Opinion ID: 2144371
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Admissibility of Photograph of the Victim

Text: Finally, the trial court admitted into evidence, over Humphrey's objection, a photograph of Laughlin and his young son taken the year before Laughlin's death. Humphrey argues that the picture was irrelevant to proving his guilt or innocence and tended to inflame the passions of the jury. The State responds that the photograph was relevant to depict Laughlin. We review the admissibility of photographic evidence for an abuse of discretion. Isaacs v. State, 659 N.E.2d 1036, 1043 (Ind.1995), reh'g denied, cert. denied, 519 U.S. ___, 117 S.Ct. 205, 136 L.Ed.2d 140 (1996). Humphrey does not direct us to any Indiana appellate decisions reversing a conviction due to the erroneous admission of a photograph of a murder victim taken during life. Indeed, we have upheld the admission of such photographs in a number of cases. [12] This is the first time we have faced the question since the Indiana Rules of Evidence expressly imposed the balance of relevance and prejudicial impact codified in Rules 401 and 403. The relevance standard prescribed by Rule 401 is a liberal one: Relevant evidence means evidence having any tendency to make the existence of any fact that is of consequence to the determination of the action more probable or less probable than it would be without the evidence. Evid.R. 401 (internal quotation marks omitted and emphasis added). Because murder involves the taking of a human life, the trier of fact must be given some proof that the alleged victim is actually dead and was alive before the date and time of the alleged killing. In this respect, the picture of a victim taken during life is marginally relevant. See Butler v. State, 647 N.E.2d 631, 633-34 (Ind.1995) (autopsy photographs of victims were relevant under Rule 401, even where defendant offered to stipulate to circumstances surrounding murder, because photographs helped establish victims' identity and fact of death). Relevant evidence may be excluded if its probative value is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice[.] Evid.R. 403. The problem with the photograph here is that Laughlin is pictured with his young child, who has no relevance to any fact of consequence in this case. Cf. Dunaway v. State, 440 N.E.2d 682, 686 (Ind.1982) (pre-death picture of victim with her child, offered during testimony by victim's mother, was admissible where the mother testified she was babysitting the child on the night of the murder). This smacks of victim impact evidence and is to be discouraged due to its possible emotional impact on the jury. Kelley v. State, 470 N.E.2d 1322, 1325 (Ind.1984) (testimony about victim's children generally irrelevant, prejudicial and not a proper part of the State's case). We can conceive of no other reason why a photograph of Laughlin and his son would be offered into evidence in this case. In the absence of some showing of greater probative value, the better part of the trial court's discretion would have been to exclude it. However, we see no abuse of discretion or likelihood of prejudice here sufficient to order a new trial. The mother of the child is conspicuously absent. Given the activities of the victim on the night in question, the jury's reaction to this photograph is speculative at best. [13]