Opinion ID: 2566246
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Introduction of the knife into evidence

Text: [¶ 16] The trial court allowed the knife found in the passenger compartment of Law's car to be introduced into evidence by the State. The State introduced the knife at trial in its case-in-chief through Officer Bower. AC testified that she had never seen that particular knife before, and that Law never carried a knife with him for protection while they were together. Law argues that the trial court abused its discretion when it allowed the introduction of this knife into evidence because his possession of the knife in his car is irrelevant to any material fact at issue in this trial. Law argues his possession of the knife is irrelevant because he did not use the knife against AC, and in fact AC did not even know he possessed the knife. Additionally, Law argues that, even if this Court were to find that his possession of the knife was somehow relevant, the prejudice of its introduction far outweighs any relevancy, requiring its exclusion under W.R.E. 403. [¶ 17] We first must determine if Law's possession of the knife in his car at the time of his arrest is relevant. Evidence is always relevant if it tends to prove or disprove one of the elements of the crime charged. W.R.E. 401. The elements of stalking as defined by § 6-2-506(b), are that Law, with the intent to harass AC, engaged in a course of conduct reasonably likely to harass AC. Section 6-2-506(a)(i) defines course of conduct as a pattern of conduct composed of a series of acts over any period of time evidencing a continuity of purpose. The same statute defines harass as to engage in a course of conduct, including but not limited to verbal threats, written threats, vandalism or nonconsensual physical contact, directed at a specific person or the family of a specific person, which the defendant knew or should have known would cause a reasonable person to suffer substantial emotional distress, and which does in fact seriously alarm the person toward whom it is directed. § 6-2-506(a)(ii). [¶ 18] The State argues that the knife was relevant to show that Law intended to harass AC and to show Law engaged in a course of conduct intended to harass AC. The State directs the attention of this Court to Vit v. State, 909 P.2d 953 (Wyo.1996), to support its contentions. In Vit, statements made by Vit to friends and a mental health therapist to the effect that he was considering physically harming his stalking victim were introduced into evidence. On appeal, Vit attacked the introduction of the statements on the grounds that they were not relevant because his victim was not aware of the statements. The Vit Court affirmed the admission of the statements, stating in part that the statements were probative of Vit's criminal intent. Id. at 957-58. [¶ 19] We fail to discern any similarity between the facts in this case and the facts in Vit. Vit's statements claiming he was contemplating physically harming his stalking victim were directly probative of Vit's criminal intent. In the case sub judice, all we have is possession of a knife in a car. There simply is no evidence linking Law's possession of the knife in his car to any act relating to AC. Law did not use the knife or the fact of his possession thereof to directly threaten AC. Law did not tell anybody that he intended to physically harm AC. There is no evidence even that Law ever carried the knife on his person. [¶ 20] Law's possession of a knife in his vehicle does not indicate anything regarding his intended use of the knife. It certainly does not reasonably lead to the inference that Law intended to use the knife against AC in any manner. Further, harassment under the statute does not require physical threats and the State did not affirmatively allege that Law physically threatened AC. In the final analysis, Law's possession of the knife in his vehicle when he was arrested, in and of itself, has no relevance to any fact material to the charge of stalking as presented in this case. Specifically, the fact that Law possessed a knife in his car at the time of his arrest cannot reasonably be used to infer anything concerning Law's intent or course of conduct in relation to AC. [¶ 21] The State also argues that Law's credibility was called into question because he told Officer Bower that he always carried it with him in his car for protection, while AC testified that she previously had never seen that particular knife, and that Law never carried a knife in his car when they were together. Since we have already ruled that Law's possession of the knife is irrelevant to the charges against him, however, questioning AC regarding the knife as a means of impeachment through contradicting Law's statements to the police officer constitutes improper impeachment because it involves a collateral matter. [¶ 22] The rule against impeachment on collateral matters often arises in connection with a criminal defendant attempting to impeach a witness, but the rule applies to any attempt to impeach credibility. This Court previously has explained the rule: Both the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States and Article 1, § 10 of the Constitution of the State of Wyoming preserve the right to confront witnesses testifying against a defendant. The right is not without its limitations, however, and [c]ourts recognize what might be called a hard-edged limit on impeachment by contradiction, drawn from common-law tradition and captured in the notion that contradiction on `collateral matters' is improper. 