Opinion ID: 2086550
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Testifying Officer's Characterization of Defensive Wounds

Text: Appellant claims that the trial court erred in allowing Detective Maynard Marsh to refer to several of Dains' wounds to her forearm depicted in a photograph as typical of a defense wound... . Defense counsel immediately objected and the court sustained the objection. Marsh almost immediately repeated the same characterization. Defense counsel again objected and was sustained. In objecting to the photographs, counsel referred to these several statements by Marsh and moved for a mistrial. The motion was denied. The trial court judge did sustain defense objections to these statements of Marsh when made, however, and instructed the jurors before trial to disregard any stricken testimony. Following Marsh's testimony, Dr. Frances Masser, the pathologist who performed the autopsies on both victims and a qualified expert, characterized the same wounds as defensive wounds later in the trial. Recalling the decision in Hopkins v. State (1991), Ind., 582 N.E.2d 345, reh'g denied, in which we held that there was no error in allowing a testifying expert to characterize a victim's wounds as defensive wounds, there is no error here. Misconduct by the prosecution in presenting its case is grounds for mistrial only if such misconduct results in subjecting the defendant to grave peril of conviction to which he should not have been subjected. Maldonado v. State (1976), 265 Ind. 492, 355 N.E.2d 843. Here the repetitions by Marsh were confined to a short period of time and each repetition was met with a court reprimand. The subject matter content of this improperly repetitious testimony came properly before the jury in the opinion testimony of the pathologist. In light of these considerations, we conclude that the improper characterization by Marsh of the wounds had little if any persuasive effect on the jury's decision. The misconduct of the witness caused no grave peril to appellant, and consequently there was no error.