Opinion ID: 2611383
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Admission of Gruesome Photographs of Victim

Text: Rienhardt argues that the trial court erred in admitting photographs of the victim's injuries. While Rienhardt does not specify which photographs he finds objectionable, the record contains two graphic photographs of the victim's injuries. State's Exhibit 58 shows Ellis's head and torso at the medical examiner's office. State's Exhibit 61 shows Ellis's right hand severely wounded by a shotgun blast. Rienhardt argues that the photographs were not relevant, because he did not dispute the cause of death at trial. He also argues that the photographs served only to inflame the passions of the jury. We disagree. Inflammatory photographs are admissible if they are relevant and their probative value outweighs the danger of unfair prejudice. State v. Thornton, 187 Ariz. 325, 332, 929 P.2d 676, 683 (1996), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 117 S.Ct. 1706, 137 L.Ed.2d 831 (1997). The trial court's ruling on the admissibility of photographs will not be overturned on appeal absent an abuse of discretion. State v. Gulbrandson, 184 Ariz. 46, 60, 906 P.2d 579, 593 (1995), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ____, 116 S.Ct. 2558, 135 L.Ed.2d 1076 (1996).
Notwithstanding an offer to stipulate to the cause of death, photographs of a murder victim are relevant if they help to illustrate what occurred. Gulbrandson, 184 Ariz. at 60, 906 P.2d at 593. Here, the state sought to corroborate the testimony of its key witness, Christina George. George testified that she encountered Rienhardt on a dirt road close to the murder scene, that Rienhardt retrieved a shotgun, and that Rienhardt told her they had dropped a rock on the victim's head because the victim had not died from shotgun wounds. At a minimum, the photographs serve to corroborate this testimony, and are therefore highly relevant.
While gruesome, these two photographs certainly do not qualify as cumulative. Each photograph conveys different, highly relevant information about the crime. They are fair representations of what happened here, and thus cannot be said to be unfairly prejudicial. There is nothing sanitary about murder, and there is nothing in Rule 403, Ariz. R. Evid., that requires a trial judge to make it so. The trial court did not abuse its discretion.