Opinion ID: 2253090
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Admission of the Syringe

Text: Evans claims that the trial court abused its discretion in admitting a syringe found on the road between Indianapolis and Shelbyville. The syringe was allegedly used by Decker to inject himself with cocaine on the way back from Indianapolis and then abandoned near an overpass on I-74. Recovered four months after the incident, the syringe was not unique, and Evans argues that Decker could have planted the syringe to substantiate his story. This threat of fabrication, counsel contends, required exclusion of the syringe. Counsel also claims that the prejudicial impact of the syringe substantially outweighed its probative value. We disagree and uphold the trial court's admission of the instrument. First, real evidence is admissible where (1) a witness is able to testify that the exhibit is like the item associated with the crime, and (2) there is a showing that the exhibit is connected to the defendant and the commission of the crime. Andrews v. State (1989), Ind., 532 N.E.2d 1159, 1162-63. The proponent of the evidence is not required to conclusively identify the item, and the lack of positive identification goes to the weight of the evidence, not its admissibility. Oglesby v. State (1987), Ind., 513 N.E.2d 638 (upholding admission of crowbar found six weeks after robbery), cert. denied, 485 U.S. 1037, 108 S.Ct. 1600, 99 L.Ed.2d 914 (1988). In this case, Decker testified that the syringe offered into evidence at trial was like the one he had used to inject himself with cocaine and abandoned by the overpass. The syringe was connected to the defendant and the crimes charged not only by the fact that the police found the syringe at the described location but further by the observations of Officer Carney, who testified that he saw Evans and Decker stop at that overpass. While fabrication was a possibility, the defense was free to raise this question in the minds of the jurors on cross-examination, leaving them to discount the evidence according to their own perceptions of this threat. Second, where the prejudicial nature of relevant evidence is slight, trial courts enjoy wide latitude in determining its admissibility. E.g., Hunter v. State (1991), Ind., 578 N.E.2d 353. Here, the syringe was not likely to lead the jury to decide the case on improper grounds, and the State rightly introduced the evidence to support Decker's claim that he was the user, not the dealer, in the transaction. The trial court did not abuse its discretion in admitting the syringe.