997). Authorities discussing palpable error consider it to be composed of two elements: obviousness and seriousness, the latter of which is present when a failure to notice and correct such an error would `seriously affect the fairness, integrity, and public reputation of the judicial proceeding.' Lawson, supra, § 1.10[8][b], at 54 (quoting 1 McLaughlin, Weinstein's Federal Evidence, § 103.42[3] (2d ed.2003)). A court reviewing for palpable error must do so in light of the entire record; the inquiry is heavily dependent upon the facts of each case. United States v. Young, 470 U.S. 1, 16, 105 S.Ct. 1038, 1046-47, 84 L.Ed.2d 1 (1985).
Appellant claims that the trial court erred in admitting testimony regarding several instances of his conduct that occurred in the time frame immediately preceding and following the kidnapping and murder. Appellant asserts the inadmissibility of this testimony on two grounds: (1) the Commonwealth failed to meet the pretrial notice requirement of KRE 404(c); and (2) the testimony was not relevant to a legitimate purpose under KRE 404(b)(1). On October 31, 2001, Appellant moved the trial court to compel disclosure of any evidence the Commonwealth intended to introduce pursuant to KRE 404(b). The trial court sustained Appellant's motion, and on December 3, 2001, over eight months prior to trial, the Commonwealth responded by citing its open file policy and additionally listing, inter alia, the following: Potential 404(b) items of evidence which the Commonwealth may seek to introduce in its case in chief depending upon the defense presented include the following: ... d. Defendant's theft of Donald Durban's [sic] food and toiletries; ... l. Defendant's removal and possession of the Crossen's [sic] firearm without their knowledge and replacement of that weapon the morning of his arrest; Other possible 404(b) evidence that may become necessary for use depending upon the testimony of the Defendant and/or defense witnesses includes the following: ... c. Defendant's history of theft related offenses. Appellant claims that his October 31, 2001, motion to compel disclosure preserved for appellate review his claim that the evidence was improperly admitted at trial. We disagree. Only a timely objection or motion to strike, KRE 103(a)(1), a continuing objection permitted by the trial court, Davis v. Commonwealth, 147 S.W.3d 709, 721-22 (Ky.2004), or a pretrial motion in limine, KRE 103(d), will preserve an error in the admission of evidence. After the Commonwealth filed its response to the disclosure motion, Appellant never claimed that the disclosure was inadequate or objected to the admissibility of the KRE 404(b) evidence on this notice ground. We thus review Appellant's KRE 404(c) claim only for palpable error. Appellant claims that the evidence was substantively improper, arguing that none of it was relevant to a legitimate purpose under KRE 404(b)(1), and that its prejudicial effect outweighed its probative value. Appellant claims that it was reversible error for the trial court to admit this evidence and to fail to admonish the jury that this evidence was not to be considered as evidence of propensity. However, Appellant never objected to the admission of any of this testimony at trial, much less requested a limiting admonition. We have held that such admonitions are required only upon request and that the failure to request an admonition is generally regarded as trial strategy. Caudill v. Commonwealth, 120 S.W.3d 635, 659 (Ky.2003); Barth v. Commonwealth, 80 S.W.3d 390, 396-97 (Ky.2001). Certainly, we would not expect a trial judge to sua sponte admonish the jury to give a limiting effect to evidence to which there was no objection. The failure to give an unrequested limiting admonition is not palpable error. United States v. Rhodes, 62 F.3d 1449, 1453-54 (D.C.Cir.1995), ([B]ecause Rule 105 commands that an appropriate limiting instruction shall be available `upon request,' we conclude that we cannot impose upon district courts the obligation to give such an instruction sua sponte. ), vacated on other grounds, Rhodes v. United States, 517 U.S. 1164, 116 S.Ct. 1562, 134 L.Ed.2d 662 (1996); United States v. Christian, 786 F.2d 203, 214 (6th Cir.1986) (In the absence of a request by defense counsel for a limiting instruction, the failure of the trial court to give one is not reversible error.). Accordingly, we will review the admission of the evidence for palpable error.
