Opinion ID: 1989015
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: denial of defendant's motion in limine

Text: The defendant urges that the denial of his motion in limine to exclude the testimony of Mrs. Eleanor King as a witness constituted prejudicial error. This argument must be considered in the context that the state presented several witnesses who testified that they saw the Monte Carlo being driven by someone who resembled defendant during the period surrounding the attack and robbery of Mrs. Pinelli. One of these witnesses was Eleanor King, who stated that she was walking along a dirt road near its intersection with Post Road at about 4:45 p.m. on the evening that the crime took place. She also testified that she was walking her husband's guide dog (her husband was handicapped) and that the automobile came by rather swiftly, almost sideswiping the dog. The only pertinent observation Mrs. King made was that this was a dark older-model car with a license plate whose numbers were preceded by the letters GO. Other evidence had established that the license plate of the car defendant was driving was GO 657. Other than this observation, Mrs. King was unable to identify the vehicle or its driver. The defendant argues that the testimony of this witness, though of little relevance, tended to inflame the passions of the jury by indicating that he might drive his automobile in such a fashion as to endanger the safety of a handicapped person's guide dog. We have earlier stated that evidence sufficient to bring about a mistrial or to vitiate a conviction should be of a type that would cause the jurors to become so inflamed as to distract their attention from the true issues in the case. State v. Brown, 522 A.2d 208, 210-11 (R.I. 1987). This evidence was clearly not of that magnitude of prejudice. Indeed, the witness did not indicate that the automobile was driven at an excessive speed, but simply that it was going more quickly than would be expected if one considered the nature of this dirt road. To suggest that such equivocal testimony would tend to inflame the passions of the jury in this case, particularly if one takes into account the serious nature of the crime with which defendant was charged, is to stretch the bounds of credulity. Although we agree that the testimony was of limited relevancy, taking into account the innocuous nature of Mrs. King's observation and the overwhelming evidence of guilt presented by the state, we do not believe that the denial of the motion in limine and the admission of this testimony were significantly prejudicial to defendant. Since the determination of relevance is a matter left to the sound discretion of the trial justice and since this evidence did bear to some extent upon the issue of defendant's presence in the vicinity where the crime was committed and within a time frame of approximately one hour, we cannot say that admission of this evidence constituted an abuse of discretion.