Opinion ID: 1624316
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: Tennis Shoes

Text: It was not error for the trial judge to exclude the introduction of Wheeler's tennis shoes as evidence. During trial, the defense filed a supplemental reciprocal discovery response and gave notice that it was in possession of a pair of gray Nike tennis shoes that may be introduced into evidence. The prosecution objected on grounds of inadequate notice and a lack of chain of custody which would indicate that the proffered shoes were in fact the same shoes that Wheeler was wearing three and a half years earlier. The trial judge sustained the objection. On avowal, Wheeler testified that on the day of his arrest he was wearing flip-flops when the police entered his mother's home. The police officer told him to put on different shoes and he put on tennis shoes. He stated that those were the shoes he was wearing at the time of the arrest and they had been his personal property for three and a half years. The tennis shoes were also admitted pursuant to avowal. Wheeler contends that his rights were violated because the tennis shoes were crucial to the defense theory that someone else was in the house the night the two victims were slain. The evidence was not relevant. According to Wheeler on appeal, the shoes would have supported his theory of the case if the prints from the excluded shoes did not match the numerous bloody shoe prints found at the crime scene. But this would be true if there was evidence to show that Wheeler was wearing the excluded shoes while he was in the apartment when the murders were committed. This he failed to do. Wheeler admitted to being in the apartment on the night that the murders were committed. Thus, if he could show that the shoes he was wearing while he was in the apartment at the crucial time did not match the shoe prints found at the crime scene, the shoes would have tended to support his theory of the case. But Wheeler did not testify that he was wearing the shoes while he was in the apartment the night the victims were slain. Nor did the defense offer any other evidence to link the shoes to the crime scene. Rather, Wheeler testified on avowal that he was wearing the shoes when he was arrested the next day. The mere fact that Wheeler owned a pair of shoes that may or may not have matched the shoe prints found at the crime scene did not tend to make the defense theory more probable. They were not relevant. KRE 401. The trial judge made the right ruling for the wrong reason. See Noel Commonwealth, Ky., 76 S.W.3d 923, 929 (2002); Tamme, 973 S.W.2d at 31.