Opinion ID: 2265280
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Admission of Photographs of the Deceased

Text: At trial the state introduced a number of photographs of the body of the victim. Two of these photographs had been taken at the scene of the crime. A number of photographs were later introduced during the testimony of the medical examiner. These photographs had been taken at or near the time of autopsy. During the testimony of Detective Walter Williams of the Bureau of Criminal Identification, counsel for the state offered as a full exhibit a photograph of a bone fragment found in one of the cars. Generally defendant argues that the trial justice abused her discretion in admitting these photographs (save one black-and-white photograph taken at the scene) on the ground that the probative value of the photographs and of the fragment of bone was outweighed by their prejudicial effect. The defendant further argues that the relevance of these exhibits was minimal in view of the fact that defendant did not contest the fact that the victim had died from a grievous wound. We have pointed out in a number of cases that photographs and other exhibits, even though unpleasant and graphic, may in the discretion of the trial justice be introduced in order to sustain the state's burden of proving each and every element of the crime. See, e.g., State v. Bertram, 591 A.2d 14 (R.I. 1991); State v. Lionberg, 533 A.2d 1172 (R.I. 1987); State v. Ware, 524 A.2d 1110 (R.I. 1987); State v. Fenner, 503 A.2d 518 (R.I. 1986). As we stated in Fenner in determining whether the display of a grievous wound would be unduly prejudicial, the test is whether the sight is of such a nature as to inflame the jurors and therefore prejudice them beyond the ordinary prejudice that is always sustained by the introduction of relevant evidence intended to prove guilt. 503 A.2d at 526. We cited State v. Cline, 122 R.I. 297, 405 A.2d 1192 (1979), for the proposition that a defendant had no right to be insulated from relevant evidence. State v. Fenner, 503 A.2d at 526. A murder committed in such fashion that the victim's head is blown apart by a shotgun blast is in itself a horrendous occurrence. The verbal depiction of evidence tends to be shocking to those in attendance at the trial. Every photograph and exhibit tends to be gruesome. Nevertheless, as we have stated in the past, the state bears the burden of proof on all issues. The question is not simply whether the victim has been shot by a blast from a gun. The nature and identity of the gun, the distance from which the shot was fired, all must be established by the state in its proof. It is all very well for defendant or his counsel to set forth on appeal that which was disputed and that which was not. The state in presenting its evidence can take nothing for granted. The cause of death and the circumstances of death are highly relevant. We have examined the photographs that were introduced and agree with defendant that they are unpleasant and gruesome, but this is a gruesome crime. We are of the opinion that the jurors who sat as triers of fact were not so inflamed by these photographs as to be unable to weigh the testimony and determine the question of guilt or innocence in a rational and an impartial manner. Just as defendant did not deny that the victim had been killed by a shotgun blast, so too the jurors in the case, by reason of the trial justice's directions, realized that the question before them was whether this defendant had committed the crime with which he was charged. The exhibits submitted were not of such a nature as to divert the jurors from this task. The trial justice in admitting the challenged exhibits committed no abuse of discretion.