Opinion ID: 1743598
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: the trial court erred in allowing the manipulation of the surveillance tape.

Text: ¶ 35. The State utilized the store's video surveillance tape at trial during the testimony of Detective Rusty Keyes. The State asked Keyes, while the tape was played, to explain to the jury how he used the tape in his investigation. In doing so, Keyes was permitted to stop and start the tape and to rewind the tape as he described the actions of the suspects and the victims. Spann does not dispute that the videotape would have been admissible as a fair representation of the crime had it been played at a normal speed from start to finish, nor does Spann dispute that the video had probative value. Rather, Spann contends that the manipulation of the videotape by Keyes created an unreal depiction of the scene which unfairly prejudiced Spann. ¶ 36. As with the admission of photographs, the admissibility of a videotape rests within the sound discretion of the trial judge. McFee v. State, 511 So.2d 130, 134 (Miss.1987) (citing Watson v. State, 483 So.2d 1326, 1328 (Miss.1986)); Kelly v. State, 463 So.2d 1070, 1074 (Miss.1985); Stevens v. State, 458 So.2d 726, 729 (Miss. 1984); Sharp v. State, 446 So.2d at 1009. Likewise, the same standard of admissibility which applies to photographs, discussed supra, also applies to videotapes. McGilberry, 741 So.2d at 906 (citing Holland v. State, 587 So.2d 848, 864 (Miss.1991)). Accordingly, this Court must determine if the probative value of the video, particularly in light of Keyes's manipulation of its speed and direction, outweighs any prejudicial effect it might cause. Berry v. State, 703 So.2d 269, 278 (Miss.1997). ¶ 37. The videotape, though certainly prejudicial to Spann's case, had substantial probative value in that it aided in describing the circumstances of the crime and it supplemented and clarified witness testimony. See Westbrook, 658 So.2d at 849. The probative value of the tape was in fact increased by the court's allowing Keyes to stop the tape in order to describe the actions of the suspects and victims. He was permitted, by manipulating the speed of the tape, to juxtapose his description of the crime scene with information regarding the police department's investigation, which ultimately led to the trial of the defendant. During his explanation of the tape and his investigation, Keyes did not refer to any of the suspects by name, but referred to them only as Suspects No. 1, 2, and 3. The videotape, plus Keyes's explanations, helped to clarify prior evidence regarding the actions of the suspects and victims, most of which was confusingly intertwined with testimony regarding ballistics. Keyes's testimony and manipulation of the tape illustrated the crime better than mere oral testimony or drawings could, particularly in light of the fact that it was disputed at trial as to who fired what bullet in what direction. The tape, only seventeen seconds long in real time, would have been difficult to explain had it been played in real time, particularly when the suspects and victims were acting simultaneously. In dispute at trial were the number of times Spann fired his weapon and at whom he fired. Keyes's explanation of the suspects' actions relative to the location of the victims was helpful in this regard as well. ¶ 38. Spann contends that Keyes's manipulation of the videotape created an unreal depiction of the crime scene. Spann compares Keyes's presentation of the videotape to cases in which this Court has held that staged photographs which did not fairly depict the scene are inadmissible. See May v. State, 199 So.2d 635 (Miss.1967); Martin v. State, 217 Miss. 506, 64 So.2d 629 (1953); Brett v. State, 94 Miss. 669, 47 So. 781 (1908); Fore v. State, 75 Miss. 727, 23 So. 710 (1898). In May, the trial court allowed into evidence a photograph showing a probe pointing to a bullet hole in the nude body of the deceased. This arrangement of objects in the photograph was for the purpose of indicating the path of the bullet as it passed through the body of the deceased. The Court noted that the arrangement of the probe in the photograph was evidence of the person making the arrangement, and was an effort to get the photograph to testify as evidence in its own right. May, 199 So.2d at 639. The Court held that such was inadmissible as evidence. However, the Court went on to state, This does not mean that a witness cannot point to places and things shown on a true photograph, and mark them, if necessary, so as to make the testimony of the witness clearer to the jury. Id. (citing Sims v. State, 209 Miss. 545, 47 So.2d 849 (1950)). Rather, it only means that a photographer cannot set up a scene, as pointed out by others, and photograph such an arrangement so as to indicate evidence drawn from deductions and conclusions of others. Id. ¶ 39. In the case at hand, the tape was in no way manipulated to alter images, and neither was it altered with editing techniques. It cannot be said that the videotape, even as it was presented during Keyes's testimony, did not depict an accurate representation of what occurred at the crime scene. The scene was in no way set up as it was in May, and the fact that Keyes stopped and rewound the tape did not alter the depiction of events as they actually occurred. Neither are the other cases cited by Spann persuasive. In Martin, just prior to the defendant's trial, the sheriff went to the crime scene and made photographs showing the sheriff standing in the place where the defendant allegedly stood at the time of the shooting and showing the county attorney standing in the place of the deceased at the time he was shot. In Brett, this Court held inadmissible a photograph of the chief witnesses for the prosecution, representing them in the position from which they claimed to have seen the homicide, the photographer standing where they claimed defendant was when he shot. Brett, 47 So. at 782. In Fore, this Court held inadmissible photographs taken by a witness for the State in which the witness had placed a buggy, with a man in it, in the position in which the victim was when the victim was shot. Fore, 23 So. at 712. Clearly, these photographs differ from the videotape introduced in the case at hand. The fact that Keyes manipulated the speed of the videotape as he testified does not alter the actions of the suspects or victims at the scene of the crime, nor does it make it an inaccurate or contrived depiction of those events. ¶ 40. The trial judge did not abuse his discretion in allowing Keyes to stop and rewind the tape as an aid to his testimony. As Keyes's manipulation of the speed and direction of the videotape was probative and not unduly prejudicial, admission of the videotape into evidence was not an abuse of discretion. This issue is without merit.