Opinion ID: 1200243
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The trial court properly admitted evidence of letters and articles.

Text: In ruling on whether various letters and articles should have been admitted into evidence, the trial court reasoned that: These articles and letters provide in large part relevant circumstantial evidence of the defendants' purpose for camping in the Cove/Mallard area the summer of 1993, and helps to explain the activities for which they were arrested. In addition, it is evidence of a campaign whose intent was to stop the road-building in Cove/Mallard. They support the reasonable inference that the present defendants had an intent to and did interfere with the plaintiff's performance of road-building. The issue of undue prejudice is certainly a closer one. Defendants fear that the verdicts against them essentially punish them for being associated with Earth First!, in violation of their First Amendment rights. However, a defendant should not be able to prevent admission of relevant evidence simply because it may involve free speech and association interest. Although the evidence may be prejudicial, it is not unduly so. Only those articles related in time and content to the summer of 1993 Cove/Mallard protests were offered on the element of intentional interference and the nature and purpose of the 1993 campaign. Exhibit 61 was expressly admitted for the purpose of impeaching Ryberg's testimony that Earth First! disapproved of violence. In addition, the jury was told who wrote or read the articles and letters, and that person's activities in the summer of 1993. The appellants argue that these articles are not relevant because they do not support any of the inferences of intent or knowledge for which they were offered. We disagree, in part, because the appellants' incorrectly state the necessary standard for proving intent and knowledge. Moreover, the articles and letters were relevant to explain the reasons behind the campaign at Cove/Mallard, how the campaign would function and instructed on how to go about hindering the progress of road building. Exhibit 77, for instance, addressed the proper method of removing survey stakes. The articles also illustrate that the appellants were aware of the effect their actions would have in delaying the road building. Exhibit 75 stated the costs the Forest Service incurred in 1992 and Exhibit 74 asked people to show up to stop the road building. In addition, the articles and letters were not unduly prejudicial. As the trial court noted, the jury was told who authored the articles and the role each defendant played in the summer of 1993. Although it was not proven that appellants not involved in the writing or editing of the articles or letters had actually read the articles, a reasonable inference is that through consensus circles and the nature of the living experience during the summer, the appellants were aware of the ideas and thoughts expressed through the articles. Additionally, the mere fact that many appellants came from various parts of the United States illustrates that some were aware of those articles and letters soliciting their presence at the campaign. The article that clearly had the most prejudicial aspect was exhibit 61, Bomb-throwing: A Brief Treatise. However, the article was admitted for the purpose of impeaching the testimony of Ryberg after Ryberg had testified at great length that he believed in nonviolence and it was admitted with a limiting instruction that it could only be used against Ryberg. The article was clearly proper for the purpose of impeachment. The appellants argue that it was prejudicial as to each of them, but the trial court's instruction that it be applied only as to Ryberg sufficiently cured any prejudice it could have had against the other appellants. Ryberg should not be saved from impeachment merely because the appellants do not trust the jurors to perform their function of applying the evidence as they have been instructed to do. In sum, in addressing each of the pieces of evidence, the trial court set out the relevance for each item and weighed its probative value against the harm of prejudice. This illustrated that the court perceived the issue as one of discretion and also that the decision was made within the correct legal standards, namely I.R.E. 403. The court exercised reason in determining that the evidence was properly admitted. Because the trial court did not abuse its discretion in determining that the articles and letters were relevant and not unduly prejudicial, we affirm the denial of the motion for a new trial on this basis.