Opinion ID: 1671103
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: prior violent knife attack

Text: In addition, of course, the jury that recommended death for Rogers was allowed to hear improper evidence of the most damaging kind against him that was later determined to have been erroneously admitted. During the penalty phase of the trial, the only evidence presented by the State consisted of the testimony of Raymundo Hernandez who testified in great detail about an unrelated assault upon him by Rogers at knife-point. Hernandez testified that as he attempted to exit the elevator in his apartment complex, he saw Rogers kick the door of the apartment next to his and heard him yell, Open the door, motherfucker bitch. According to Hernandez, Rogers shared that apartment with a woman named Maria who was Rogers' girlfriend. Rogers then turned to the elevator and refused to allow Hernandez to exit it. Rogers pushed Hernandez into the elevator and pointed a seven or eight-inch kitchen knife at his neck. Rogers then repeatedly told Hernandez not to move or he would kill him. While holding the knife against Hernandez' throat, Rogers then pushed the buttons in the elevator making it ride up and down. After several minutes, the elevator opened into the lobby and Rogers pushed Hernandez out of the elevator and then proceeded to chase and assault a security guard. The investigating police officer testified that his investigation reflected that Rogers exited the elevator and attacked the security guard. He first threw a stack of newspapers at the guard and then reached over the desk, grabbed the guard by his lapels and attempted to pull him over the counter. When the attempt to pull the guard over the counter failed, Rogers pushed the guard to the ground. He then picked the guard up and started banging the guard's head against a cement pillar. Based upon these events, Rogers was convicted of two counts of misdemeanor assault. Because the trial court subsequently found all of this evidence to be irrelevant to any of the issues in the penalty phase of the trial, the trial court directed the jury to ignore it. However, it is apparent that this evidence effectively amounted to improper collateral crimes evidence which, under our case law, is presumed harmful, see Castro v. State, 547 So.2d 111, 115 (Fla.1989); Williams v. State, 692 So.2d 1014, 1015 (Fla. 4th DCA 1997), and would most certainly have tainted the jury's recommendation, despite the trial court's instruction to disregard it. See Lawrence v. State, 614 So.2d 1092 (Fla.1993). The initial and erroneous admission of such devastating evidence presents a classic case of not being able to unring the bell. The jury heard this bell ring loud and clear and it would be completely unrealistic to expect them to simply ignore it. We have previously concluded that such an error is presumed to infect the entire [penalty phase] proceeding with unfair prejudice. Castro, 547 So.2d at 115. In Castro, the State introduced evidence during the guilt phase of the trial that several days before the murder for which Castro was being tried, he had tied up another person and threatened to stab him. This Court held that this evidence constituted improper collateral crimes evidence and had been erroneously admitted during the guilt phase of the trial. However, while we found this evidence harmless as to the conviction, we concluded that it could not be considered harmless as to the recommendation of death. See 547 So.2d at 115. We reasoned: Substantially different issues arise during the penalty phase of a capital trial that require analysis qualitatively different than that applicable to the guilt phase. What is harmless as to one is not necessarily harmless as to the other, particularly in light of the fact that a Williams rule error is presumed to infect the entire proceeding with unfair prejudice. While the guilt phase asks the jury to determine whether the defendant committed the crime charged, the penalty phase asks the jury to recommend whether that defendant should be put to death or spend life in prison. This recommendation must be based upon a weighing of aggravating and mitigating factors that may properly be inferred from any of the evidence, including that which has been introduced during the guilt phase. In the present case, for instance, the state did not present a separate case during the penalty phase. The prosecutor stated: Your Honor, at this time the State would proffer all of the evidence, both testimonial and by way of exhibits, that was admitted in the first phase, in support of the State's position on the aggravating circumstances in the second phase. Once the jury has received penalty phase evidence and made a life recommendation, for the trial court to then reject that recommendation and impose a sentence of death, the facts suggesting a sentence of death should be so clear and convincing that virtually no reasonable person could differ. Tedder v. State, 322 So.2d 908, 910 (Fla. 1975). Under those circumstances, unless the state can prove that there is no reasonable possibility that the error [complained of] contributed to the conviction, DiGuilio, 491 So.2d at 1138 (citation omitted), the error cannot be deemed harmless. This is especially true where the error is presumptively harmful, such as a Williams rule violation. Peek, 488 So.2d at 56; Straight, 397 So.2d at 908. Based on the record before us, we cannot say that the state has proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the improper testimony could not have affected the penalty phase determination. The jury heard that Scott and Castro had been drinking during the morning prior to the murder. The jury heard from Dr. Mara, who diagnosed Castro as having an alcohol- and drug-addicted personality. Dr. Mara also testified that Castro had been victimized by a history of child abuse, especially incest, which began at the age of four and which might account for his bizarre thinking and aggressive behavior. The case for mitigationthat Castro was an alcoholic, addict, and victim is very different from the image presented by McKnight's irrelevant and improper testimonythat Castro had an inherent criminal propensity and bad character. In sum, the Williams rule error improperly tended to negate the case for mitigation presented by Castro and thus may have influenced the jury in its penalty-phase deliberations. For this reason, we cannot say beyond any reasonable doubt that had the jury not heard McKnight's irrelevant, prejudicial testimony, it might not have determined that a life sentence was appropriate under the circumstances. 547 So.2d at 115-16. Castro is directly on point. Surely the majority here has not demonstrated in its opinion that there is no reasonable possibility that the error complained of contributed to the sentence of death. Indeed, this Court has consistently found such errors patently harmful. In Lawrence, for example, the State had introduced evidence of collateral crimes during the guilt phase of the trial, some of which the trial court later instructed the jury to disregard. See 614 So.2d at 1095. Relying on Castro, we found the evidence harmless as to conviction, but not harmless as to the death sentence. See id. at 1097 (On this record we cannot say that the state has shown beyond a reasonable doubt that the similar fact evidence of other crimes did not affect the penalty phase.). Accordingly, we vacated Lawrence's sentence of death and remanded the case for a new penalty phase proceeding. See id. Here, the testimony concerning the California crimes was the only evidence of aggravation presented by the State during the penalty phase of the trial. This makes the instant case far worse than Castro and Lawrence since the improperly admitted evidence was presented during the penalty phase for the sole purpose of aggravating the penalty. Although the jury was later told to disregard the testimony about the California incident, the damage was already done, the bell already rung. In other words, despite the judge's admonishment, this evidence could have easily tainted the jury's recommendation by negating the mitigating evidence presented by the defense and by painting the defendant in a completely different picture than that presented by the mitigation. See Castro. For example, the defense had attempted to show that Rogers' conduct was the result of a deprived childhood, during which his father beat his mother, and that he suffered from brain damage which was exacerbated by alcohol and drugs. The evidence of the California assaults, however, depicts Rogers as a man capable of sudden violent outbursts with a knife and without justification. It would be naive to think that the jury would be able to completely disregard the evidence of Rogers' prior violent acts in California. See Lawrence. Indeed, the jury now had heard concrete evidence that Rogers was the very bad man the State claimed. [8] Moreover, the California incidents are especially prejudicial in this case because there were no witnesses to Cribbs's murder. She was simply found dead with two puncture wounds. Based on the lack of evidence as to what happened in the motel room, it would not be difficult for the jury to imagine Rogers exhibiting the same type of rage on Cribbs as he did on Hernandez and the security guard. Cf. Castro; Williams, 692 So.2d at 1015. Because of the damaging nature of this testimony, combined with the lack of evidence as to what actually occurred during Cribbs's murder, it is apparent that a mistrial should have been granted and a new penalty phase conducted without the taint of this improper evidence.