Opinion ID: 2538692
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Harmless Error Test

Text: Because we find that the admission of testimony regarding the defendant's silence in this case constituted an abuse of discretion by the trial court, we must now determine whether that error requires that we reverse the defendant's conviction. Under the harmless error test, we are directed to disregard any error or defect not affecting the substantial rights of the parties. C.A.R. 35(e); see also Crim. P. 52(a) ([A]ny error, defect, irregularity, or variance which does not affect substantial rights shall be disregarded.). Thus, unless we find that the error in admitting this evidence substantially influenced the verdict or affected the fairness of the trial, we may not upset the finding below. See People v. Quintana, 665 P.2d 605, 612 (Colo.1983); see also Masters v. People, 58 P.3d 979, 1002 (Colo.2002). If this influence is apparent, or if one is left in grave doubt, the conviction cannot stand. Quintana, 665 P.2d at 612 (quoting Kotteakos v. United States, 328 U.S. 750, 765, 66 S.Ct. 1239, 90 L.Ed. 1557 (1946)). In the instant case, we cannot say that the error in admitting testimony regarding the defendant's silence was harmless. The primary issue at trial was not whether the defendant shot the victim, but rather whether the defendant was legally sane at the moment she did so. While both sides presented conflicting expert testimony on the sanity issue, the People's own experts concluded that regardless of whether the defendant had actually dissociated at the time of the killing and therefore could not remember the act, they would have found her legally sane when she shot the victim. Moreover, only one of the many experts testifying speculated as to any potential inconsistency between the defendant's silence after the shooting and her claim of memory loss. Despite the fact that the defendant's memory loss was deemed scientifically irrelevant by its own witnesses, the prosecution nevertheless sought to attack that issue throughout the trial by constantly reminding the jury of the defendant's silence at the apartment and at the hospital. The prosecution repeatedly implored the jury to base its decision on the defendant's failure to respond to questioning on the night of the shooting: referring to the defendant's silence in its opening statement, examining six witnesses on the issue in its case-in-chief, and directing attention to the defendant's silence again in its closing argument. Thus, we cannot say with confidence that the admission of this testimony did not substantially affect the defendant's rights. Furthermore, the fact that the trial court allowed this evidence in throughout the People's case, without regard for the very limiting purpose which it had placed upon the majority of the testimony, certainly impacted the fairness of the trial proceedings. By introducing such testimony in its case-in-chief, the prosecution attacked the defendant's claim of memory loss before the defense had even raised the issue, thereby perhaps forcing the defense to respond as if the defendant's silence did refute her claim of insanity. Additionally, the unlimited use of the purported rebuttal testimony may have required the defense to allocate more time and attention to the memory loss issue than it otherwise might have. Thus, by failing to provide any limiting instruction, the trial court potentially impacted the weight attached to such testimony by the jury, compounding the fact that the evidence ought to have been excluded altogether. Certainly, considering the record as a whole, the error of admitting evidence regarding the defendant's silence and its resulting impact on the substantial rights of the defendant and the fairness of the proceedings cannot be deemed harmless.