Opinion ID: 2436501
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: hit man testimony

Text: Connie Mosier, Bennett's former girlfriend, lived with Bennett sometime in 1977. At that time, Bennett was married to Marilyn Bennett and the couple was getting a divorce. However, Bennett had not yet met his future wife Marciathe drowning victim in this case. Connie Mosier's deposition was introduced at trial and it contained the following testimony: He [Bennett] said he was going ... to make a phone call.... [W]hen he came back out of the phone booth, he said that he had made a phone call to somebody to have his wife killed, and that all he had to do was leave the keys, mail the keys either to this man or leave them with this man, to her apartment and he would take care of everything. The testimony concerned Bennett's former wife Marilyn, and both before trial and prior to the introduction of Connie Mosier's deposition Bennett's counsel argued that admission of the testimony violated Rule 404(b) of the Arkansas Rules of Evidence, which provides: Other Crimes, Wrongs, or Acts. 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. The trial court overruled the objections on grounds that the evidence was admissible pursuant to the other purposes exception contained in Rule 404(b). Because the proof may develop differently in the event of retrial, we do not rule on the propriety of the court's decision to admit the testimony. We do point out, however, that the issue is a close one. Ordinarily, the trial judge has wide discretion in admitting evidence of other crimes or wrongs and his decision will not be reversed absent an abuse of discretion. Price v. State, 268 Ark. 535, 597 S.W.2d 598 (1980). Other crimes evidence is admissible if it is independently relevant and the probative value of the evidence is not substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice. Carter v. State, 295 Ark. 218, 748 S.W.2d 127 (1988). Obviously, the testimony was highly prejudicial. It is not so obvious that the evidence had great probative value, nor is it clear that the evidence truly provided proof of motive, plan, or knowledge. If the State's case was built around the theory that Bennett murdered his wife Marcia for financial gain, we note that there was not one shred of evidence that he stood to gain financially from the proposed hit man killing of his former wife Marilyn. We trust that at a second trial both court and counsel will carefully weigh the need for admitting this evidence. See Rowdean v. State, 280 Ark. 146, 655 S.W.2d 413 (1983).