Opinion ID: 2349823
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Exclusion of Elizabeth Sifrit's Testimony

Text: Benjamin also challenges the trial court's decision to prevent Elizabeth Sifrit, Benjamin's mother, from testifying regarding an incident that allegedly occurred with Erika in North Carolina. The defense proffered that Elizabeth would testify that Erika became hysterical following a military hearing involving Benjamin, pulled a gun on Elizabeth, locked herself in the bathroom, and that Elizabeth called 911. Counsel for Benjamin argued to the trial court that the testimony was being offered to show simply that there's another incident of [Erika] Sifrit pulling a gun on another human being. The Court ruled that the testimony was not relevant. Benjamin now argues that the testimony was relevant to show that Erika was capable of pulling a weapon on another individual outside of [Benjamin's] presence and had the tendency to show that she was capable of committing the present crimes alone. This argument, however, was not presented to the trial court and is not preserved for our review. See Brecker v. State, 304 Md. 36, 39-40, 497 A.2d 479, 480 (1985) ([O]ur cases have consistently stated that when an objector sets forth the specific grounds for his objection ... the objector will be bound by those grounds and will ordinarily be deemed to have waived other grounds not specified.). Arguably, the theory now advanced by Benjamin is simply a more detailed version of the one advanced at trial. To accept this argument, however, we would have to require trial courts to imagine all reasonable offshoots of the argument actually presented to them before making a ruling on admissibility. We decline to place such a substantial burden on the trial court. Based on the argument presented during trial to support the admission of Elizabeth Sifrit's testimony, we conclude that the trial court did not err in excluding the testimony. Whether Erika once pulled a gun on someone does not have a tendency to show that she was the sole perpetrator of these heinous crimes.