Opinion ID: 2633676
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Trial Court's Exclusion of Victim's Prior Conduct

Text: {6} Defendant argues that the trial court improperly excluded testimony from Damacio's widow, Lina MontaZo. In general, we review a trial court's admission or exclusion of evidence for abuse of discretion. State v. Woodward, 121 N.M. 1, 4, 908 P.2d 231, 234 (1995). An abuse of discretion arises when the evidentiary ruling is clearly contrary to logic and the facts and circumstances of the case. Id. {7} Shortly before trial commenced, the State moved to exclude any evidence of or reference to alleged domestic violence between decedent Damacio MontaZo and his widow, Lina MontaZo. That motion was filed in response to co-defendant Nestor Chavez's request for any documentation filed in the Fifth Judicial District Court related to possible incidences of domestic violence between Damacio MontaZo and his wife. In the motion, the State argued that any such evidence was irrelevant under the New Mexico Rules of Evidence and that the prejudicial effect of any such information or its tendency to confuse the issues or mislead the jury would outweigh its possible probative value. {8} The trial court heard argument from counsel on the issue during a pretrial conference. Defense counsel argued in support of the admission of alleged incidences of domestic violence, stating, [m]y defense is centered around that, and if I don't even have that much, then I've got even less. I was going to bring up that Damacio MontaZo had a propensity for the violence . . . [a]nd I did want to paint Mr. Damacio in the most accurate light as possible, that he was a violent, aggressive man and obviously a drunk, violent, aggressive man who had an alcohol level of 1.4 in him at the time. The State again argued relevancy and prejudice and questioned the accuracy of Defendant's assertions. Prior to ruling on the motion, the trial court agreed to conduct a suppression hearing in chambers to accurately determine the substance of Lina MontaZo's possible testimony. {9} At the suppression hearing, Lina MontaZo testified that there were two incidents of domestic violence between her and Damacio, one of which occurred while she was pregnant with her first child, or shortly thereafter, and one of which resulted in the termination of Damacio's employment with the Artesia Police Department. She described the incidents as involving pushing and slapping. After the second incident, Lina obtained a temporary restraining order against her husband. Lina consistently maintained that Damacio did not have any problems with alcohol and was not intoxicated during either domestic dispute, and that she had never seen her husband fight anyone. She also indicated that she and Damacio had received counseling and had not had any additional domestic disputes since the second incident. {10} At the conclusion of the hearing, the trial court judge announced that he did not believe that there [was] a sufficient showing to [the] court of a pertinent trait of the victim in [the] matter, and [he couldn't] see how it would come up in accordance with Rule 11-404(A)(2) NMRA. He stated that under Rule 11-403 NMRA balancing, the proposed testimony would not be more prejudicial than probative, but that the admission was nonetheless precluded by Rule 11-404 NMRA. {11} The New Mexico Rules of Evidence allow for the admission of [e]vidence of a pertinent trait of character of the victim of the crime offered by an accused, or by the prosecution to rebut the same or evidence of a character trait of peacefulness of the victim offered by the prosecution in a homicide case to rebut evidence that the victim was the first aggressor. Rule 11-404(A)(2) NMRA. Under Rule 11-405(B) NMRA, [i]n cases in which character or a trait of character of a person is an essential element of a charge, claim or defense, proof may also be made of specific instances of that person's conduct, in addition to proof in the form of reputation or opinion testimony. Rule 11-405 NMRA, therefore, creates an exception to the general rule that only reputation or opinion testimony is permitted on direct examination to prove a character trait. Finally, the Rules of Evidence allow for the exclusion of evidence, even if relevant, if its probative value is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice. Rule 11-403 NMRA. {12} Defendant argues primarily that he should have been allowed to demonstrate that the victim, Damacio, had a propensity for violence and aggression, through the introduction of specific instances of violent conduct between Damacio and his wife. Defendant argues that such evidence was certainly relevant to his defense, that is, to his contention that Damacio was the first aggressor in the altercation preceding the shooting. In contrast, the State argues that any specific evidence of Damacio's prior domestic disputes was neither relevant nor probative as to whether Damacio was the first aggressor. The State also argues that, under existing caselaw, no defendant is entitled to offer instances of specific conduct to prove that the victim was the first aggressor. {13} The apparent confusion regarding whether specific instances of a victim's conduct may be offered to demonstrate that he or she was the first aggressor appears to have arisen from two identically-captioned cases, State v. Baca, 114 N.M. 668, 845 P.2d 762 (1992) ( Baca I ) and State v. Baca, 115 N.M. 536, 854 P.2d 363 (N.M. Ct. App. 1993) ( Baca II ). [1] {14} In Baca I, this Court addressed the trial court's refusal to admit specific instances of the victim's prior violent conduct. The defendant was on trial for the first degree murder of a fellow prison inmate. The defendant proffered testimony from himself and from another inmate regarding specific instances of prior violent conduct committed by the victim. The trial court refused to admit the evidence. This Court stated that the trial court retains discretion to determine admissibility, and an abuse of discretion may be found only if the exclusion of the evidence precluded the criminal defendant from proving an element of his defense. 