Opinion ID: 2630385
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Drug Use as Res Gestae

Text: Carapezza argues that the district court erroneously admitted evidence of her drug use and addiction. The district court admitted the evidence as res gestae, stating that it was part of an overall scheme to obtain money for drugs. The first step in considering a challenge to the admission of evidence is to determine whether the evidence is relevant. State v. Gunby, 282 Kan. 39, 47, 144 P.3d 647 (2006). All relevant evidence is admissible unless prohibited by statute. K.S.A. 60-407(f). Relevant evidence is any evidence having any tendency in reason to prove any material fact. K.S.A. 60-401(b). Relevance is established by a material or logical connection between the asserted facts and the inference or result they are intended to establish. 282 Kan. at 47, 144 P.3d 647. After relevance is established, the second step requires the application of the statutory rules governing the admission and exclusion of evidence. These rules are applied either as a matter of law or in the exercise of the district court's discretion, depending on the rule in question. Gunby did not establish our standard of review for analyzing relevancein particular, the probative elementof certain K.S.A. 60-455 evidence. As set forth in our recent decision in State v. Reid, 286 Kan. ___, Syl. ¶ 5, 186 P.3d 713 (2008), we concluded that our standard of review of the probative element of 60-455 evidence is abuse of discretion. In Reid, we clarified the analytical steps to be taken when considering 60-455 evidence and our standard of review applicable to each step. [T]he K.S.A. 60-455 analysis requires several steps. . . . [t]he court must determine that the evidence is relevant to prove a material fact, e.g., motive, knowledge, and identity. The court must also determine that the material fact is disputed. Additionally, the court must determine that the probative value of the evidence outweighs the potential for producing undue prejudice. Finally, the court must give a limiting instruction informing the jury of the specific purpose for admission whenever 60-455 evidence comes in. 286 Kan. at ___, 186 P.3d at 721. Res gestae is no longer accepted as a valid basis for independently admitting evidence. 282 Kan. at 63, 144 P.3d 647. The district court in the present case thus erroneously admitted the evidence of Carapezza's drug usage and addiction as res gestae without applying the analysis required by K.S.A. 60-455. K.S.A. 60-455 provides: Subject to K.S.A. 60-447 evidence that a person committed a crime or civil wrong on a specified occasion, is inadmissible to prove his or her disposition to commit crime or civil wrong as the basis for an inference that the person committed another crime or civil wrong on another specified occasion but, subject to K.S.A. 60-445 and 60-448 such evidence is admissible when relevant to prove some other material fact including motive, opportunity, intent, preparation, plan, knowledge, identity or absence of mistake or accident. Before the district court can admit evidence of another crime or civil wrong, it must determine whether the evidence is relevant to prove a disputed material fact and whether the probative value outweighs the prejudicial effect. 282 Kan. at 48, 57, 144 P.3d 647. The State argues that evidence of Carapezza's drug usage and addiction was relevant to establish motive. Motive is the moving power which impels one to action for a definite result. . . . Motive is that which incites or stimulates a person to do an action. State v. Jordan, 250 Kan. 180, 190, 825 P.2d 157 (1992) (quoting State v. Ruebke, 240 Kan. 493, 502, 731 P.2d 842, cert. denied 483 U.S. 1024, 107 S.Ct. 3272, 97 L.Ed.2d 770 [1987]). According to the State's theory, Carapezza robbed Clark so she could purchase more crack cocaine to feed her addiction. Carapezza argues to the contrary that the evidence was not relevant to establish a motive for the burglary and robbery because the motive is inherent in the commission of those crimes. Carapezza reasons that the motive was obviously financial gain, and it was irrelevant whether the stolen money was to be used to purchase drugs or to pay her overdue rent. In essence, Carapezza argues that a secondary motive is irrelevant when the primary motive is obvious. This is an issue of first impression in Kansas. Although intent is an element of aggravated burglary and aggravated robbery, motive is not an element. Motive and intent are not the same thing. The State may nevertheless admit evidence of motive to explain why the defendant may have committed the crime or crimes at issue even though motive is not an element of the offense. Ruebke, 240 Kan. at 502-03, 731 P.2d 842 (allowing the admission of other-crimes evidence to explain that defendant committed murder to prevent witnesses from identifying him and causing his probation to be revoked). See also Jordan, 250 Kan. at 191, 825 P.2d 157 (admitting evidence of a prior crime to establish the defendant's motive for going to the apartment where he later committed murder). But see State v. Tolson, 274 Kan. 558, 565, 56 P.3d 279 (2002) (admitting evidence that defendant previously possessed drugs and guns to show knowledge and intent but concluding