Opinion ID: 2034537
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: paled probative force

Text: Two statutes which stem from this Court's adopted rules of evidence are central to an analysis of the admissibility of the medical records dating from 1968, 1969, 1973, and 1980. SDCL 19-12-5 provides: 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. And SDCL 19-12-3 provides: Although relevant, evidence may be excluded if its probative value is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice, confusion of the issues, or misleading the jury, or by considerations of undue delay, waste of time, or needless presentation of cumulative evidence. In addition, we have adopted the federal requirement that the prior crimes, wrongs, or acts must have occurred close in time to the act at bar. State v. Pedde, 334 N.W.2d 41 (S.D.1983); State v. Johnson, 316 N.W.2d 652 (S.D.1982). A particularly clairvoyant application of the above legal requirements is provided in United States v. Two Eagle, 633 F.2d 93 (8th Cir.1980), and my analysis is grounded therein. Initially, we start with the foundational rule that the prior medical records are not admissible to prove Carl Iron Shell, Jr.'s character as a violent person in order to show he acted in conformity therewith on October 24, 1981, when Theresa Iron Shell was beaten to death. SDCL 19-12-4; SDCL 19-12-5. An exception to this rule is that the prior medical records are potentially admissible to show Carl Iron Shell, Jr.'s motive, opportunity, intent, preparation, plan, knowledge, identity, or absence of mistake or accident. SDCL 19-12-5. Of course, one of the delineated exceptions must be a material issue raised at trial. Two Eagle, 633 F.2d at 96. Here, the majority opinion asserts that the identity of Theresa Iron Shell's assailant was at issue. The next analytical juncture is that the medical records must be relevant to the issue of identity. State v. Johnson, 316 N.W.2d at 654. As the majority opinion notes, the relevancy hurdle is not particularly difficult in criminal cases. Unfortunately, the majority opinion neglects the import of the next analytical step which is that the prior medical records must be close in time to the act at bar. Pedde, 334 N.W.2d 41. I have considerable trepidation with the majority opinion's treatment of this issue as embodied in this passage: As to the age of the documents, even if the old records were ruled inadmissible, the more recent evidence of abuse would still be admissible. Thus, the evidence is, at worst, cumulative and not prejudicial error. Medical records of incidents dating back to the late 1960s, aged respectively 13 years, 12 years, and 8 years, simply fail to make reliable, trustworthy, and cogent evidence. Indeed, in a distinct, yet conceptually related area, this Court has judicially adopted that as a general rule of evidence, convictions of prior serious crimes are not admissible to attack a witness' credibility if the crime or sentence is aged over 10 years. SDCL 19-14-13. The majority opinion seems to concede, or wants to concede, that the antiquated medical records were inadmissible. Yet, with a truncated analysis, the majority opinion labels the medical records cumulative and not prejudicial error. I question this approach as it short-circuits the close-in-time requirement and destroys the integrity of our analytical framework. Labeling these dated medical records cumulative is a misnomer. These records dredged up from other decades do not replicate the December 1980 medical records. Rather, the aged medical records serve to taint and prejudice the proceedings by implanting in the jurors' minds an inflammatory chain of events from the distant past. Events of which the jurors knew precious little. Events stored for so long that they necessarily were riddled with unanswerable questions and speculation. Events whose probative force has paled. This presents the final analytical step: a determination if the probative value of the medical records is substantially outweighed by unfair prejudice. SDCL 19-12-3. As the majority opinion recognizes: [T]here is no question that this evidence adversely affected appellant's case .... However, the majority concludes the evidence was not prejudicial because: `prejudice' does not mean the damage to the opponent's case that results from the legitimate probative force of the evidence; rather, it refers to the unfair advantage that results from the capacity of the evidence to persuade by illegitimate means. What more illegitimate means of persuasion could one find than the introduction into evidence of significantly aged inflammatory evidence to prove the identity of an individual in a crime committed 13 years later? This hardly seems to be the type of evidence which we associate with the idea of legitimate probative force. Is not the real message from this stale evidence exactly the one prohibited by SDCL 19-12-4 and SDCL 19-12-5: Once a spouse abuser, always a spouse abuser. No, you cannot prove a person's bad character to show he acted in conformity therewith on the occasion in question. Therein lie the gravamen of evidentiary error.