Opinion ID: 2120270
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: evidence of witness's official misconduct.

Text: Mayfield Police Detective House was the lead investigator in this case. He searched Johnson's residence in the early morning hours of April 3, 1999, and took Johnson's purse and change purse into custody as evidence. By the time the case was brought to trial, House had been discharged from the Mayfield Police Department and had a pending criminal charge against him for complicity to official misconduct. On cross-examination of Appellant, the prosecutor asked, Didn't you find it odd that the police didn't find any money at all in the house? Appellant responded that the police very well could have found money and kept it for themselves. In support of this theory, Appellant unsuccessfully sought to introduce evidence of the reason for House's discharge from the Mayfield Police Department. House testified on avowal that the official misconduct charge arose out of his failure to prevent his supervisor from selling a VCR out of the evidence room. The trial judge excluded this evidence as irrelevant. Appellant asserts that the evidence was admissible both for purposes of impeaching House's credibility and to support his theory that House, not Appellant, stole Johnson's money. At the time this case was tried, KRE 608 provided that the credibility of a witness could be attacked or supported only by evidence in the form of opinion or reputation in the community. Thus, specific instances of wrongful conduct could not be used for impeachment purposes. See also CR 43.07. Thus, evidence of House's participation in a theft of property in police custody was inadmissible for the purpose of impeaching House's credibility. The rule as amended in 2003 still does not permit proof of specific instances of conduct by extrinsic evidence, but they may, in the discretion of the court, if probative of truthfulness or untruthfulness, be inquired into on cross-examination of the witness: (1) concerning the witness' character for truthfulness or untruthfulness.... KRE 608(b) (as amended). However, the pre-2003 version of the rule must also be applied at retrial. KRE 107 refers to criminal actions originally brought on for trial prior to the effective date of the rules with the proviso that no evidence shall be admitted against a criminal defendant in proof of a crime committed prior to July 1, 1992, unless that evidence would have been admissible under evidence principles in existence prior to the adoption of these rules. KRE 107(b) (emphasis added). Although KRE 107 deals only with the effective date of the adoption of the rules, i.e., July 1, 1992, the same principles should apply to the adoption of amendments to the rules. However, as pointed out in the Commentary to KRE 107, cases tried ... under pre-existing evidence rules must be retried ... under the same rules if retrial ... becomes necessary. Nevertheless, the evidence was admissible for substantive purposes in support of Appellant's theory that House, not Appellant, stole the money from the crime scene. Beaty v. Commonwealth, Ky., 125 S.W.3d 196, 206-10 (2003). Although Appellant was not charged with theft, it was the Commonwealth's theory that theft was Appellant's motive for killing Johnson. Indeed, the indictment charged Appellant with the murder of Johnson while in the course of robbing her. Thus, evidence that an alleged alternative perpetrator (aaltperp), id. at 207 n. 3, had both motive and opportunity to steal Johnson's money was relevant to refute the inference that the money that Morris observed in Appellant's possession on the morning of April 2, 1999, had been stolen from Johnson, which created the additional inference that Appellant killed Johnson for her money. House undoubtedly had the opportunity to steal Johnson's money. The fact that he had participated in the theft of other evidence in police custody was admissible as reverse 404(b) evidence, id. at 207 n. 4, of a motive and intent to steal crime scene evidence in this case. Exclusion of evidence that an aaltperp had both the motive and the opportunity to commit the act for which the accused is charged deprives the accused of the Due Process right to present a defense. Id. at 207-08. It is immaterial that the excluded evidence in this case tended to prove not that House killed Johnson but only that Appellant did not kill her. Cf. Johnson v. Brewer, 521 F.2d 556, 562 (8th Cir.1975) (reversing because of exclusion of evidence showing that government's informer and witness had framed another defendant in a similar case). We recognize that the similarity between the two acts in question (theft of a VCR from the evidence room and theft of money from a crime scene) would not satisfy the high standard of admissibility established for KRE 404(b) evidence offered against an accused. See Billings v. Commonwealth, Ky., 843 S.W.2d 890, 893 (1992) (prior acts must be so sufficiently similar to demonstrate a modus operandi). However, as pointed out in the leading case of United States v. Stevens, 935 F.2d 1380 (3rd Cir.1991), a lower standard of similarity should govern `reverse 404(b)' evidence because prejudice to the defendant is not a factor. Id. at 1404. It is well established that a defendant may use similar `other crimes' evidence defensively if in reason it tends, alone or with other evidence, to negate his guilt of the crime charged against him. Id. (internal citation and quotation omitted). This is similar to the requirement that proof of guilt be shown beyond a reasonable doubt but proof of an affirmative defense need only be shown by a preponderance of the evidence. KRS 500.070(1), (3). If the evidence has relevance, then it should be excluded only upon application of KRE 403 principles, i.e., that its probative value is substantially outweighed by considerations of confusion of the issues, misleading the jury, or undue delay. Stevens, supra, at 1405. None of those factors militate against admission of the evidence in this case. That is especially true here where (1) the Commonwealth initiated the issue by asking Appellant if he thought it was odd that the police found no money at the crime scene; (2) the only other persons besides Appellant known to have had access to the crime scene were the paramedic and the police officers who searched the residence; (3) House was the officer who took possession of the purse and change purse; and (4) House did not deny his participation in the previous theft from the police evidence room. Appellant should have been permitted to prove House's participation in the theft and sale of the VCR.