Opinion ID: 2259150
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: allegations of error during the guilt phase

Text: Appellant alleges that the trial court erred during the guilt phase of his trial by allowing the Commonwealth to introduce testimony concerning blood, hair, and fingerprint samples collected from him during the 1988 investigation of an unrelated rape charge. Specifically, appellant argues that the testimony regarding the 1988 samples was improperly admitted because it suggested to the jury that appellant was involved in prior criminal activity. While evidence of other crimes is not admissible to prove criminal character or propensity to commit crime, it may be admissible for other purposes. Commonwealth v. Morris, 493 Pa. 164, 425 A.2d 715, 719-20 (1981). Evidence of a distinct crime is admissible if offered to prove, inter alia, motive, intent, or the identity of the person charged with the commission of the crime being tried. Id. at 720. Evidence introduced for this purpose is admissible if its probative value tends to outweigh its prejudicial value. Id. We are mindful throughout this analysis of the presumption in our law that the jury follows the trial court's instructions. Commonwealth v. Steele, 522 Pa. 61, 78, 559 A.2d 904, 913 (1989). Here, no witness ever indicated that the 1988 samples stemmed from investigation of appellant's involvement in a separate criminal matter. [8] Since the victim was killed in 1987, evidence of samples taken in 1988 merely tended to demonstrate that a police investigation was underway as a result of the victim's death. Thus, we find that appellant suffered no prejudice as a result of the challenged testimony. To the extent that appellant suffered any prejudice, we find that such prejudice was substantially outweighed by the probative value of this testimony on the issue of appellant's identitythe issue with respect to which this testimony was properly offered. See Morris, supra, at 164, 425 A.2d at 719-20 (1981). The Commonwealth's expert on hair and fiber analysis offered uncontradicted testimony that the closer to the time of the crime a hair sample is taken, the more reliable the test results will be with respect to the issue of identity. Thus, the trial court did not err by allowing witnesses to refer to the 1988 samples. Appellant additionally urges that the prosecutor explicitly indicated that the 1988 and 1992 hair and blood samples were from different cases, thereby prejudicing him directly. Specifically, he points to the following question posed by the prosecutor while cross-examining a defense expert: Doctor, maybe the problem is there are two separate cases, 1988 and 1992, both with [identification number] K-5 on them? Immediately following this question, a side-bar conference was held, during which defense counsel requested a mistrial. Defense counsel refused the prosecutor's offer to rephrase the question, stating that this would be more prejudicial because it would further highlight the previous inappropriate comment. The court denied appellant's motion for a mistrial. Following the side-bar conference, the prosecutor rephrased the question as follows: Doctor, just to try to clarify this, apparently the FBI used two separate case numbers and there is subsequently K numbers from `88 and K numbers from `92. My question to you is, which pubic hairs did you measure? The rephrasing suggests that the FBI used two separate case numbers because there were two separate samples, not because there were two separate criminal investigations. Moreover, at the end of the court session at issue, the court issued a curative instruction regarding the prosecutor's question. [9] The trial court also repeated the instruction it had given at the beginning of the trialthat a prosecutor's statements and questions do not constitute evidence and that the jury should disregard any reference that was not in accord with their recollection of the testimony. In light of the rephrasing of the question and the curative instruction which the jury is presumed to have followed, we find that no prejudice accrued to appellant as a result of the prosecutor's initial question. Appellant next argues that the trial court erred in allowing Tina Chirinos (Chirinos) to testify that appellant had stated to her that she was a bitch just like the victim and that she had reported appellant's statement to the police in 1989. [10] Appellant's premise is that this evidence somehow suggested that he had been involved in prior criminal activity with respect to Chirinos. [11] Appellant further argues that even if such evidence alone is deemed insufficient to suggest that appellant was involved in a prior criminal act, the combination of this testimony with Chirinos' breaking down and crying on the witness stand improperly suggested that Chirinos was the victim of prior criminal activity by appellant. Having carefully reviewed the testimony and conduct alluded to by appellant, we find that the testimony itself did not in any way indicate that appellant was involved in a prior criminal episode with Ms. Chirinos. To the contrary, the evidence suggests that appellant and Chirinos were involved in an ordinary relationship. Thus, appellant did not suffer any undue prejudice as a result of Chirinos' testimony or conduct. Additionally, since the testimony at issue tended to establish the hostility that appellant felt towards the victim, the evidence was highly probative with respect to the issues of motive and intent, particularly since appellant had told detectives that he did not know the victim at all. Accordingly, to the extent that appellant suffered any prejudice from the putative implication