Opinion ID: 1193813
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Admission of Evidence of Defendant's Escape

Text: {50} Prior to his first trial, Defendant moved to have the State identify any of his prior bad acts that the prosecution intended to introduce at trial. The State responded that the only prior bad act at issue was Defendant's escape from prison while on furlough at the basketball game on the night of the murder. Defendant discussed the inadmissibility of several prior bad acts with the district court on the eve of the first trial, but did not pursue a ruling on the escape evidence after the district court stated that: I don't think I need to rule on things that may or may not occur. Defendant did not object at either his first or second trial when his escape was mentioned in the prosecutor's opening statements and in the testimony of several witnesses. Indeed, Defendant's trial counsel even discussed Defendant's escape with the jury during voir dire in the second trial. Under these circumstances, the issue of the admissibility of evidence concerning Defendant's escape was not preserved for appellate review. See Rules 12-213(A)(4), 12-216(A); cf. State v. Lopez, 105 N.M. 538, 544, 734 P.2d 778, 784 (Ct.App.1986) (To preserve a claim of error for appellate review involving the admissibility of evidence, a party must make a timely objection.). {51} Further, we cannot say that the State's use of the escape evidence affected Defendant's substantial rights or was so unjust as to create grave doubts about the validity of the verdict. See State v. Begay, 1998-NMSC-029, ¶¶ 21-23, 125 N.M. 541, 964 P.2d 102 (discussing limits on appellate review of unpreserved evidentiary issues); Contreras, 120 N.M. at 492, 903 P.2d at 234 (same). Although we acknowledge the injustice of admitting evidence of other bad acts merely to show the bad character of the accused[,] State v. Elinski, 1997-NMCA-117, ¶ 13, 124 N.M. 261, 948 P.2d 1209, it remains within a trial court's discretion to admit evidence of a Defendant's prior acts under Rule 11-404(B) when the State shows that such evidence is relevant to a material issue such as motive or opportunity. See generally State v. Williams, 117 N.M. 551, 557, 874 P.2d 12, 18 (1994). In this case, Defendant's escape was part of the sequence of events leading to the kidnapping and murder of the victim, the unlawful taking of her vehicle, and the crime of resisting, evading, or obstructing a police officer. As part of this sequence, the evidence of Defendant's escape is relevant to the State's theories that Defendant had the opportunity to commit these other crimes, and that his motive for committing the other crimes was to facilitate his escape. The record does not show that the escape evidence was used for an improper purpose, and we will not apply the doctrines of fundamental or plain error here.