Opinion ID: 1526646
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: the issue of consolidation for trial of the escape charge

Text: AND THE MURDER CHARGE The defendant had been separately indicted for escape and for murder. Although the two charges had not been consolidated, they were assigned to be tried together. Prior to trial, defendant sought a severance of these two charges on the ground that the trial justice should exercise his discretion in favor of severance in order to avoid prejudice to defendant. For the first time on appeal, defendant not only challenges the judge's exercise of discretion, but claims that the trial justice was wrong as a matter of law pursuant to the terms of Rules 8 and 13 of the Superior Court Rules of Criminal Procedure in allowing these two charges to be tried together. It is a familiar principle that only those issues raised at trial will be considered by this court on appeal. State v. Turley, 113 R.I. 104, 318 A.2d 455 (1974); State v. Quattrocchi, 103 R.I. 115, 235 A.2d 99 (1967). In the case at bar, defendant's contention would be unavailing, even if the trial justice's ruling had been sought and obtained on this issue. Super.R.Crim.P. 8(a) reads in pertinent part: Joinder of Offenses. Two (2) or more offenses may be charged in the same indictment, information, or complaint in a separate count for each offense if the offenses charged, whether felonies or misdemeanors or both, are of the same or similar character or are based on the same act or transaction or on two (2) or more acts or transactions connected together or constituting parts of a common scheme or plan. (Emphasis added.) In the case at bar defendant was charged in Indictment No. 74-656 that he being a prisoner confined in the minimum custodial unit of the Adult Correctional Institutions did escape from said minimum custodial unit   . The defendant was charged in Indictment No. 74-657 with the following offense: That Robert Cline    did murder one Frank A. Pirri while committed to confinement to the Adult Correctional Institutions in violation of § 11-23-1 and § 11-23-2, Reenactment of 1969, as amended. Although the escape alleged in one indictment took place on March 16, 1974, and the murder allegedly took place on April 11, 1974, an analysis of the circumstances will disclose that these two events were connected together so as to permit joinder under the terms of Rule 8. In the classic sense the evidence of one event would be mutually admissible in proof of a necessary element of the second event. The importance of evidence which is mutually admissible has been stated in McKnight v. State, 280 Md. 604, 375 A.2d 551 (1977): The reasoning behind the rule permitting a joint trial of crimes where the evidence would be mutually admissible is evident. Where evidence of one crime would be admissible at a separate trial of another charge, a defendant will not suffer any additional prejudice if the two charges are tried together. It is equally clear, however, that where offenses are joined for trial because they are of similar character, but the evidence would not be mutually admissible, the prejudicial effect is apt to outweigh the probative value of such evidence. Id. at 610, 375 A.2d at 555. The Maryland court indicated that this rule was more stringent than the rule enunciated by Judge Learned Hand in United States v. Lotsch, 102 F.2d 35, 36 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 307 U.S. 622, 59 S.Ct. 793, 83 L.Ed. 1500 (1939), and further refined in Drew v. United States, 118 U.S.App.D.C. 11, 331 F.2d 85 (D.C. Cir. 1964), where the court said: In summary, then, even where the evidence would not have been admissible in separate trials, if, from the nature of the crimes charged, it appears that the prosecutor might be able to present the evidence in such a manner that the accused is not confounded in his defense and the jury will be able to treat the evidence relevant to each charge separately and distinctly, the trial judge need not order severance or election at the commencement of the trial. If, however, it appears at any later stage in the trial that the defendant will be embarrassed in making his defense or that there is a possibility that the jury will become or has become confused, then, upon proper motion, the trial judge should order severance. Id. at 17-18, 331 F.2d at 91-92. If one applies the more stringent of these two rules, it becomes apparent that a necessary element of proof in the murder indictment was that defendant at the time of the alleged crime was committed to confinement to the Adult Correctional Institutions. Indeed, in order to avoid going into the details behind this confinement, defendant offered to stipulate thereto. However, this understandable desire to render the circumstances of the offense more antiseptic would not eliminate the need of the state to explain to a jury how a defendant who was committed to confinement at the ACI could have been present at the Chad Brown Housing Project on April 11, 1974. The state is entitled in any criminal prosecution to present all evidence to the jury which is relevant to the charge. When courts speak of the prejudicial effect of introduction of evidence of other crimes, they are applying a rule which is designed to prevent a jury from finding the defendant guilty of a crime because of his general criminal disposition. In criticizing the test set forth in Drew v. United States, supra , the Maryland Court of Appeals noted that the Drew test overlook[ed] the reason underlying the `other crimes' rule, which excludes evidence relevant to proof of criminal disposition because such evidence is generally more prejudicial than probative. 