Opinion ID: 1256193
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Defendant's Prior Bad Acts

Text: {40} Defendant also contends that the trial court erred in admitting evidence that unfairly suggested to the jury that Defendant had a propensity to act in conformity with prior bad acts. See Rule 11-404(B) NMRA 1999. According to Defendant, the State introduced improper propensity evidence at the penalty phase of his trial by calling the victim of a crime he committed in 1982 as a witness against him. Defendant also asserts that the State introduced improper propensity evidence at the guilt phase of his trial by eliciting testimony that he had stolen money from a witness's grandfather, that he had been arrested for driving while intoxicated (DWI), that he was previously employed with a carnival, and that he had been prepared to shoot it out with police prior to his arrest. For the following reasons, we disagree with Defendant's contentions regarding evidence of prior bad acts. {41} We conclude that the evidence of Defendant's prior crime in 1982 was relevant to prove his motive for the murder in the context of the aggravating circumstance of murdering a witness. See State v. Clark, 108 N.M. 288, 304-05, 772 P.2d 322, 338-39 (1989) [hereinafter Clark I ]; cf. Woodward, 121 N.M. at 7-8, 908 P.2d at 237-38 ([E]vidence of motive ... was relevant to the requisite mental state for first-degree murder.). Further, we note that the trial court gave a limiting instruction to the effect that the jury was to consider the evidence of Defendant's prior crime only for the purpose of determining whether the murder victim in the present case was killed to prevent her from reporting a crime. As in Clark I, 108 N.M. at 304-05, 772 P.2d at 338-39, some of the details of the prior crime were relevant and admissible for this purpose. We conclude the trial court did not abuse its discretion in admitting the evidence. {42} The testimony suggesting that Defendant had stolen money from a witness's grandfather and that he had been arrested for DWI was brief, inadvertent, and not responsive to the prosecutor's question. In each instance, the trial court and the prosecutor stopped the testimony before the witness had a chance to elaborate; the trial court also promptly instructed the jury to disregard the statements. We conclude that [t]here has been no showing that the trial court's prompt sustaining of objections and admonishments to the jury failed to cure the effect of the very brief testimony in question. State v. McGuire, 110 N.M. 304, 313, 795 P.2d 996, 1005 (1990); accord State v. Ferguson, 77 N.M. 441, 444-45, 423 P.2d 872, 874-75 (1967). We also conclude that Defendant was not deprived of a fair trial because the inadvertent statements were not elicited or emphasized by the prosecution. See State v. Duffy, 1998-NMSC-014, ¶ 51, 126 N.M. 132, 967 P.2d 807; State v. McDonald, 1998-NMSC-034, ¶¶ 27-29, 126 N.M. 44, 966 P.2d 752. {43} Information regarding Defendant's carnival work was admissible as background evidence to show the context of other admissible evidence, namely Defendant's statements to detectives regarding his initial contact with the victim on the day of the murder, and the time frame during which Defendant made the statement to his wife that he had raped and killed a girl. See State v. Ruiz, 119 N.M. 515, 519, 892 P.2d 962, 966 (Ct.App.1995) (affirming the admission of evidence concerning a defendant's abuse of his child to provide[ ] the context for why the defendant was battering his wife); State v. Jordan, 116 N.M. 76, 80-81, 860 P.2d 206, 210-11 (Ct.App.1993) (affirming the admission of evidence of a prior bad act to explain the context of the victim's father's testimony and to rebut the defense theory that the father had encouraged the victim to make false accusations). See generally 2 Weinstein & Berger, supra, § 401.04[4][a] (discussing the relevance of background evidence). We note that defense counsel did not object at trial when Defendant's ex-wife testified that Defendant's carnival work involved talking to customers and tricking their minds. In addition, Defendant himself placed his carnival work at issue when he told police that he avoided the victim when he saw her on the day of her disappearance because she looked him directly in the eye. Defendant explained that he would avoid people who looked him directly in the eye based on his carnival experience. Under these circumstances, we conclude that the issue of the carnival evidence was not preserved for appellate review, and grounds for reversal based on plain or fundamental error are not present. {44} Defendant's post-arrest statement of his intent to shoot it out with officers prior to his arrest is not a prior bad act, because no evidence was presented to show that Defendant carried out his intent. In addition, his statement was admitted for the purpose of showing his consciousness of guilt, a permissible use under Rule 11-404(B). See Ruiz, 119 N.M. at 519, 892 P.2d at 966 (concluding that evidence of a defendant's battery of a witness was admissible to show that the defendant was doing things consistent with admitting his guilt and demonstrating that he knew he was guilty). The trial court did not abuse its discretion in admitting this evidence.