Opinion ID: 2544410
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Whether the admission of evidence of a confrontation between the defendant and a schoolteacher violated CRE 404(b).

Text: Approximately one month before Peggy Hettrick's murder, Defendant became enraged when his schoolteacher confiscated a military manual from him. At trial, the prosecution was allowed to provide details of this incident through the testimony of the teacher and Defendant's former guidance counselor, who was also involved. Defendant argues that this testimony was impermissible character evidence. We disagree. Dr. Meloy opined that sexual homicides are often preceded by a triggering mechanism or precipitating event that causes the perpetrator to transform his fantasies into action. Although the trial court prohibited Dr. Meloy from testifying that any particular event in Defendant's life was a triggering mechanism, he was allowed to testify hypothetically as to the types of occurrences that could serve as a trigger mechanism. One such hypothetical example was a conflict or confrontation with adult women in positions of authority in an employment or educational environment. The jury was left to draw the inference that Defendant's confrontation with his teacher was the precipitating event for Ms. Hettrick's murder itself. Like the drawings and writings, the admissibility of evidence concerning the school incident depends largely on the testimony of Dr. Meloy. Dr. Meloy's testimony that such an incident could serve as a precipitating event for a sexual homicide, makes Defendant's escalating anger and aggression towards older women probative of his motive for the crime, and, given that it occurred approximately one month before Ms. Hettrick's murder, of his preparation or plan to commit the crime. Again, evidence of motive and preparation are relevant to the ultimate issues of whether Defendant committed the actus reus of the crime with the requisite intent and deliberation. Therefore, the logical relevance of the incident does not depend on the inference that defendant committed the crime charged because of the likelihood that he acted in conformity with his bad character. Finally, for the same reasons the admission of the drawings and writings satisfy the fourth prong of the Spoto test, we conclude that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in finding that the prejudicial effect of the school incident did not substantially outweigh its probative value. Accordingly, we hold that evidence of the school incident was not improperly admitted.