114 N.M. at 672, 845 P.2d at 766 (citing State v. Gallegos, 104 N.M. 247, 253-54, 719 P.2d 1268, 1274-75 (N.M. Ct. App. 1986)). The issue was whether the trial court was proper in excluding the requested evidence. This Court held that it was because the exclusion did not prevent the defendant from proving an element of his defense. Id. at 672-73, 845 P.2d at 766-67. {15} Baca II involved the consolidated appeal of two defendants who stabbed another resident while he was asleep at the Springer Boys' School. To support their contention that the victim was the first aggressor, the defendants sought discovery of the victim's master file held by the detention facility, stating that the file contained evidence of the victim's prior violent behavior, including any psychiatrics done, all previous arrests, any forensics that may have been done, any adjudications, any problems he's had at the Boys' School, any problems elsewhere, family's history. It's a complete background of the person. Baca II, 115 N.M. at 538, 854 P.2d at 365 (internal quotation marks omitted). Defense counsel maintained that he did not know precisely what was in the file that could aid his clients' defense, but nonetheless sought discovery of the entire file. Id. The district court ordered the release of many of the documents requested, explaining that the victim's character was at issue due to the defendants' claim of self-defense. However, the district court did not allow the defendants access to documents in the master file that detailed specific instances of the victim's prior conduct in which [d]efendants were not implicated. Id. {16} On appeal, the defendants asked the Court of Appeals to consider whether the trial court erred in denying their motion for release of the victim's complete master file, despite the access they received to many of the documents contained therein. The Court of Appeals framed the issue as whether specific instances of a victim's prior conduct of which the [d]efendants were not aware would have been admissible to support [d]efendants' theory of the case. Id. at 539, 854 P.2d at 366. The Court stated, [w]e believe the answer depends on whether [d]efendants would have been entitled to offer such evidence to prove the victim was the first aggressor in the incident material to this appeal. Id. The Court, although noting that both the State and the defendants had construed Baca I as allowing for the admission of specific instances of conduct to show that the victim was the first aggressor, nonetheless stated that it did not read Baca I as so permitting. Id. at 540, 854 P.2d at 367. The Baca II court recognized that the discussion in Baca I concerning the issue was dicta, and therefore not binding. The Baca II court also stated that Baca I clarif[ied] New Mexico law on the issue of whether, when evidence of reputation or opinion is offered under [Rule 11-405] to show that the victim was the first aggressor, a defendant must have been aware of that reputation or opinion. Id. {17} We agree with the Court of Appeals' interpretation of Baca I and hereby clarify that evidence of specific instances of a victim's prior violent conduct may not be admitted to show that the victim was the first aggressor when the defendant is claiming self-defense. The New Mexico Rules of Evidence only allow evidence of specific instances of a person's conduct when the character or character trait of that person is an essential element of a charge, claim, or defense. Rule 11-405(B) NMRA. The elements of self-defense are: (1) there was an appearance of immediate danger of death or great bodily harm to the defendant; (2) the defendant was in fact put in fear by the apparent danger of immediate death or great bodily harm and killed the victim because of that fear; and (3) a reasonable person in the same circumstances would have acted as the defendant did. UJI 14-5171 NMRA. When a defendant is claiming self-defense, his or her apprehension of the victim is an essential element of his or her claim. Therefore, under Rule 11-405(B), evidence of specific instances of the victim's prior violent conduct of which the defendant was aware may be admitted to show the defendant's fear of the victim. However, a victim's violent character is not an essential element of a defendant's claim of self-defense, but rather circumstantial evidence that tends to show that the victim acted in conformity with his or her character on a particular occasion. Thus, under Rule 11-405(B) NMRA, only reputation or opinion evidence should be admitted to show that the victim was the first aggressor. The discussion in Baca I that indicates otherwise was not necessary to the holding in that case. {18} Therefore, we hold that the district court in the case at bar did not abuse its discretion in excluding the evidence of specific instances of prior domestic violence between Damacio and his wife. Further, we do not believe that the exclusion prevented Defendant from presenting an essential element of his defense. To the contrary, there was ample testimonial evidence presented at trial to support Defendant's contention that Damacio initiated the altercation, that Defendant was put in fear by Damacio, and that Defendant acted in self-defense. Specifically, several witnesses testified that it was Damacio who first approached and began fighting with Defendant and Nestor Chavez in the bar's parking lot.