that the evidence was not admissible to show motive because it did not imply the defendant would use the gun to cause trouble). The evidence of Carapezza's drug use is probative of the motive for robbing Clark. Carapezza's defense consisted of a general denial of guilt. Carapezza contended that she never met Clark and that Paico committed the crimes without Carapezza's assistance. Providing a motive for Carapezza's involvement establishes a material or logical connection to the inference that she participated in the crime. The evidence was therefore relevant to establish motive, regardless of whether it was the primary motivemoneyor the secondary motivebuying drugs. Several other courts have allowed evidence of drug usage or addiction to establish motive. See, e.g., United States v. Cody, 498 F.3d 582, 590-91 (6th Cir.2007) (admitting testimony from the defendant's wife and son regarding the family's drug use to establish the defendant's motive for robbing a bank); State v. Armstrong, 176 Ariz. 470, 473, 862 P.2d 230 (1993) (admitting a taped statement with defendant's admission to prior drug transactions because it was relevant to defendant's motive to traffic in stolen property); Craft v. Stratton, 2007 WL 3144855 at -12 (N.D.Cal.2007) (unpublished opinion) (admitting evidence of defendant's drug use to establish defendant's motive for robbing and killing victim); State v. Jarrett, 137 N.C.App. 256, 261, 527 S.E.2d 693 (2000) (allowing prosecutor to characterize defendant as a crack head because prosecutor was free to argue defendant had robbed and shot the victim to obtain money for drugs); People v. Wood, 245 A.D.2d 200, 666 N.Y.S.2d 599 (1997) (admitting testimony of defendant's drug addiction to establish defendant's motive for robbing his mother and the mother's reason for testifying against her son); Washington v. State, 2007 WL 1412903 at  (Tex. App.2007) (unpublished opinion) (admitting evidence that defendant traded a stolen van for crack cocaine because it made the fact or consequence that defendant committed aggravated robbery more probable by providing motive). But see State v. Boman, 123 Idaho 947, 950-51, 854 P.2d 290 (Idaho App. 1993) (holding that bare allegation that defendant's drug addiction was relevant to prove motive was nothing more than speculation, but affirming defendant's conviction because the error in admitting the evidence was harmless). Here, the trial court did not abuse its discretion in finding that Carapezza's drug use was relevant. After determining relevance, we must consider whether the probative value of the evidence outweighs its prejudicial effect. Gunby, 282 Kan. at 48, 57, 144 P.3d 647. This part of the evidentiary analysis is also reviewed for abuse of discretion. Reid, 286 Kan. ___, Syl. ¶ 8, 186 P.3d 713; Garcia, 285 Kan. at 18, 169 P.3d 1069 (citing State v. Meeks, 277 Kan. 609, 618, 88 P.3d 789 [2004]). The burden of proof is on the party alleging that discretion is abused. Reid, 286 Kan. ___, Syl. ¶ 9, 186 P.3d 713; Garcia, 285 Kan. at 18-19, 169 P.3d 1069. The evidence of Carapezza's drug use may have been damaging in the minds of the jurors, and other evidence exists that she had a motive to commit robbery for financial reasons unrelated to purchasing drugs. However, as previously noted, there is sufficient evidence in the record to establish a nexus between the financial motive and the necessity to purchase the drugs to fuel her addiction. Further, Carapezza's drug use was obvious and referenced throughout the trial. Paico testified without objection that she and Carapezza used crack [p]retty much every day. Paico further testified that she had given Carapezza checks from Clark's checkbook because Carapezza was high and agitated. According to Paico, Carapezza said she was going to show the checks to her drug dealer in order to scam the dealer and obtain drugs without paying for them. Paico also testified that she and Carapezza and several other people were using crack throughout the weekend before Clark was murdered. Paico testified that Carapezza was high when Paico saw her at Clark's house. Besides failing to object to Paico's testimony, Carapezza failed to object when one of the detectives testified that he had often spoken with Carapezza about the drug business occurring at Carapezza's apartment complex. The detective also testified without objection that he thought Carapezza was addicted to crack cocaine and that another known crack user had informed him that Carapezza would do anything to obtain crack cocaine. In weighing whether the probative value of the admission of drug evidence outweighs its prejudicial effect, Carapezza has not shown that the trial court abused its discretion in admitting the testimony. For the last step of the 60-455 analysis, we address the absence of a limiting instruction in this case under the clearly erroneous standard. Not including a limiting instruction informing the jury that it could only consider Carapezza's drug use to the extent it was probative of motive was error. However, as we just discussed, her drug use was obvious and referenced throughout the trial. As a result, we are not able to declare a real possibility existed that the jury would have returned a different verdict if the trial error had not occurred.