Opinion ID: 2075877
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 14

Heading: evidence of two car thefts

Text: At trial and on appeal, Dawson asserts that the Superior Court erred in permitting the State to introduce evidence concerning the theft of two motor vehicles. During the guilt/innocence phase of Dawson's trial, the State presented evidence to show that McCoy, Nave and Irwin, who escaped from the Delaware Correctional Center with Dawson, stole a car in Smyrna and travelled north in it. That car, a 1965 Mustang, was stolen from the northern part of the Town of Smyrna prior to 5:45 a.m. It was found abandoned just south of Fieldsboro that same morning. McCoy's fingerprint and Nave's address book were recovered from the vehicle. Only McCoy, Nave and Irwin were observed in Fieldsboro by Dill, in the early morning hours of December 1, 1986. The State also offered evidence to show that another vehicle was stolen from Smyrna contemporaneously with the theft of the 1965 Mustang. That other vehicle, a 1979 Oldsmobile Starfire, was stolen from the opposite side of the town of Smyrna. After it was stolen, the 1979 Starfire was first noticed, between 8:00 and 9:00 a.m., near the Town of Kenton, west of Smyrna. Dawson argues that the theft of the 1965 Mustang by McCoy, Nave and Irwin was not relevant to any issue in his case. Dawson also submits that there was no direct evidence connecting him to the theft of the 1979 Oldsmobile Starfire. The State contends that the evidence of both car thefts was material to a central issue in the trial, i.e., whether Dawson, or someone else, killed Madeline Kisner. The State submits that this issue was framed at the outset of the trial by Dawson's counsel in his opening statement to the jury. [22] In his opening statement, Dawson's counsel represented that Dawson would not dispute the evidence that he was in the Kisner residence, that he stole money from Madeline Kisner, that he bound her hands with her shoe strings and that he stole her car. However, Dawson's counsel also told the jury that they would hear evidence, in the form of a statement given by Dawson to the police, that he left Madeline Kisner alive in her residence with the other three escapees, McCoy, Nave and Irwin. According to Dawson's statement to the police, when he returned to the Kisner home, Madeline Kisner was dead and the other escapees were gone. The Superior Court ruled that the State was entitled to introduce evidence that the other three escapees travelled together in the stolen 1965 Mustang in the opposite direction of the Kisner home. The Superior Court also ruled that the State could introduce direct and circumstantial evidence to support its contention that Dawson had an independent means of transportation to the vicinity of the Kisner home via the 1979 Oldsmobile Starfire. Renzi v. State, Del.Supr., 320 A.2d 711 (1974); Henry v. State, Del.Supr., 298 A.2d 327, 330 (1972); D.R.E. 404(b). The record reflects the relevancy of the evidence of both car thefts, in view of Dawson's defense that the other escapees had murdered Madeline Kisner. D.R.E. 402. We find no abuse of discretion in these evidentiary rulings by the Superior Court. [23]