Opinion ID: 835810
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: witness's comment on davis

Text: During his case-in-chief, defendant introduced evidence that he had reason to fear Davis. On rebuttal, the state called a witness who testified that, over the course of several conversations, he heard defendant tell another inmate that he was angry at Davis, that he intended to retaliate against him, and that he was seriously thinking about shanking [him]. The state then asked: Q. During any of these conversations did [defendant] ever express any fear towards Mark Davis? A. I'm sorry. No. Q. You laugh. That seems a little unusual. Whywhy are you laughing? A. Because [Davis] was a fly. It would be like a fly being scared of a spider oryou know. [13] Defense counsel moved to strike the witness's answer. He also moved for a mistrial on the ground that referring to Davis as a fly constituted impermissible character evidence. Finally, counsel argued that, because the witness's testimony had opened the door, defendant was free to introduce evidence of Davis's violent acts towards others. The trial court denied defendant's motion to strike and his motion for a mistrial. It also adhered to its earlier ruling that defendant could ask about Davis's violent acts towards him but not about Davis's violent acts towards others. On review, defendant assigns error to the trial court's rulings denying his motion to strike, denying his motion for a mistrial, and limiting his rebuttal evidence. However, in his argument, defendant does not identify any reason why the evidence was inadmissible; that is, he does not identify any reason why the court should have struck the witness's testimony or declared a mistrial. Rather, defendant's argument assumes that the evidence was admissible and focuses on whether the court erred in limiting the rebuttal evidence. The difficulty with defendant's argument is that the witness's statement did not interject a new issue into the case. The trial court previously had recognized that the question whether defendant feared Davis was part of the case, and the witness's comparison of defendant and Davis merely provided additional evidence on that question. We have held that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in limiting evidence of Davis's other crimes to prove that defendant feared Davis. Nothing in the witness's answer changes that conclusion. [14]