Opinion ID: 2539226
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Mathews

Text: ¶ 28 Early in the morning on November 30, 1994, Gantry Mathews and his girlfriend Andrea Lambert went into a convenience store where Alisa Binongal and Simeon Villarosa were working, leaving Tysonia Green in the car. Binongal heard Villarosa cry out no, no, friend, no, before he yelled at her to call 911. Tr. of Proceedings (Tr.) (Nov. 9, 2005) at 15. She saw Mathews with a gun in his hand. Villarosa grabbed Mathews' wrist, and as they struggled over the gun Mathews shot Villarosa once in the hand and then in the back. Villarosa died. A jury convicted Mathews of second degree felony murder based on second degree assault, as charged. After his conviction was vacated pursuant to Andress, the State charged and the jury convicted Mathews of second degree intentional murder. ¶ 29 Mathews filed a pretrial motion to exclude evidence of his prior convictions and a photograph of Lambert sitting in his lap at the police station. The trial court granted the motions. A prosecution witness, Detective Kevin O'Keefe, introduced evidence excluded under these rulings. In response to a question on cross-examination, O'Keefe disclosed that after a detective learned Mathews' name, he began working on the name from a picture in a King County booking file. Defense counsel's immediate motion to strike the statement as nonresponsive was granted, and the court ordered the jury to disregard it. On redirect, O'Keefe was asked about a period when Lambert was in the room with Mathews at the police station, and he responded that after she was fingerprinted she was brought inside and she sat on Mathews' lap. Defense counsel again immediately objected and moved to strike. The trial court sustained the objection and told the jury that the way in which Lambert sat down was irrelevant, stricken, and the jury was to disregard it. ¶ 30 Defense counsel again moved for a mistrial. The trial court expressed concern that O'Keefe intentionally violated the pretrial rulings but questioned whether there was any prejudicial effect. The court delayed any ruling until the end of trial, and then denied the motion for a mistrial. On appeal, the Court of Appeals concluded that the irregularities were not serious and the trial court's actions in sustaining the objections and instructing the jury to disregard the evidence cured any prejudice. ¶ 31 Mathews contends that the witness misconduct violated his due process right to a fair trial. ¶ 32 A trial court's denial of a motion for a mistrial is reviewed for abuse of discretion. State v. Allen, 159 Wash.2d 1, 10, 147 P.3d 581 (2006); State v. Rodriguez, 146 Wash.2d 260, 269, 45 P.3d 541 (2002). A mistrial should be granted when the defendant has been so prejudiced that nothing short of a new trial can insure that the defendant will be tried fairly. State v. Greiff, 141 Wash.2d 910, 920-21, 10 P.3d 390 (2000). A denial of a motion for mistrial should be overturned only when there is a substantial likelihood that the prejudice affected the verdict. Id. at 921, 10 P.3d 390; see State v. Hopson, 113 Wash.2d 273, 284, 778 P.2d 1014 (1989) (only errors affecting the outcome of the trial are deemed prejudicial). Thus, when a trial irregularity occurs, the court must decide its prejudicial effect. In determining the effect of an irregularity, [the court] examine[s] (1) its seriousness; (2) whether it involved cumulative evidence; and (3) whether the trial court properly instructed the jury to disregard it. Id.; see Greiff, 141 Wash.2d at 921, 10 P.3d 390. ¶ 33 The irregularities here are the statements by Detective O'Keefe that violate the court's pretrial ruling. A trial court has wide discretion to cure trial irregularities resulting from improper witness statements. State v. Post, 118 Wash.2d 596, 620, 826 P.2d 172 (1992). In some cases curative instructions have been held insufficient to remove prejudicial effect. Hopson, 113 Wash.2d at 284-85, 778 P.2d 1014. However, ultimately the question is whether ..., viewed against the background of all the evidence, the improper testimony was so prejudicial that the defendant did not get a fair trial. State v. Thompson, 90 Wash.App. 41, 47, 950 P.2d 977 (1998). In the context of a given case it may be that improper evidence did not affect the outcome of the trial, and in such situations a trial court may deny a motion for a mistrial. Hopson, 113 Wash.2d at 285, 778 P.2d 1014; see Allen, 159 Wash.2d at 10, 147 P.3d 581 (when testimony is improper because it violates a pretrial order excluding certain evidence, the question is whether the improper testimony, when viewed in the context of all the evidence, deprived the defendant of a fair trial). ¶ 34 Turning first to the statements about the investigation beginning with the booking file, a violation of a pretrial order is a serious irregularity. Thompson, 90 Wash.App. at 46, 950 P.2d 977. An intentional introduction of inadmissible evidence relating to criminal history is more serious