Opinion ID: 2514739
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 13

Heading: Did plain error occur in the district court's response to a jury question?

Text: [¶ 43] During its deliberations, the jury sent the judge a note asking, do we use the evidence of State Exhibit 2, quote, verdict of conviction, unquote, in determining the verdict[?] [4] State's Exhibit 2 was the Judgment Upon Jury Verdict holding the appellant guilty of conspiracy to commit the first-degree murder of B.C. After an informal off-the-record discussion with counsel, and with the agreement of counsel, the district court sent the following responsive note to the jury room, without bringing the jury into open court: State's Exhibit 2 is a piece of evidence which should be given as much weight as you deem appropriate. As will be further discussed below, the appellant contends that this response misstated the law. [¶ 44] We apply the following standard when reviewing jury instructions: A trial court is given wide latitude in instructing the jury and, as long as the instructions correctly state the law and the entire charge covers the relevant issue, reversible error will not be found. Instructions must be considered as a whole, and individual instructions, or parts of them, should not be singled out and considered in isolation. Prejudice will be determined to exist only where an appellant demonstrates that the instruction given confused or misled the jury with respect to the proper principles of law. Luedtke v. State, 2005 WY 98, ¶ 28, 117 P.3d 1227, 1232 (Wyo.2005) (citations omitted). Where there has been no trial objection, however, we review for plain error. Leyva v. State, 2005 WY 22, ¶ 9, 106 P.3d 873, 876 (Wyo.2005). In particular regard to jury questions evidencing confusion or uncertainty as to applicable law, we have said that it is the trial court's duty to answer such questions. Heywood v. State, 2007 WY 149, ¶ 28, 170 P.3d 1227, 1235 (Wyo.2007). See also United States v. Duran, 133 F.3d 1324, 1334 (10th Cir.1998) (plain error where trial court fails to clarify law in answer to jury question, and possibility exists that the conviction is based on an incorrect legal basis). [¶ 45] This issue is linked by the appellant to two issues already discussed herein. The appellant contends that the district court's response to the jury note was legally incorrect because it allowed the jury to use the prior conviction evidence in violation of both W.R.E. 404 and W.R.E. 609. W.R.E. 404, as noted previously herein, limits the use of uncharged misconduct evidence to proof of specific facts such as motive, intent, and identity, which facts should be identified pre-trial by the State, and should be analyzed pre-trial by the court in balancing probative value against unfairly prejudicial effect. In turn, prior conviction evidence is governed by W.R.E. 609(a) when offered to impeach the credibility of a witness, including the defendant. Clearly, the district court's response to the jury note, indicating that the jury could give the prior conviction evidence whatever weight it deemed appropriate, was not consonant with these rules. The State takes the position that it was not error for the district court to reply to the jury note as it did because defense counsel had made neither a W.R.E. 404 nor a W.R.E. 609 objection to admission of State's Exhibit 2 when it was offered and admitted. [¶ 46] This issue properly is addressed under W.R.E. 609, and not under W.R.E. 404, because the appellant testified, and impeaching his credibility was the only justifiable purpose for admission of the exhibit. Once appellant became a witness, the admissibility of his prior convictions was governed by Rule 609(a), W.R.E., rather than Rule 404(b). Robinson v. State, 716 P.2d 364, 368 (Wyo.1986). [5] Defense counsel's failure to object or decision not to object to admission of the conviction document is understandable, given that the document was admissible under W.R.E. 609. That, however, does not explain why defense counsel did not object to the district court's response to the jury question, which response allowed the jury to consider the conviction document as evidence of the appellant's guilt in the present case, rather than limiting it to impeachment under W.R.E. 609. The response erroneously stated the law as delineated in W.R.E. 609. Consequently, the response can be justified only if defense counsel's failure or decision not to object to the document's admission made it admissible beyond the limited purpose of impeaching credibility. [¶ 47] We will not further pursue this issue as presented, for two reasons. First, neither the State nor the appellant has cited a single case directed toward the specific issue engendered by this situation: whether defense counsel's failure or decision not to ask for a limiting instruction at the time State's Exhibit 2 was introduced forecloses a subsequent objection to the jury's use of the exhibit as evidence of guilt in the instant case, and concomitantly, whether it was error for the district court to respond to the jury question as it did. Second, the original failure to object or decision not to object, or to ask for a limiting instruction, along with the later failure to object or decision not to object to the district court's response to the jury note, is so clearly part of the pattern of ineffective assistance of counsel shown throughout these proceedings, that there is no need for this Court on its own to conduct the necessary research on the jury note issue. [6]