Opinion ID: 2607237
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: liquor survey evidence

Text: Mr. Luvene argues that the trial court erred in admitting into evidence a survey of manufacturers' lot numbers on liquor bottles from the inventory of Pierce and South King County liquor stores. The survey indicated that while the lot numbers on all four of the bottles recovered from Mr. Luvene's apartment matched lot numbers found at the Milton liquor store, none of the lot numbers matched the inventory in the store where he claimed he bought the liquor. [1] Mr. Luvene argues that the survey was not relevant because: (1) it took place approximately nine days after the robbery and thus failed to account for intervening sales or delivery at each liquor store; (2) the police failed to survey every liquor store in the area; and (3) the State failed to offer adequate testimony that bottles bearing the same lot numbers were shipped in groups. The trial court ruled that these criticisms went to the weight of the evidence rather than its relevance. Report of Proceedings, vol. 19, at 2651. Mr. Luvene further maintains that even if the survey is relevant, it was unfairly prejudicial since it falsely purported to have a mathematical or scientific precision and thus had the tendency to mislead the jury. In order to be admissible, evidence must be relevant. ER 402. Evidence is relevant if it has any tendency to make the existence of any fact that is of consequence... more probable or less probable than it would be without the evidence. ER 401. Even if relevant, however, evidence may still be excluded if its probative value is substantially outweighed by the likelihood it will mislead the jury. ER 403. We review a trial court's evaluation of relevance under ER 401 and its balancing of probative value against its prejudicial effect or potential to mislead under ER 403 with a great deal of deference, using a manifest abuse of discretion standard of review. State v. Russell, 125 Wash.2d 24, 78, 882 P.2d 747 (1994). At the trial, a purchasing agent for the Washington State Liquor Control Board testified that a lot number refers to a production batch at the bottling plant and is used for quality control purposes. Report of Proceedings, vol. 19, at 2633-34. Liquor is stored at a warehouse which receives and distributes orders for alcohol in the state. When a liquor store submits an order, the order is filled without regard to lot number. Nevertheless, because liquor bottles are shipped by the box, and each box contains liquor bottles with the same lot number, the liquor survey evidence has at least some tendency to make the inference that the liquor found in Mr. Luvene's apartment came from the Milton liquor store more probable... than it would be without the evidence. ER 401. Moreover, the record does not support Mr. Luvene's contention that the liquor survey evidence had an aura of mathematical or scientific precision that misled the jury. The testimony regarding the survey did not involve any scientific or probability analysis. The chart that was used simply listed the liquor stores that were surveyed and any matching lot numbers at each store. Since the trial court has wide discretion in determining whether evidence will mislead the jury, Myers v. Harter, 76 Wash.2d 772, 781, 459 P.2d 25 (1969), and we review this balancing under ER 403, as well as the determination of relevance under ER 401, under a manifest abuse of discretion standard, we cannot conclude that the trial court abused its discretion in admitting the liquor survey evidence.