280 Md. at 611, 375 A.2d at 555. This is another way of stating that evidence of the commission of other crimes with certain exceptions is simply not relevant to the proof of guilt of the specific crime with which the defendant is charged. When such evidence becomes relevant to the proof of an issue provable in a case, then the inhibition is no longer applicable. See, e.g., State v. Colangelo, 55 R.I. 170, 179 A. 147 (1935). In this case the proof of escape from the ACI was highly relevant to explain to the triers of fact how defendant could simultaneously be in a status of commitment to the ACI, and yet, apparently, be at liberty in the city of Providence. The defendant suggests in his brief that various speculative (and incorrect) explanations might have occurred to the jury which would have been more advantageous to defendant than the actual facts of the case. We know of no doctrine in the law that is designed to insulate defendant from relevant truths, even if such truths might lead the jury to draw less favorable inferences concerning defendant than if they were not exposed. In this case the balancing of prejudice against probative necessity must inevitably lead to the conclusion that evidence concerning the background of defendant's presence at the Chad Brown Housing Project on April 11, 1974, would be admissible under the murder indictment. This evidence would include an account of his having escaped on March 16, 1974. Even defendant does not contend that evidence of the escape would not be relevant to the escape indictment. Therefore, the same evidence would be mutually admissible in each case and these offenses could properly have been joined under the provisions of Rule 8. Since the offenses could have been joined in a single indictment, they could be tried together under the provisions of Rule 13, which provides that the Court may order two (2) or more indictments    to be tried together if the offenses    could have been joined in a single indictment   . Therefore, in causing these indictments to be tried together, the trial justice was not violating the rules of criminal procedure as a matter of law. In respect to the decision of the trial justice to exercise his discretion in favor of joinder, we have repeatedly held that the exercise of such discretion will not be disturbed on review absent a clear abuse. State v. Johnson, 116 R.I. 449, 358 A.2d 370 (1976); State v. Matta tall, 114 R.I. 568, 337 A.2d 229 (1975); State v. Patriarca, 112 R.I. 14, 308 A.2d 300 (1973). In Patriarca, the late Chief Justice Roberts discussed the balance of prejudice resulting from joinder with the efficiency and convenience of a single trial and went on to note that real prejudice is something more than mere disadvantage. It should be noted that in controlling the introduction of evidence on the issue of escape, the trial justice excluded any and all reference to the reason for defendant's confinement, limiting the testimony of the Superior Court clerk only to those facts which were essential to show that he had been lawfully committed and was in such status on the dates relevant to the charges contained in the indictments. Thus, the trial justice exercised every effort to limit prejudice, even while permitting essential proofs. In this case it is highly doubtful that defendant was even disadvantaged, since no evidence was admitted under joinder which would not have been admitted if the murder charge had been tried separately. Therefore, the trial justice did not abuse his discretion in ordering that these indictments be tried together. As a corollary of his argument concerning joinder, defendant further contends that the phrase while committed to confinement and the reference to § 11-23-2, as amended by P.L. 1973, ch. 280, § 1, constituted improper and unduly prejudicial matter which should have been stricken from the murder indictment. In support of this argument, defendant cites Government of Virgin Islands v. Castillo, 550 F.2d 850 (3d Cir. 1977), in which interpreting a statute of the Virgin Islands relating to enhanced punishment for one who was in possession of an unregistered firearm, where such defendant had been previously convicted of a felony, the court held that evidence of the prior offense was solely for the court and not for the jury and, therefore, was not relevant to the jury's consideration. However much persuasive force this case might have in respect to prior offenses under the statute then in issue, and we specifically decline to comment upon that element, it can have no application in respect to the determination of a clear factual matter which is, like any other fact, for the jury to determine. It is true that the issue of the defendant's status of confinement had a bearing upon penalty. It is also true that in respect to homicide generally, the severity of the homicide (whether manslaughter, murder in the second degree, or murder in the first degree) will in each instance affect the severity of the punishment. Under § 11-23-1, as amended by P.L. 1974, ch. 118, § 5, in order to find a defendant guilty of first-degree murder, it will be imperative for the jury to determine as a question of fact whether the elements necessary to establish this offense have been proven. We believe that it is no less a question of fact to determine whether the defendant was committed to confinement than to determine whether the defendant committed murder in the perpetration of, or attempt to perpetrate robbery. Both of these elements would affect the ultimate penalty imposed but must be determined as a matter of fact before the penalty can be imposed. This has been recognized in federal practice where the punishment for a crime is dependent on the amount of money involved. Under such circumstances the court may require the jury to determine the amount. Jalbert v. United States, 375 F.2d 125 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 389 U.S. 899, 88 S.Ct. 225, 19 L.Ed.2d 221 (1967); see Wright & Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure: Criminal § 512 at 366 (1969). In adding the element while committed to confinement to the crime of murder, the Legislature had created a separate and distinct offense for which it provided a special and mandatory penalty. Even though that penalty of execution has been determined to be constitutionally impermissible, the intention of the Legislature to create a specific and separate category of crime is clear. Thus, the trial justice was not in error in declining to strike this element from the charge. For the foregoing reasons, the defendant's appeal is denied and dismissed, the judgment of conviction is affirmed, and the papers in the case are remanded to the Superior Court.