Opinion ID: 1057938
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Defendant's Financial Condition

Text: The defendant contends that the trial court erred by admitting testimony that he left his employment at a Shoney's restaurant in February of 1997, received no severance pay, and was unemployed at the time of the crimes. He asserts that evidence of his poverty was irrelevant under Tennessee Rule of Evidence 401. In the alternative, he contends that the evidence should have been excluded as more prejudicial than probative under Tennessee Rule of Evidence 403. Several jurisdictions have concluded that the poverty of an accused is generally inadmissible as proof of a motive for theft or robbery because its probative value is outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice. See United States v. Mitchell, 172 F.3d 1104, 1108-10 (9th Cir.1999); see also United States v. Weller, 238 F.3d 1215, 1220-21 (10th Cir.2001); United States v. Zipkin, 729 F.2d 384, 390 (6th Cir.1984); United States ex rel. Mertz v. New Jersey, 423 F.2d 537, 541-42 (3d Cir.1970); Davis v. United States, 409 F.2d 453, 457-58 (D.C.Cir.1969); People v. Harris, 37 Cal.4th 310, 33 Cal.Rptr.3d 509, 118 P.3d 545, 570 (2005); State v. Kennard, 101 Wash.App. 533, 6 P.3d 38, 42 (2000). A majority, however, have determined that evidence of a defendant's poverty is admissible when coupled with proof of an unexplained improvement in his financial status. See, e.g., United States v. Bensimon, 172 F.3d 1121, 1129 (9th Cir.1999) (To be admissible . . . poverty evidence must be accompanied by something more, such as an `unexplained, abrupt change in circumstances.' (quoting Mitchell, 172 F.3d at 1109)). In our view, evidence that a defendant is poor, without more, has little probative value. As observed by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, A rich man's greed is as much a motive to steal as a poor man's poverty. Proof of either, without more, is likely to amount to . . . unfair prejudice with little probative value. Mitchell, 172 F.3d at 1108-09. The better rule, therefore, is that the State must introduce proof of something more than a defendant's poverty in order to meet the threshold of relevance necessary for admission. In this instance, something more was proof that despite the loss of his job without severance pay, the defendant had made several cash purchases totaling in excess of $800, had sought to invest $3000, and had over $1000 in coins in his possession at the time of his arrest. That the defendant had no legitimate source of income following the termination of his employment, coupled with proof of these expenditures shortly after the robbery, was relevant, circumstantial evidence of the commission of the crimes. Accordingly, the trial court did not err in admitting testimony about his financial condition at the time of the crimes.