Opinion ID: 2572600
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Ruger pistol

Text: On July 21, 1993, in searching Karen Grabenstatter's trailer home where defendant was living at the time of the crimes, police found a .22-caliber Ruger pistol. At trial, defendant's former girlfriend, Margaret Alcock, with whom he had lived until May 1993, was asked if she had had any pistols during the time she and defendant lived together. Defense counsel objected to evidence of the pistol, arguing that Alcock's answer was not relevant and highly prejudicial whether or not the District Attorney is trying to get into the case-in-chief an uncharged crime. Relying on defendant's denial, at the hearing on his motion to suppress evidence, that he had owned or possessed the strongbox found in Grabenstatter's storage shed, the prosecutor argued that the Ruger pistol was admissible because it, like the strongbox belonging to Alcock, was found at Grabenstatter's trailer home where defendant was staying at the time of the crimes. By connecting Alcock's Ruger pistol to defendant, the prosecutor sought to strengthen the link between defendant and Alcock's strongbox with its bar robbery proceeds  rubber-banded bundles of twenty-five $1 bills and coins in G.A.M.E. wrappers. The trial court limited the prosecutor's inquiry to whether Alcock could identify as hers the pistol and the strongbox and jewelry found in it, cautioning the prosecutor not to ask if these items had been taken without Alcock's permission. She testified accordingly.