Opinion ID: 1872107
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The trial court erred in overruling the defense counsel's objection to strike the testimony of Hughes of the Jackson Fire Department, in regard to the defendant's leaving the scene of the crime, which is a separate crime, which evidence was solely used to inflame the jury.

Text: At trial, when arson investigator Hughes testified about his attempts to locate Collins, the defense objected on grounds of relevance; the court overruled the objection. In Collins' motion for new trial, he reiterated his objection, on no specific grounds, to Hughes' supposed leaving-the-scene testimony. Collins argues here that the evidence of his leaving the scene bore no relevance to the elements of the charges, and that its introduction served no purpose other than to inflame the jury. The state argues that Collins did not properly preserve this issue for review. Further, the state contends that Collins' fleeing the scene goes to the element of malice or mischief. Regarding the relevant standard of review, this Court will not predicate error on a lower court's evidentiary ruling unless a substantial right of the party is affected and ... a timely objection or motion to strike appears of record, stating the specific ground of objection, if the specific ground was not apparent from the context... . Miss.R.Evid. 103(a) (1988). Applying the law to this case, Collins' evidentiary argument fails for a number of reasons. First, he did not properly preserve it for review: at trial, Collins objected to the relevance of Hughes' testimony regarding his attempts to locate Collins; on appeal, Collins complains of the prejudicial impact of that testimony. Because Collins raises the issue of prejudice for the first time on this appeal, he has not properly placed the issue before the Court. Furthermore, Collins' complaint is factually inaccurate: While Collins argues that Hughes' leaving-the-scene testimony served to inflame the jury, Hughes did not testify about Collins' leaving the scene. Hughes testified that he later could not locate Collins. Station attendant Robertson testified that he saw Collins leave the scene. Thus, Collins' complaint does not even accurately apply to recorded testimony. Hughes' testimony appropriately came before the jury, and Collins' untimely raising of this issue lacks merit. The trial court's overruling of his objection to the testimony should be upheld.