Opinion ID: 1927721
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: lawton's farm

Text: The defendants argue that prejudicial error was also committed when evidence seized from Lawton's farm was introduced at trial. Salisbury testified that Fred Lawton had made his farm and a large supply of weapons available to Brash, Fountaine, Salisbury, and others for target practice. (Of the fifteen guns seized from the farm, eight were made full exhibits. They were a .22-caliber rifle, a shotgun, a rifle and scope, a Colt revolver, a .25-caliber handgun, a .9-millimeter automatic or semiautomatic handgun, a .357-magnum handgun, and a BB gun.) The defendants assert that the evidence should have been excluded both because it was irrelevant to the crimes with which they had been charged and because it was evidence of uncharged misconduct. The state contends that the guns, ammunition, and other evidence from Lawton's farm was relevant and admissible evidence establishing that defendants were involved in an ongoing scheme for their use. The trial justice considered these arguments at a pretrial hearing on defendants' motion in limine. The defendants were also seeking an exclusionary ruling in their motion regarding testimony about Salisbury's and defendants' involvement in a murder that had been committed in Florida. The trial justice found that this evidence of an unrelated crime was inadmissible because it would be unduly prejudicial to defendants, and he granted the motion relating to that evidence. Citing State v. Jalette, 119 R.I. 614, 382 A.2d 526 (1978), he found that the Lawton Farm evidence was admissible because it pertains to knowledge, intent, motive, design, plan, scheme, system, or the like, and that it shows preparation to perform the ultimate act, and I think [it] should not be precluded and properly [is] admitted as an exception to the general rule that evidence of other unrelated criminal activity is inadmissible. In so finding, the trial justice ruled that any prejudicial effect created by the admission of this evidence was outweighed by its probative value. As we have already stated, the decision concerning the issue of relevance of evidence is a matter within the sound discretion of the trial justice. State v. Byrnes, 433 A.2d 658 (R.I. 1981); State v. Burke, 427 A.2d 1302 (R.I. 1981). This determination, however, may have an important bearing on the rights of the accused because irrelevant evidence may also be prejudicial and its introduction at trial may constitute reversible error. Burke, 427 A.2d at 1304. Consequently, we look to the record to evaluate the probable impact of the challenged evidence upon the jury. As the trial justice noted, Generally, evidence of independent, past criminal behavior unconnected with the crimes for which the defendant is on trial may not be used to show commission of the crime charged even though it is criminal activity of the same type. State v. Pignolet, 465 A.2d 176, 179 (R.I. 1983). The rational underpinning of this rule is that such evidence may be unduly prejudicial and tend to cause confusion in the jurors' minds and divert their attention from relevant evidence. State v. Burke, 427 A.2d at 1304. This court, however, has held that an exception to the general rule exists when the evidence is offered to establish guilty knowledge, intent, motive, design, plan, scheme, system, or the like. State v. Colangelo, 55 R.I. 170, 174, 179 A. 147, 149 (1935). See State v. Pignolet, 465 A.2d 176 (R.I. 1983); State v. Jalette, 119 R.I. 614, 382 A.2d 526 (1978). We also admonished, though, that this type of evidence should be sparingly used by the prosecution and only when reasonably necessary. Jalette, 119 R.I. at 627, 382 A.2d at 533. In this case the state asserted that it desired to show, through the admission of a large variety of rifles and pistols, a cache of ammunition, and testimony about various activities at Lawton's farm, that defendants were in a constant state of preparedness to commit murders. The state conceded, however, that none of these weapons had been physically linked to Heaney's murder. Salisbury testified that neither the weapon actually used in the murder nor the weapon that he said he brought with him on the night of the murder came from Lawton's farm. He and defendants had fired the other guns at the farm for practice and to test them for use in some type of crime but Salisbury never testified that any of these weapons had been used in the commission of a crime. Salisbury said that Heaney's murder had not been planned at the farm, nor had any of the target practice been in preparation for Heaney's murder. There was no independent evidence produced corroborating Salisbury's claim that defendants had taken part in these activities. Several police officers testified that none of the guns had been examined for fingerprints; they had simply been seized from the farm on the basis of Salisbury's statements. Several .38-caliber spent bullets found at the farm were tested, but they did not match those taken from Heaney's body. None of the other spent cartridges or bullets found on the farm premises were tested to see if they had been fired by the guns in evidence. As Lieutenant Moffat testified: A: I never had any reason to have them tested. I didn't think at the time I did. Q: So in other words, all you went by was what Salisbury told you? A: That's correct. It's strictly on the statement of William Salisbury. Our examination of the record reveals that a great deal of time and energy was exerted in the admission and explanation of this evidence. Several police officers testified about the location of and condition in which the weapons had been found and the condition of the target-practice area. The attention paid to this evidence and the sheer number and variety of the guns convince us that the probative value of this evidence, whose relevance and materiality rested on shaky ground, was clearly outweighed by its prejudicial effect. There is no question that the evidence could and probably did tend to convince the jury that defendants were bad people who might be predisposed to commit crimes of violence. Such an inference might have been permissible had the state been able to show that the activities at the farm were part of the preparation for or scheme in the murder of the victim. The state's evidence, however, established that any preparation for the crime took place miles away from Lawton's farm, which was also not the source of any of the weapons used that night. Even accepting everything Salisbury said as true, the evidence was simply insufficient to lay an adequate foundation linking the defendants' activities with Heaney's murder, and any adverse inferences drawn from those activities were impermissible in this murder trial. As this court has said, the admission into evidence in criminal cases of weapons that are not alleged to be the weapon used in the commission of a crime is fraught with the probability of error. State v. Souza, 110 R.I. 261, 269, 292 A.2d 214, 219 (1972). We therefore conclude on the facts of this case that the principles regarding materiality and relevance enunciated in Jalette and its progeny do not provide a basis for the admission of the Lawton Farm evidence. The evidence from and about Lawton's farm should have been excluded because, like the unrelated incident in Florida, it is not probative in the matter of the identity of Heaney's killer and it is highly prejudicial. We find that the admission of this evidence, as well as the admission of the bolstering testimony, was unduly prejudicial to the defendants and is reversible error. For these reasons, the defendants' appeal is sustained, the judgments of conviction are vacated, and the case is remanded to the Superior Court for a new trial. BELIVACQUA, C.J., did not participate.