Opinion ID: 1847325
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 18

Heading: the assistant district attorney offered irrelevant, inflammatory, and inadmissible other-crimes evidence concerning appellants' possession of a sawed-off shotgun, their commission of an unspecified sexual offense, and their use of illegal narcotics.

Text: ś 125. Jerome complains of the introduction of other crimes evidence by the State which he contends was unrelated to the crime charged and otherwise irrelevant. Jerome argues that the State impermissibly introduced evidence that on the night of the murder the Smith brothers sexually assaulted, pistol-whipped, and pushed Carolyn Pearce out of a moving car; that they purchased and used cocaine; and that a sawedoff shotgun was found in the red and white automobile abandoned by Clyde and Jerome. Jerome argues that none of these other crimes or bad acts were related to the offense of capital murder, yet all were extremely prejudicial to the defendants and violative of Miss. R. Evid. 404. ś 126. The State maintains that all of these claims are barred because of Jerome's failure to make contemporaneous objections to the testimony in the trial court. ś 127. At no point during the trial did Jerome object to the introduction of testimony of Carolyn Pearce that Jerome hit her with the pistol or that she was made to strip before Clyde threw her out of the car. [4] Accordingly, this claim has been waived and may not be raised for the first time on appeal. A trial judge will not be found in error on a matter not presented to him for decision. Jones v. State, 606 So.2d 1051, 1058 (Miss.1992) (citing Crenshaw v. State, 520 So.2d 131, 134 (Miss.1988); Howard v. State, 507 So.2d 58, 63 (Miss.1987)). See also Ballenger, 667 So.2d at 1259; Foster v. State, 639 So.2d 1263, 1270 (Miss.1994); Mitchell v. State, 609 So.2d 416, 422 (Miss.1992). ś 128. This issue also fails on the merits. The only testimony of any assault was when Pearce testified that Jerome hit her on the wrist with a big silver revolver, that Clyde put a knife to her throat, and that after he and Jerome exchanged weapons, Clyde pulled the gun on her and made her take her clothes off and get out of the car. During this testimony, Carolyn identified the knife recovered by the police in the field near the brothers' abandoned car and the knife was placed into evidence. ś 129. Jerome correctly points out that as a general rule, evidence of a crime other than the one for which the accused is being tried is not admissible. Ladner v. State, 584 So.2d 743, 758 (Miss.), cert. denied, 502 U.S. 1015, 112 S.Ct. 663, 116 L.Ed.2d 754 (1991); Rose v. State, 556 So.2d 728 (Miss.1990). There are exceptions. Miss. R. Evid. 404(b) provides: Evidence of other crimes, wrongs, or acts is not admissible to prove the character of a person in order to show that he acted in conformity therewith. It may, however, be admissible for other purposes such as proof of motive, opportunity, intent, preparation, plan, knowledge, identify, or absence of mistake or accident. ś 130. In accordance with Rule 404(b), this Court has consistently held the admission of evidence of unrelated crimes for the purpose of showing the accused acted in conformity therewith to be reversible error. Parker v. State, 606 So.2d 1132, 1136 (Miss.1992) (citing Rose, 556 So.2d at 731; Houston v. State, 531 So.2d 598, 605 (Miss.1988)). That was not the purpose for the introduction of such evidence in the case at bar. ś 131. Any testimony concerning an assault was allowed to explain how Pearce was able to identify the knife and revolver. The reason for such testimony was to show that Jerome and Clyde were in possession of a revolver (the possible murder weapon) and a knife shortly after the murder. This testimony corroborates that of Henry Bryant that the brothers were in possession of a knife and revolver prior to the murder. This Court finds the testimony was therefore admissible under Rule 404(b) as to opportunity, preparation, plan, knowledge and identity. It also passes muster under Rule 403 as being more probative than prejudicial. ś 132. Jerome also takes issue with the testimony concerning the sawed-off shot gun found in the brothers' car. On direct examination, State's witness Deputy Tim Goad testified that a .410 sawed-off shotgun was taken from the car driven by the Smith brothers. The defense objected, and the shotgun itself was not introduced into evidence. Jerome argues here that the testimony itself was error under Miss. R. Evid. 404(b), since there was no evidence that the shotgun had any connection with the crime for which the defendants were on trial and the possession of the shotgun itself was a crime. ś 133. During direct examination Deputy Tim Goad testified: A. I approached the vehicle and shined my flashlight on the inside of the car seeing if the keys were in it, anything like that. The keys were not in the car in the ignition. I shined in the black [sic] floorboard and saw a sawed-off .410, single-shot shotgun laying in the back floorboard on the driver's side. Q. All right. And did you take that shotgun into custody? A. Yes, sir, I did. At this point, Jerome objected on the grounds of relevancy as to any testimony concerning the shotgun or to its introduction into evidence. After a bench conference out of the presence of the jury, the trial court sustained the objection. The only other mention of the shotgun was a casual reference later during Deputy Goad's direct testimony, as follows: A. These are the keys I found stuck down in the seat on the red and white Ford same time I recovered the shotgun. Jerome made no objection to this statement. ś 134. First of all, it should be pointed out that the trial court sustained Jerome's objection as to the testimony and introduction of the sawed-off shotgun. Foster v. State, 639 So.2d 1263, 1282 (Miss.1994), is instructive on this issue. In that case an accessory to the murder for which Foster was being tried commented while testifying that he and Foster had stolen a pizza in the past, a clear reference to other bad acts or crimes. On appeal, Foster argued that the comments were prejudicial and constituted reversible error. This Court rejected the argument stating: Foster neither requested that the trial court admonish the jury to disregard the testimony, nor requested a mistrial. His only objection was sustained. We are of the opinion that any error created by Harris' unresponsive remark was effectively cured when the trial judge sustained Foster's objection. Foster, 639 So.2d at 1282. See also Walker v. State, 671 So.2d 581 (Miss.1995). A very similar scenario exists here. Deputy Goad made an improper comment, and Jerome's objection was sustained, but he neither requested that the trial court admonish the jury to disregard the testimony, nor requested a mistrial. Foster, 639 So.2d at 1282. Accordingly, this Court holds this issue is without merit.