Testimony from Sharon McNay and Betty Davidson, the victim's sisters, established that Roberts kept her own purse and Davidson's purse in the trunk of her car. Both purses were found in a trash receptacle on the first floor of St. Elizabeth Medical Center on April 4, 2000. Denise Arrington testified that Appellant told her that some time after he had killed the victim, he parked the victim's car at St. Elizabeth's and took money from the two purses to pay for a taxi. Although the Commonwealth provided no pretrial notice that specifically mentioned Appellant's theft of money from these purses, the admission of this evidence was not palpable error. As mentioned above, the Commonwealth's response to Appellant's October 31, 2001, motion notified Appellant that his history of theft related offenses might be introduced. Moreover, the Commonwealth maintained an open file policy at all times prior to trial. Had Appellant objected to the admission of this evidence, the trial court may have held that these broad references in the KRE 404(c) disclosure statement were insufficient pretrial notice to warrant admission of this evidence. See, e.g. Daniel v. Commonwealth, 905 S.W.2d 76, 77 (Ky.1995); Gray v. Commonwealth, 843 S.W.2d 895, 897 (Ky.1992). Nevertheless, because Appellant received some notice more than eight months prior to his trial that the Commonwealth might introduce evidence of his thievery, its admission did not constitute manifest injustice. Evidence of this uncharged theft was also admissible for a legitimate purpose. Under KRE 404(b), evidence of other acts may be offered to prove a plan. In this manner, KRE 404(b) provides an avenue for the admissibility of evidence of uncharged crimes that are part and parcel of a greater endeavor which included the charged offense. Commonwealth v. English, 993 S.W.2d 941, 943-44 (Ky.1999). In this case, the theft could be construed as part of a larger plan to obscure the details surrounding Roberts's disappearance, by parking her car at St. Elizabeth's, discarding the identifying purses in an available trash receptacle, and then using the money taken from the purses to pay for a taxi. Appellant's plan could have been for the police to find Roberts's car and the empty purses at St. Elizabeth's, where she went to visit Davidson virtually every day, and thus conclude that Roberts was robbed and abducted by an unknown assailant while on the hospital grounds. The attempted creation of such a scenario was relevant to Appellant's consciousness of guilt, Adkins, 96 S.W.3d at 793, thus refuting his claim that he did not intend to kill Roberts. Since the evidence was offered for a proper purpose, there was no obvious error in admitting it. Lawson, supra, § 1.10[8][b], at 54. Appellant argues that admission of evidence of his other bad acts likely caused the jury to give less credibility to his testimony that he did not intend to kill Roberts and that Roberts was not alive when he moved her. However, Appellant's numerous conflicting statements prior to trial about the events surrounding Roberts's death was more likely to have affected his credibility, as was the medical evidence tending to negate Appellant's claim that Roberts died before the kidnapping. It is unlikely that evidence of Appellant's theft of a small amount of money (ten dollars) from the purses in Roberts's car substantially affected the jury's assessment of his credibility. Upon a review of the record as a whole, Young, 470 U.S. at 16, 105 S.Ct. at 1046-47, we conclude that the admission of this evidence did not constitute palpable error.
Arrington also testified that Appellant admitted taking $150.00 from a cup in Roberts's kitchen cupboard, intending to use that money to pay Roberts for the telephone bill. According to Arrington, Appellant told her that the $150.00 was money he had previously paid to Roberts for rent. Our reasoning with regard to the pretrial notice of Appellant's theft of money from the purses in Roberts's car applies equally here. Thus, for the reasons stated in Part IV(A)(1), supra, the admission of this evidence in spite of the Commonwealth's failure to give specific pretrial notice of it was not palpable error. Like the evidence discussed above, this testimony was also not clearly inadmissible to prove a proper purpose under KRE 404(b). It constituted evidence of an escalation in the ongoing antagonism between Appellant and Roberts over reimbursement of the long-distance telephone charges. The uncharged theft thus related to an ongoing dispute that arguably furnished the motive for the homicide. Thus, we cannot say that the trial court committed obvious error in admitting this evidence or, based on our review of the record as a whole, Part IV(A)(1), supra, that the admission of this testimony was manifestly unjust. Thus, its admission was not palpable error.
Donald Durbin, the other tenant in Roberts's house while Appellant lived there, testified that he began to notice that some of his personal belongings had been moved or were missing after Appellant moved into the house, and that this caused him to put a lock on his door about a week after Appellant moved in. After Appellant had moved out, Durbin discovered that his pool cue, valued at $325.00, was missing. Appellant's argument that there was insufficient KRE 404(c) notice is without merit. Although the Commonwealth's December 3, 2001, disclosure of its KRE 404(b) evidence, reproduced above, identified only Defendant's theft of Donald Durban's [sic] food and toiletries, that was sufficient to put Appellant on notice of the Commonwealth's intent to introduce evidence of thefts of Durbin's personal property. However, there was no proper purpose that would authorize its admission under KRE 404(b)(1). The Commonwealth argues that this evidence qualified for admission under KRE 404(b)(2) as inextricably intertwined with the murder and kidnapping. The inextricably intertwined rule applies only to evidence that must come in because it `is so interwoven with evidence of the crime charged that its introduction is unavoidable.' Funk, 842 S.W.2d at 480 (quoting Robert G. Lawson, The Kentucky Evidence Law Handbook, § 2.20, at 37 (2d ed. Michie 1984)). See also Metcalf v. Commonwealth, 158 S.W.3d 740, 742-43 (2005) (Evidence was not inextricably intertwined where exclusion of testimony about Appellant's abuse of another child would not have required suppression of any facts and circumstances relevant to the charged sodomy and sexual abuse of [a different minor].); Fleming v. Commonwealth, 284 Ky. 209, 144 S.W.2d 220, 221 (1940) (Evidence is inextricably intertwined where two or more crimes are so linked together in point of time or circumstances that one cannot be fully shown without proving the other.). Obviously, the Commonwealth did not need to prove that Durbin's pool cue was missing in order to prove that Appellant kidnapped and murdered Roberts. In fact, since there was no proof that Appellant took the pool cue, the evidence had no probative value at all. Bell v. Commonwealth, 875 S.W.2d 882, 890 (Ky.1994); Lawson, supra (4th ed.), § 2.25[3][c], at 130-31. Nevertheless, [e]rror can be found [palpable] only if it is more likely than ordinary error to have affected the judgment. 1 Christopher C. Mueller & Laird C. Kirkpatrick, Federal Evidence § 21 (2d ed.1994). Because of the substantial evidence the jury could have used to discredit Appellant's account of the night of April 3, 2000, discussed in Part IV(A)(1), supra, the improper admission of evidence regarding Durbin's missing pool cue did not result in manifest injustice.
