Opinion ID: 1960214
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 12

Heading: Unadjudicated Other Crimes Evidence

Text: Defendant contests the admission of evidence of an unadjudicated purse snatching in the guilt phase. Generally, evidence of other acts of misconduct is not admissible because it creates the risk that the defendant will be convicted of the present offense simply because the unrelated evidence establishes him or her as a bad person. La.Code Evid. art. 404B(1); State v. Jackson, 625 So.2d 146, 148 (La.1993). This rule of exclusion stems from the substantial risk of grave prejudice to the defendant from the introduction of evidence regarding his or her unrelated criminal acts. State v. Prieur, 277 So.2d 126, 128 (La.1973). However, evidence of other crimes may be admissible if the state establishes an independent and relevant reason, i.e., to show motive, opportunity, intent, preparation, plan, knowledge, identity, absence of mistake or accident, or when it relates to conduct that constitutes an integral part of the act or transaction that is the subject of the present proceeding. La.Code Evid. art. 404B(1). Even when the other crimes evidence is offered for a purpose allowed under Article 404, the evidence is not admissible unless it tends to prove a material fact at issue or to rebut a defense. The probative value of the extraneous crimes evidence must outweigh its prejudicial effect. La.Code Evid. art. 403; State v. Hatcher, 372 So.2d 1024, 1033 (La.1979). At the pretrial Prieur hearing in the present case, Linda Mayes testified that she was robbed outside of a bank as she was on her way to make a deposit for her employer. A black male approached, wrested the deposit bag from her, and reentered the passenger side of a blue Cadillac as it drove off. She positively identified defendant as the perpetrator, and the police identified the license plate on the blue Cadillac as belonging to Bienville Davis. Defense counsel argues that the evidence (1) did not establish an independent and relevant reason for admission and (2) was not proved by clear and convincing evidence. In the Prieur notice, the prosecutor postulated that the purse snatching robbery should be admitted to show intent, motive and identity in the robbery and murder of Oberling fifteen days later, asserting that the common link between the two events was the 1983 blue Cadillac registered to Bienville Davis. After the Prieur hearing, the prosecutor outlined the similarities between the two events: The evidence regarding the City National case and the Church's are very similar. They are 15 days apart. Both occur upon weekdays, one upon a Monday, the other upon a Tuesday. The court is aware of the relative locations of these two, and for appellate purposes that is in the record. Both of these occurred in a parking lot. Both of these cases, the robber[ ] was a passenger exiting the front passenger seat. Both were from a blue Cadillac with the exact same Louisiana license plate. The registered owner of that vehicle is Bienville Davis who's also know as Bienville Mosby, who was also arrested in connection with the Church's case. In both cases, the robber was acting alone.... In both cases there were completed crimes. The crimes were completed. Items were taken from each victim. In each case the Cadillac was used as the getaway vehicle. In each of the two cases money was taken. Also, in each of the two cases, items were discarded shortly after the robbery. Regarding the City National Bank, you've heard about the items discarded on Highland. Regarding the Church's robbery, items were discarded on Claycut. In the case of City National Bank, the victim in that case has been shown a photographic display and picked out the robber, who happens to be the defendant in connection with this case. Regarding the identity regarding the second case, the defendant was found in possession of items, fruits of the crime, less than half an hour after crime. Defendant points out distinctions between the two crimes in that the Mayes robber was unmasked and unarmed and committed his crime during daylight hours, whereas the Oberling perpetrator wore a mask, was armed, and struck after dark. Further, defendant noted that Mayes was unhurt, whereas Oberling was killed. Without stating the specific independent reason for admissibility, the trial court ruled the other crimes evidence could be admitted at trial. The other crimes evidence was admissible to prove a consequential fact truly at issue in the case. See State v. Frederick, 340 So.2d 1353, 1356 (La.1976). The evidence was highly probative in rebutting the primary defense of misidentification of defendant as the triggerman. Prieur, 277 So.2d at 130. Because the person who shot Oberling wore a ski mask to conceal his face, identity was the key issue. Evidence of the Mayes robbery was clearly relevant to the issue of the identity of the shooter because it bolstered the state's circumstantial hypothesis that defendant worked the front end of a criminal partnership involving at least one other person and using Davis's car (with Davis likely at the wheel on both occasions) as the getaway vehicle. The Mayes incident therefore helped jurors evaluate the possibility of whether a third person actually shot the victim and then gave defendant the proceeds of the robbery, including the tell-tale gasoline receipt, in the brief chase with the police before the perpetrators abandoned Davis's blue Cadillac. The evidence was also relevant to the jury's consideration of the possibility that the police may have planted the evidence on defendant to frame him for Oberling's death. The trial court therefore did not err in ruling that the evidence was admissible under Articles 403 and 404. We further conclude that the state proved defendant's connection with the earlier crime by clear and convincing evidence. [15] Immediately after Mayes was robbed in broad daylight, she gave police a description of the robber as a black male, five feet ten inches tall, medium build, mid-to-late twenties, dark complexioned, with his hair in a geri curl, and not wearing any type of facial disguise. She also described the robber's clothing and estimated that her face-to-face encounter with her attacker lasted between thirty and sixty seconds. Eighteen days after the robbery, Mayes viewed a photographic lineup and positively identified defendant as the person who robbed her. At the Prieur hearing, Mayes acknowledged that she may have seen a profile picture of defendant in the newspaper report of his arrest in the Oberling murder, before she made her identification, but she denied that the newspaper photograph influenced her in any way. She expressed the utmost confidence in her selection, and she again positively identified defendant in court at the Prieur hearing as the person who robbed her. Defendant further claims that Mayes' attention was unduly drawn to his photograph because his was the only photograph in the six-picture lineup with a patterned background. According to defendant, the five fill-in photographs all had a solid white background, whereas he was photographed in front of a checkered background. Counsel interrogated Mayes on this subject, and she stated that she had not even noticed the background of the photographs. Based on the totality of the circumstances, defendant's commission of the Mayes' robbery was proved by clear and convincing evidence, and there was no substantial likelihood of misidentification. Finally, defendant asserts that supplemental reports of the Mayes robbery, which he claims were wrongfully withheld prior to trial, demonstrate that the crime was committed by someone other than him. Mayes described the perpetrator as a dark-complexioned black male, whereas defendant describes himself as a light-skinned black male. The supplemental reports show that two other witnesses to the Mayes robbery described the assailant as dark in skin tone and brown skin tone. However, Mayes's description of defendant's complexion was disclosed to the defense. She was cross-examined thoroughly on this point at the Prieur hearing and at trial. She was unequivocal in her identification of defendant as the person who robbed her and then fled in a blue Cadillac registered to Bienville Davis. We conclude that the admission of the evidence of the Mayes robbery did not constitute reversible error.