Opinion ID: 1694698
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 13

Heading: Tape Recordings of Davlin's Statements to Police Detectives.

Text: Davlin asserts that the district court erred in admitting tape recordings of three conversations Davlin had with police detectives Breen and Barksdale. He argues that his statements were not relevant and that even if they were relevant, they should have been excluded pursuant to Neb. Evid. R. 403, § 27-403, because the probative value of the statements was substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice. We conclude that the evidence was relevant and that it was not unfairly prejudicial. Davlin argues that the tape recordings were not relevant because in the conversations, he did not make an admission of guilt, and because his statements shed no light on how Ligenza died or whether Davlin had the opportunity to cause her death. He further argues that even if the statements were relevant, they were unfairly prejudicial because they contained statements that portray him in a negative light. These statements included the following: a reference to the fact that Davlin had been in the military during the Vietnam War, references to Davlin's attempts to hire a private investigator to look into Ligenza's death, references to the fact that Davlin had gone on a flower drive to raise money to buy flowers for Ligenza's funeral, and a reference that Davlin had found a lock of Ligenza's hair after her death and had kept it as a keepsake. He argues that these statements portray him as a rather strange individual who seemed to be discussing peculiar subject matter with the police. Brief for appellant at 43. [15] The exercise of judicial discretion is implicit in determinations of relevancy under Neb. Evid. R. 401, Neb. Rev. Stat. § 27-401 (Reissue 1995), and prejudice under Neb. Evid. R. 403, § 27-403, and a trial court's decision under these evidentiary rules will not be reversed absent an abuse of discretion. State v. Sanders, 269 Neb. 895, 697 N.W.2d 657 (2005). We conclude that the district court did not abuse its discretion in admitting the statements. Davlin's conversations with the police detectives included discussion of various matters concerning Davlin's activities preceding and following Ligenza's death. The conversations also included discussion regarding Davlin's relationship with Ligenza. We determine that the court could reasonably have concluded that these discussions were relevant to establish that Davlin had the opportunity to commit the crime, in that he was near Ligenza's apartment at the time she was killed and the fire was started and that he had a motive to commit the crime because of the nature of his relationship with Ligenza. We also determine that the court could reasonably have concluded that the tape recordings were not unfairly prejudicial. The portions of the conversations which Davlin claims portray him as a strange individual were of minor duration in the context of the entire conversations and do not portray Davlin in such a negative light that they would be unfairly prejudicial in the context of the entirety of the statements. We conclude that the district court did not abuse its discretion by admitting the tape recordings into evidence, and we reject this assignment of error.