Mark Crossen, Appellant's co-worker at the Just for Fun arcade, and Christy Crossen, his wife, testified that they kept a .22-mm Berretta hidden at their home. Appellant lived with the Crossens before moving to Roberts's residence. Mr. Crossen testified that he noticed that his gun was missing approximately two months before Roberts's death. Mrs. Crossen testified that Appellant called her from the Dayton Police Department on April 4, 2000, to tell her that the Berretta was in the safe at the arcade. Mrs. Crossen checked and, indeed, the Berretta was in the safe. Appellant does not claim insufficient pretrial notice of this evidence, but asserts that it was not relevant to any legitimate purpose under KRE 404(b). We conclude otherwise. Arrington testified that Appellant told her in one of his versions of the fatal night's events that Roberts came into Appellant's bedroom, took a gun off the dresser, and tried to hit him with it, thus supporting his claim of self-defense. Evidence of collateral criminal conduct is admissible for the purpose of rebutting a material contention of the defendant. Moore v. Commonwealth, 771 S.W.2d 34, 39 (Ky.1988), abrogated on other grounds by McGuire v. Commonwealth, 885 S.W.2d 931, 935 (Ky.1994). Evidence that Appellant possessed a gun during the time frame surrounding Roberts's death tended to refute any possible inference that Roberts owned the gun mentioned in that version of the events, an inference that would have tended to support Appellant's claim of self-defense. During its case-in-chief, the Commonwealth could not know which version of the events Appellant would testify to at trial, if he testified at all. It was entitled to introduce evidence to rebut every theory that he had related to Arrington or to the police at the time of his arrest. The testimony regarding Appellant's possession of the Crossens' Berretta was, thus, not obviously inadmissible, and given the substantial other evidence that tended to discredit Appellant's account of the relevant events, Part IV(A)(1), supra, admission of this evidence did not result in manifest injustice.
Detective Carl Agner testified that upon searching Appellant's vehicle, he found and seized an operational stun gun and an ice pick. Appellant asserts that the admission of these items and the testimony regarding his possession of them was improper KRE 404(b) evidence. We fail to see how the stun gun, the ice pick, or this testimony constituted evidence of other crimes, wrongs or acts, much less how its admission resulted in manifest injustice. This evidence was not within the ambit of KRE 404(b), and Appellant's claims on this point are meritless.
