Opinion ID: 1751529
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 13

Heading: whether the trial court erred in admitting evidence of jimmie mack's flight from authorities?

Text: Mack first contends that the trial court erred in admitting evidence of his flight from authorities. Before trial, Mack filed a motion requesting, among other things, the suppression of all evidence of crimes other than those charged in the indictment. In response, the trial judge found as follows: 1. Evidence of defendant's escape from the Bolivar County Correctional Facility on or about February 1, 1990; evidence of the truck in which the defendant was captured was a stolen vehicle, and evidence of prior convictions of the defendant shall not be mentioned, in any way by the State in presenting its case-in-chief unless the said evidence becomes admissible during the course of the trial and the Court determines that admissibility. 2. Evidence regarding the capture of the defendant, i.e., the alleged shooting from the truck by the defendant at the law enforcement officers and evidence that the defendant and other person allegedly purchased illicit drugs shall be admissible at the trial when and if the proper predicate is laid for the admission of said evidence. At trial, the trial judge admitted the testimony of several witnesses detailing Mack's flight from authorities. Mack contends that the trial judge erred in admitting evidence of his flight because the probative value of such evidence was substantially outweighed by its prejudicial effect. Mack relies on Fuselier v. State, 468 So.2d 45 (Miss. 1985), in support of his contention that even though evidence of flight may be admissible as an exception under Mississippi Rules of Evidence 404(b), evidence of flight is not admissible when, in addition to being probative of guilt or guilty knowledge, it also is probative of escape. In Fuselier the defendant jumped out of a back window when authorities arrived at his friend's home to arrest him on a capital murder charge. At the time of his arrest, Fuselier was an escapee from the Louisiana State Penitentiary. On appeal, he argued that evidence of flight was not probative of his guilt or guilty knowledge of Mrs. Gunter's murder because, as an escapee, he had an independent sufficient reason to flee. Id. at 57. This Court reasoned that Fuselier was obviously put in a no-win situation by either being required to explain his flight and the fact that he was a prison escapee or not explaining the flight and subjecting himself to a flight instruction. Id. at 57. The Court held that the flight instruction should not have been granted because the court was aware of an explanation for Fuselier's flight, but the jury was not. Id. at 57. Conversely, the State argues that Mariche v. State, 495 So.2d 507 (Miss. 1986), Jimison v. State, 532 So.2d 985 (Miss. 1988), and other cases recognizing evidence of flight or escape as an exception to MRE 404(b) control. Mississippi Rules of Evidence 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, identity, or absence of mistake or accident. Although evidence may be admissible for purposes other than to prove that a defendant acted in conformity therewith, such evidence must be filtered through Mississippi Rule of Evidence 403. Ford v. State, 555 So.2d 691 (Miss. 1989). Rule 403 provides: Although relevant, evidence may be excluded if its probative value is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice, confusion of the issues, or misleading the jury, or by considerations of undue delay, waste of time, or needless presentation of cumulative evidence. The facts of the instant case more closely resemble those of Fuselier than those of Mariche or Jimison. Like the defendant in Fuselier, Mack was charged with capital murder. Similarly, at the time of his flight, Mack, like Fuselier, was an escapee. Additionally, Mack was driving a stolen vehicle. Because such evidence was probative of other crimes or bad acts, it is not admissible under Rule 404, unless it falls within one of the exceptions of 404(b). Though admissible as an exception to 404(b), such evidence must be filtered through Rules 403 and 401 before it can be introduced to the jury. Ford, 555 So.2d at 695. Here, the trial judge erred in finding that evidence of Mack's flight was admissible because Mack had two other reasons for fleeing: he was an escapee and he was driving a stolen vehicle. Under such circumstances, Fuselier would have prevented the prosecutor from instructing the jury that it could draw an inference of Mack's guilty or guilty knowledge of Mack's flight. This court has permitted flight instructions in cases where there is evidence of flight and there are no independent reasons for flight. See Mariche and Jimison. In those cases, the jury was instructed that it could draw inferences of the defendants' guilt from the evidence of the defendants' flight. However, in Fuselier, this Court found that the flight instruction should not have been given because the Court was aware of independent reasons for the defendant's flight. Although this Court did not explicitly state that evidence of flight is inadmissible when independent reasons exist to explain the flight, it implicitly did so. As the Court pointed out in Fuselier If Fuselier's flight is probative of his guilt or guilty knowledge of the Gunter murder, it is equally probative of his escape. In such instances, it follows that where evidence of flight is probative of things other than guilt or guilty knowledge of the crime charged, such evidence should be excluded. This goes to the heart of Rule 403, which permits the trial court to exclude relevant evidence if its probative value is substantially outweighed by its prejudicial effect. Though the prosecutor offered evidence of Mack's flight, it did not offer an instruction on flight. However, the jury was allowed to draw the same inference that this Court found that the jury should not have been instructed to draw in Fuselier. If a prosecutor cannot give a jury instruction on flight because evidence of flight is probative of things other than the defendant's guilt or guilty knowledge, it follows that the prosecutor should not be allowed to place the evidence before the jury. There was no flight instruction. However, in closing argument, the prosecutor stated: And how do we know that Jimmie Mack did the killing, because he just about said he did. Who was the one that went down the road with that pistol firing out of the window when he was being followed? Who was the one driving the truck? ... Who was the one that jumped out of that truck when he was being followed and after those tires were blown out, three of them, and running down the road on three blown out tires and jumped out of that truck after having fired at the police and said Shoot me, MF. And he is the same one that went ... running down the road and ran from the sheriff and he got that pistol that he had stolen from Mr. Fulton and started firing at the police who were after him for committing the crime that he had just committed a couple of hours before. Here, it is clear that Mack's flight was probative of his guilt or guilty knowledge. But it was also probative of his status as an escapee. Mack's flight was a prejudicial fact having no evidentiary value in the determination of Mack's guilt of the offense here charged. To paraphrase the Fuselier Court to the extent that [Mack's] flight [was] probative of his guilt or guilty knowledge of the [Fulton's] murder, it [was] equally probative of his guilt of escape. The state argues that, even if the trial court erred, the error was waived because Mack failed to make a contemporaneous objection. Cole v. State, 525 So.2d 365, 369 (Miss. 1987). Mack objected when the prosecutor began to elicit testimony of flight from the officers involved in the chase. His objection was overruled. When the prosecutor commented on Mack's flight during closing argument, Mack did not object. Because Mack did not object to the prosecutor's comments, the state argues that the error was waived. The State's contention must fail. Mack's objection to the introduction of the flight evidence was sufficient to preserve the error for appeal. In the instant case, the objection was contemporaneous as is required by state law. Even though the objection was contemporaneous, it was overruled by the trial court. There is no reason to believe that Mack's objection to the prosecutor's comments on the flight evidence would have met a different fate had Mack raised a contemporaneous objection. Webb v. Priest, 413 So.2d 43 (Fla. 3d DCA 1982). Additionally, it would be a waste of the court's time to require a party to repeatedly raise objections to evidence where the trial court has already overruled one objection pertaining to the evidence at issue. Allowing the flight testimony was error and that error is properly preserved for review by this Court. We conclude, however, that the error in admitting this evidence was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. Mack's two companions testified that Mack killed Fulton. Mack was placed at the scene of the murder by other witnesses. Mack told Fulton's neighbors not to go near Fulton's home. There was blood on the truck that Mack was driving, which Mack attempted to wipe off. Mack threatened to kill a teen-ager if the youngster mentioned what he had seen. The evidence of Mack's flight pales in comparison to more direct evidence of guilt. Its admission under the circumstances was harmless error. Miss. R.Ev. 103(a).