than an unintentional interjection of inadmissible testimony. See State v. Taylor, 60 Wash.2d 32, 36-38, 371 P.2d 617 (1962) (a member of the King County police department deliberately injected evidence that the defendant had a parole officer and repeated it immediately when the defense motion for a mistrial was denied; a new trial was ordered after posttrial reargument). The fact the witness is a professional witness also indicates a serious irregularity. Id. at 36, 371 P.2d 617. Additionally, the testimony related to prior criminal conduct and testimony that the defendant already had a record and had stabbed someone was held to be extremely serious in State v. Escalona, 49 Wash.App. 251, 255, 742 P.2d 190 (1987). While O'Keefe's statement about a booking file did not identify any specific prior criminal conduct, as the State says, this was also true in Taylor, on which Mathews relies, where the witness intentionally interjected evidence that the defendant had a parole officer and intentionally repeated this statement. Detective O'Keefe's statement was not cumulative of other evidence. Finally, the trial court immediately gave curative instructions, and did so in a way that did not unduly emphasize the testimony. A jury is presumed to follow instructions. State v. Montgomery, 163 Wash.2d 577, 183 P.3d 267 (2008). ¶ 35 With regard to the photograph, the photograph itself was not introduced at trial. The testimony about it occurred in the context of a question about chronology that the State correctly characterizes as convoluted: At what point in time was his contact with Miss Lambert that took place in your presence and lasts about five minutes in terms of the sequence of events? Tr. (Nov. 10, 2005) at 47. The detective said: Well, she was being fingerprinted and brought to the room. We brought her inside, Detective [Al] Lima and I were in the same room and she sat down in his lap. They talked. Id. This testimony was not cumulative, although the jury learned from other testimony that Lambert was Mathews' girlfriend and that police questioned both at the police station. The court immediately gave a curative instruction. ¶ 36 While the first statement in particular was a serious irregularity, the jury was instructed to disregard both statements. Given the curative instructions, and in the context of the trial as a whole and all the evidence, we conclude that Mathews was not deprived of a fair trial. ¶ 37 The evidence established that the first shot from Mathews' gun went through the victim's hand and was fired at a steep upward angle when the two were struggling on the floor. The second bullet was shot into Mr. Villarosa's back from a distance of three to five feet, muzzle to target, with four feet being most likely, given evidence about the powder pattern. The fact the shot was into the back, and from this distance, counters Mathews claim that he was defending himself. When Green drove them away from the store, Lambert screamed at Mathews, asking him why he shot the victim. Mathews replied, because I'm a gangster, while smirking. Id. at 146-47. After Mathews and Lambert took a taxi to the house of one of Lambert's friends, Mathews reloaded the .44 Magnum he had fired. Green told police about the crime, and they arrested Mathews. He told police he threw the gun away, but they found the loaded gun, a bag of ammunition, and Mathews' bloody clothes in a closet in the friend's house. ¶ 38 At the police station, Mathews gave a taped statement, claiming that Mr. Villarosa had tried to take the gun from his pocket, a struggle ensued, and the gun went off as Villarosa tried to take it away. However, the State's firearms expert disputed this for the reasons mentionedthe victim was shot in the back from a distance of at least three feetand the gun was in good working order and required 11 pounds of trigger pull. Further, there was additional evidence indicating that Villarosa did not instigate the incident. Testimony established that store employees were instructed not to intervene in any criminal activity in the store. Ms. Binongal testified that she heard Villarosa say no, no, friend, no and then told her to call 911. Tr. (Nov. 9, 2005) at 15. She looked to the back of the store and saw Mathews had the gun in his hand. Villarosa grabbed Mathews' hands and tried to push the gun away. Binongal called 911, and the gun fired. She went to the back room to continue the 911 call and as she did, she saw the two on the floor struggling. She heard a second shot and then nothing else. ¶ 39 The record supports the conclusion that the improper testimony did not, in the context of the entire trial, deprive Mathews of a fair trial. Accordingly, the trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying Mathews' motion for a mistrial. ¶ 40 Mathews next claims there is insufficient evidence to support his conviction. We disagree. The evidence summarized above is sufficient to support the conviction. ¶ 41 We affirm Mathews' conviction for second degree intentional murder.