Appellant asserts that the trial court committed reversible error in allowing the Commonwealth to elicit from several witnesses testimony regarding Roberts's family and physical condition. As this claim is unpreserved, our review again is only for palpable error. At trial, the Commonwealth elicited from McNay and Davidson, Roberts's sisters, that Roberts had ten siblings, that Roberts was not working at the time of her death, and that Roberts was drawing disability payments. Toward the end of McNay's testimony, she identified a photograph of Roberts. The Commonwealth left the photograph posted until Davidson also identified it approximately eight and one-half minutes later. Gary Scroggins, Roberts's neighbor, briefly discussed Roberts's physical limitations and the fact that her grandchildren often played with his children. Michelle Roberts and Allison Steele, the victim's daughters, testified that the victim was Davidson's primary caretaker and also discussed the victim's physical limitations. [A] certain amount of background evidence regarding the victim is relevant to understanding the nature of the crime. Bussell v. Commonwealth, 882 S.W.2d 111, 113 (Ky.1994). The prosecution can introduce evidence in the guilt phase identifying a victim as a living person rather than a simple statistic. McQueen v. Commonwealth, 669 S.W.2d 519, 523 (Ky.1984). Such evidence does not unduly prejudice a defendant as long as the victim is not glorified or enlarged. Bowling v. Commonwealth, 942 S.W.2d 293, 302-03 (Ky.1997). At the same time, we have held that the introduction of victim impact evidence during the guilt phase is reversible error. Ice v. Commonwealth, 667 S.W.2d 671, 676 (Ky.1984). Victim impact evidence differs from victim background evidence, in that the former is generally intended to arouse sympathy for the families of the victims, which, although relevant to the issue of penalty, is largely irrelevant to the issue of guilt or innocence. Bennett v. Commonwealth, 978 S.W.2d 322, 325-26 (Ky.1998). In the past, we have held it permissible to introduce evidence during the guilt phase that was similar to that introduced in this case, e.g., Templeman v. Commonwealth, 785 S.W.2d 259, 261 (Ky.1990) (victim's wife identified a photograph of the victim and testified that during their thirty-five year marriage, they had five children and ten grandchildren); Nickell v. Commonwealth, 565 S.W.2d 145, 147 (Ky.1978) (victim's wife testified as to number and ages of their children). Regarding Roberts's status of receiving disability payments and being the primary caretaker for Davidson, see Campbell v. Commonwealth, 788 S.W.2d 260, 263 (Ky.1990) (victim's friend testified that victim was a teacher, was a Beta Club sponsor, and was heavily involved in extracurricular activities); McQueen, 669 S.W.2d at 523 (victim's father testified that victim had graduated from college and was working to pay for a masters program). Regarding Roberts's physical condition, see Wheeler, 121 S.W.3d at 181 (Commonwealth's witness testified that victim was pregnant); Campbell, 788 S.W.2d at 263 (victim's friend testified that victim lifted weights and jogged six miles per day). We note that the testimony regarding Roberts's physical condition was especially relevant, given Appellant's claim before and during trial that Roberts attacked him with a vase. Finally, with one brief exception where Michelle Roberts cried during her account of the day she learned of her mother's disappearance and death, this was not a situation where the witnesses were overly emotional, condemnatory, accusative, or demanding vindication. Foley v. Commonwealth, 953 S.W.2d 924, 937 (Ky.1997). Accordingly, we conclude that this evidence was permissible victim background evidence. Each of the cases cited by Appellant involved introduction of victim impact evidence or egregious prosecutorial misuse of victim background evidence during the guilt phase. Clark v. Commonwealth, 833 S.W.2d 793, 796-97 (Ky.1992) (prosecutor seized on family's testimony by telling the jury to imagine a hypothetical scenario in which the family was at the scene of the crime, begging please don't pull that trigger and offering money to spare the victim's life); Dean v. Commonwealth, 777 S.W.2d 900, 904 (Ky.1989) (prosecutor glorified victim during closing argument, misinformed jury that they had an obligation to impose the death penalty, and delivered an improper Golden Rule argument), overruled on other grounds by Caudill, 120 S.W.3d at 674; Sanborn v. Commonwealth, 754 S.W.2d 534, 542-43 (Ky.1988) (cumulative minor errors requiring reversal included prosecutor following up testimony of victim's family members with impassioned closing argument calling attention to the devastating impact on the family); Ice, 667 S.W.2d at 675-77 (prosecutor introduced multiple photographs of victim through testimony of victim's mother, interspersed with questions regarding her great love for the victim and her terrible loss). A prosecutor can remind the jury of victim background evidence during closing argument, Bussell, 882 S.W.2d at 113, without overly expounding on it. Campbell, 788 S.W.2d at 264. There was no prosecutorial misconduct in this case, and the admission of victim background evidence was not palpable error.
Appellant contends that the Commonwealth's Attorney cross-examined him in an improper manner, requiring him to characterize the testimony of other witnesses as lies. Again, the issue is unpreserved and is reviewed only for palpable error. We begin by mentioning that several questions of which Appellant complains required him to characterize his own prior statements that were inconsistent with his trial testimony. This is clearly permissible impeachment evidence. On several occasions, the Commonwealth's Attorney brought to Appellant's attention the trial testimony of various Commonwealth's witnesses and asked him whether he would characterize those statements as lies. We have held that this method of cross-examination is improper. Moss v. Commonwealth, 949 S.W.2d 579, 583 (Ky.1997) (A witness should not be required to characterize the testimony of another witness, particularly a well-respected police officer, as lying. Such a characterization places the witness in such an unflattering light as to potentially undermine his entire testimony.). However, after a review of the record as a whole, we are not persuaded that the result would have been different had these questions been withheld. Compare Caudill, 120 S.W.3d at 662; Tamme, 973 S.W.2d at 28; Moss, 949 S.W.2d at 583. While the questions were improper, they did not result in manifest injustice, thus did not amount to palpable error.