3 Christopher B. Mueller & Laird C. Kirkpatrick, Federal Evidence § 320 (2d ed.1994). Contradicting a witness, as Daniel attempted here, is a recognized method of impeachment by showing something the witness said is erroneous. The New York court defined the rule regarding impeachment on cross-examination of a witness, using collateral matters through extrinsic evidence, and had this to say: The general rule is that a cross-examiner cannot contradict a witness' answers concerning collateral matters by producing extrinsic evidence for the sole purpose of impeaching credibility. However, an exception to this rule exists where the evidence sought to be introduced is relevant to some issue in the case other than credibility or if independently admissible to impeach the witness. The reason for this exception to the collateral evidence rule is evident from the policy considerations underlying the general rule. The collateral evidence rule is said to rest upon auxiliary policy considerations of preventing undue confusion of issues and unfair surprise by extrinsic testimony. Also, testimonial errors concerning distant and unconnected points are of inferior probative value. People v. Schwartzman, 24 N.Y.2d 241, 299 N.Y.S.2d 817, 821, 247 N.E.2d 642, 644-45 (1969), cert. denied, 396 U.S. 846, 90 S.Ct. 103, 24 L.Ed.2d 96 (1969) (emphasis in original, citations omitted). Daniel v. State, 923 P.2d 728, 738-39 (Wyo.1996). Under the facts in Daniel, this Court concluded the general rule had been violated: Daniel's effort to impeach the doctor was contrary to the general rule because his cross-examination endeavored to contradict her answers relating to collateral matters by inquiring into extrinsic evidence for the sole purpose of impeaching credibility. This effort does not fit the exception to the rule because the evidence sought to be introduced was not relevant to some issue in the case other than credibility nor was it independently admissible to impeach the witness. There would have been the danger of causing undue confusion of issues, unfair surprise by extrinsic testimony, and little, if any, probative value. Id. at 739. The rule extends to attempts to introduce evidence by other methods than simply cross-examination: The latitude allowed counsel on cross-examination and rebuttal is a matter within the sound discretion of the trial court, and a reviewing court should not interfere unless there has been a clear abuse of discretion resulting in manifest prejudice to the defendant. ( People v. Collins (1985), 106 Ill.2d 237, 269, 87 Ill.Dec. 910, 924, 478 N.E.2d 267, 281.) Generally speaking, any permissible kind of impeaching matter may be developed on cross-examination, since one of the purposes of cross-examination is to test the credibility of the witness. (106 Ill.2d at 269, 87 Ill.Dec. at 924, 478 N.E.2d at 281.) However, the cross-examiner may not impeach a witness on a collateral matter. (106 Ill.2d at 269, 87 Ill.Dec. at 924, 478 N.E.2d at 281.) Collateral matters are generally considered to include facts irrelevant to the substantive issues in the case and facts which are not independently provable by extrinsic evidence, apart from impeachment purposes. ( People v. McGhee (1974), 20 Ill.App.3d 915, 922, 314 N.E.2d 313, 319; McCormick, Evidence § 47, at 101-02 (1954).) The test which determines if a matter is collateral is whether the matter could be introduced for any purpose other than to contradict. ( Collins, 106 Ill.2d at 269, 87 Ill.Dec. at 924, 478 N.E.2d at 281.) We reiterate that defendant does not contend that the trial court erred in limiting the cross-examination of Teri H. Instead, defendant argues that the trial court erred by not allowing three witnesses to contradict her testimony elicited under cross-examination. Whether Teri H. neglected her child was not the issue in this case, and such evidence could not be introduced for any purpose other than to contradict. Therefore, evidence that Teri H. left her child alone or tried to give her child away on prior occasions is collateral to this case, and extrinsic evidence was properly barred by the trial court. We find no abuse of the trial court's discretion. People v. Hutson, 223 Ill.App.3d 50, 165 Ill.Dec. 541, 584 N.E.2d 975, 978 (1991). [¶ 23] In the case sub judice, the State in its case-in-chief asked AC about a knife she had never seen. AC then testified that she had never known Law to carry a knife in his car for protection. The State then introduced the knife (the knife AC had never seen) through Officer Bower for the simple reason that it had been found on the floorboard of the back seat of Law's car. The State then elicited testimony from Officer Bower that Law claimed he always carried the knife in his car for protection. This is the sum total of evidence surrounding Law's possession of the knife in his vehicle at the time of his arrest. [¶ 24] While drawing reasonable inferences from evidence is allowed, it is no more reasonable to infer that the mere presence of a knife in a car supports stalking conduct than to infer the mere