Opinion ID: 1407547
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Evidence of Escapes of Appellant.

Text: Appellant contends that the trial court erred in admitting evidence of appellant's escapes. A correctional officer, Elbert Crowe, testified that appellant escaped from the county jail on April 16, 1977. Agent John Kazystyniak of the FBI had previously testified that appellant was apprehended in New York on May 11, 1977 after the escape. Appellant admitted the fact of his escape to the agent. Finally, a Las Vegas Police Officer testified that appellant was also apprehended on November 4, 1977. There was no direct evidence that appellant had escaped a second time although this was the inference. The contention here is that an inference of guilt on the murder charge could not be drawn as appellant was in jail on a robbery conviction and was facing a burglary charge. Appellant concedes that flight is admissible as an indication of consciousness of guilt. Edwards v. State, 90 Nev. 255, 260, 524 P.2d 328, 332 (1974); Williams v. State, 85 Nev. 169, 175, 451 P.2d 848, 852 (1969). And a majority of jurisdictions have held that, provided the jury is properly instructed, evidence of flight may be taken into consideration even though two or more charges are pending. See People v. Neiman, 90 Ill. App.2d 337, 232 N.E.2d 805 (1967); State v. Tyler, 306 S.W.2d 452 (Mo. 1957); People v. Yazum, 13 N.Y.2d 302, 246 N.Y.S.2d 626, 196 N.E.2d 263 (1963). The jury was properly instructed that evidence of escape may be considered by you in the light of all other proven facts in deciding guilt and that whether this indicated consciousness of guilt was left for their determination. Appellant contends that the court should have instructed the jury that other facts would include whether or not he was in custody on another charge. Considering the fact that counsel for appellant argued in closing that appellant had been in jail for the robbery conviction, we believe that the instruction given was sufficient. Nevertheless, we conclude that a better practice would be to include a reference to the fact that a defendant was in custody on other charges if that is a properly proven fact. On this record, we perceive no error.