Opinion ID: 1751766
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Checks, Driver's Licenses, and Social Security Cards

Text: During its case-in-chief, the prosecution presented evidence that, during a search of Holman's home, a black plastic bag was found in the crawl space underneath the bathroom, which was accessed by a hole in the bathroom floor. [3] Inside the bag was a Styrofoam holder containing thirty-one rounds of .38 Special ammunition. Testimony was offered showing that a revolver seized at Perry's residence contained six live Winchester .38 caliber rounds. Further testimony showed that four additional Winchester .38 rounds were discovered on Perry's dresser. The prosecution also offered evidence to prove that the cartridges discovered in the revolver and on the dresser at Perry's residence could have come from the box of cartridges originally contained in the Styrofoam holder discovered at Holman's residence. Testimony showed that the bunter marks on the rounds found at Holman's residence were similar to the bunter marks on the rounds found in the revolver and the rounds found on the dresser. In rebuttal, the prosecution sought to introduce evidence of checks, driver's licenses, and Social Security cards belonging to others which were found in Holman's home. Holman argued below, as he does on appeal, that the evidence was inadmissible under Rule 404(b) because it related to uncharged conduct and had no independent relevance to the charges against him. Holman states that the evidence was highly prejudicial in that it likely persuaded the jury that he was a criminal who must have also committed the crimes at issue in the case at bar. The State contends: The prosecution's theory was that appellant provided Perry the bullets used in the crimes and knew that discovery of the bullets in his house could link him to the crimes. Consequently, when he learned that the police were getting ready to enter his house, he hid the box of bullets, implicating him in a murder, instead of hiding the checks, driver's licenses, and Social Security cards implicating him in significantly less serious crimes. Had appellant not known the bullets connected him to the crimes, he would not have hidden them, but, instead, would have hidden evidence of his other crimes. Because this evidence tended to show appellant's knowledge and rebut his claim that he was not aware Perry had a guna claim crucial to his affirmative defense to first-degree murder pursuant to Ark.Code Ann. § 5-10-102(b)(3) (Repl.2006)the trial court did not abuse its discretion by admitting it over his objections. We are unimpressed with the State's argument. Apparently, the State asks us to infer from the facts that when Holman realized that the police were about to enter his home, he decided that he only had time to hide either the evidence of his complicity in the murder of John Shelton or the evidence of his lesser and wholly unrelated crime of identification theft. Based on this inference, we are asked to make yet another inference, which is that Holman naturally chose to hide the evidence of the more serious crime. From these two inferences, we are asked to reach a third inferencethat leaving the evidence of the crime of identification theft where it could be found shows that Holman was involved in the murder and knew Perry had a gun. This sort of deduction is not even permissible in a civil case. In State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. v. Traylor, 263 Ark. 92, 562 S.W.2d 595 (1978), we stated that an inference is not a substitute for evidence. Further, the indulgence of inferences will not supply a non-existent fact. Id. An inference may not be forced and guesswork is not an allowable substitute for evidence. Id. Even if we were to indulge the State's stacking of inferences, the evidence would still be inadmissible because its probative value is less than slight and the prejudicial harm is great. The circuit court clearly abused its discretion in admitting this evidence.