presence of a knife infers intent to commit murder. The evidence regarding Law's possession of the knife in his car simply has no relevance to Law's state of mind regarding the charge of stalking AC, it is not probative of his intent towards ACl and it is not probative of any course of conduct by Law in relation to the stalking charge. Since Law's possession of the knife in his car has no relevance to the case, it is a completely collateral matter and as such cannot be introduced solely to impeach Law's credibility. Under the facts of this case, especially where no threat of physical harm was ever alleged by the State, this Court is compelled to conclude that the trial court abused its discretion in allowing evidence of Law's possession of a knife in his car at the time of his arrest to be admitted. [¶ 25] It remains to be determined, however, whether the error in allowing the introduction of this evidence affected Law's substantial rights. W.R.A.P. 9.04 (on appeal, this Court disregards harmless errors). An error is harmful if there is a reasonable possibility that the verdict might have been more favorable to the defendant had the error never occurred. To demonstrate harmful error, the defendant must show prejudice under circumstances which manifest inherent unfairness and injustice, or conduct which offends the public sense of fair play. Seward v. State, 2003 WY 116, ¶ 13, 76 P.3d 805, ¶ 13 (Wyo.2003); Wilks v. State, 2002 WY 100, ¶ 21, 49 P.3d 975, ¶ 21 (Wyo.2002); Johnson v. State, 790 P.2d 231, 232 (Wyo.1990). [¶ 26] In his brief, Law presents this Court with no specific argument on how, in view of the entire record, Law suffered prejudice to a substantial right by the erroneous introduction of the knife. Law's argument is essentially limited to a single sentence: Confidence in the verdict is undermined when highly prejudicial, irrelevant evidence is admitted at a trial with so little direct evidence of a course of conduct. Law points out that it was never proven that he had any role in any of the alleged problems AC was having prior to April 4, 2002. Therefore, the verdict may possibly have been more favorable to Law had the knife not been admitted into evidence. [¶ 27] This Court is reluctant to do Law's work for him and search the record for prejudice. Suffice it to say that, reviewing the record as a whole, the evidence regarding the knife was minimal. The State mentions the knife three times: twice in its case-in chief and once in closing. The State offered the knife into evidence through Officer Bower, who only identified it as a knife Law stated he always kept in the car for protection. AC testified she had never seen the knife before and never knew Law to keep a knife in his car for protection. These references are minimal. Of slightly more concern was the State's reference to the knife in closing. In its closing argument, upon showing the jury the knife, the State argued: She said he never carried this in his car the whole time that she knew him. The whole time they were married and dated, never saw this in his car before. You figure it out. You will get to look at that. Oh, nobody saw him carrying this. Nobody saw him carry it that day. He had a waist length coat on, folks. Draw your own conclusion, that's what you're here for. [¶ 28] The defense referred to the knife twice. On cross-examination, the defense elicited from the neighbor that he had not noticed anything in Law's hands when he saw him running in the alley on April 4. Then, upon cross-examination of Officer Bower, the defense posed several questions, the answers to which strongly emphasized that no witness interviewed by Officer Bower mentioned a knife, and Officer Bower was in no way suggesting that Law ever possessed the knife on his person. The defense was thus able to effectively underscore that AC was not aware of the knife, had never seen the knife, Law was never seen carrying the knife, and Law never threatened AC with the knife. [¶ 29] The defense did not request any limiting instruction regarding the evidentiary purpose of the knife. The State took advantage of this free reign to argue in closing that the jury was free to infer that Law was carrying the knife with him when he was in AC's neighborhood on April 4. While prejudicial in the sense that the presence of the knife suggested Law might have been willing to resort to physical violence against AC, we do not think the introduction of the knife into evidence substantially impacted the jury's verdict. The State never alleged that Law threatened AC with physical violence, while the defense clearly showed that there was no evidence that Law ever carried the knife on his person. Harassment in the form of physical violence was not an element of the crime of stalking as presented by the State. The State produced considerable evidence of harassment by means of surveillance and unwanted communication. The jury was presented with ample evidence from which it could convict Law of stalking as charged. Under the facts of this case, we do not think the introduction of the knife had a substantial impact on the verdict of the jury, nor can we say that the defendant has shown prejudice under circumstances which manifest inherent unfairness and injustice, or conduct which offends the public sense of fair play. Johnson, 790 P.2d at 232.