of prior criminal activity, such prejudice was substantially outweighed by the probative value of the testimony with respect to motive and intenttwo of the permissible purposes for which evidence of prior crimes may be adduced. See Morris, supra, at 164, 425 A.2d at 719-20. In sum, the trial court did not err by allowing Tina Chirinos to testify. Appellant next argues that the trial court erred in allowing the testimony of appellant's former roommates, Shirley Toomey, Wendy Sanchez and Elba Sanchez, that appellant used his right hand when he performed ordinary life activities. [12] Specifically, appellant claims that these witnesses improperly suggested the occurrence of prior unrelated criminal episodes involving appellant. [13] However, the trial court limited the testimony of these witnesses to whether they had observed appellant performing ordinary activities with his right hand, and the ensuing testimony did not suggest prior criminal activity at all. To the extent that the testimony could be construed as prejudicial in any way, we find that such prejudice was substantially outweighed by the probative value of this testimony with respect to the issue of identity, since appellant claimed that he could not possibly have committed the crime in view of his being left-handed. Therefore, we find this claim to be without merit. [14] Appellant next argues that the trial court erroneously limited defense counsel's ability to impeach witness Henry Gibson, thereby violating appellant's right under the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution to confront witnesses against him. Specifically, appellant argues that he should have been allowed to prove Gibson's alleged cocaine use at the time of and before the murder by calling impeachment witnesses. Also, appellant alleges that he should have been permitted to cross-examine and impeach Gibson about Gibson's physical and sexual abuse of Valerie King. [15] First, appellant claims that the evidence of prior cocaine use was relevant to rebut the prosecutor's suggestion in his opening statement that Gibson had developed a cocaine and alcohol problem only subsequent to the murder, and had gone to the police because his guilt at having witnessed the murder was at the root of his ongoing cocaine problem. [16] The trial court allowed appellant to cross-examine Gibson with regard to whether he had used cocaine before 1987 (when the murder had occurred), as well as the extent of any such usage. See T.T. at 1136, 1170, 1177-78, 1182-85. Gibson consistently denied any significant cocaine usage prior to the murder, consistent with the theme of the prosecutor's opening statement that Gibson's cocaine problem dated to the time of the murder. Defense counsel sought to call witnesses who would testify to the severity of Gibson's cocaine problem in the years before the murder, and made an offer of proof to that end. Over counsel's objection, the trial court determined that such impeachment testimony was not warranted since it related to a collateral issue. Appellant claims that Gibson's testimony regarding prior cocaine use concerned not a collateral issue, but the central issue of whether Gibson had indeed been a witness to a murder committed by appellant, since the witness claimed that the cocaine abuse allegedly dated to and was caused by his witnessing the murder. A trial judge must deal with evidentiary questions such as this in light of the purposes of the ultimate inquiry and does so in the exercise of judicial discretion. Levinson v. Commonwealth, 395 Pa. 613, 615, 151 A.2d 453, 455 (1959)(quoting Thompson v. American Steel and Wire Co., 317 Pa. 7, 11, 175 A. 541, 543 (1934)). A trial judge should take care that nothing relevant is excluded, so long as its admission will not unduly distract the attention of the jury from its main inquiry. See id. A trial judge must determine whether evidence which, though logically relevant on the ultimate issue, may nevertheless be excluded because its general effect on the trial will be to confuse the jury by distracting its attention away from the jury's primary concern to the collateral issues. Id. Because of the often difficult nature of this task, the judge's conclusion or decision on such points will not be interfered with on appeal save for abuse of discretion. See id. Here, a review of the record reveals no abuse of discretion which would warrant reversal on this evidentiary issue. Even if the issue of Gibson's prior cocaine use was a non-collateral issue under the circumstances of this case, it was of limited relevance to the ultimate issue of whether appellant committed first-degree murder. Assuming that the prosecutor was correct in asserting in his opening statement that Gibson's cocaine use dated to the time of the murder, logic dictates that the cocaine abuse could have stemmed either from Gibson's trauma due to witnessing the murder or from his guilt due to committing the murder himself, the latter alternative being consistent with the theory of appellant's defense. [17] The simple fact that Gibson began to abuse cocaine after the murder does not tend to either establish or disestablish that it was appellant and not Gibson who committed the murder. Consequently, impeachment testimony that purported to establish the timeframe of Gibson's cocaine use would also have been of no consequence. The jury could very well have believed Gibson's testimony regarding his witnessing the murder without believing that his witnessing the murder caused the drug usage. Allowing the testimony of the proffered impeachment witnesses would have served to unduly distract the attention of the jury from the main inquiry and required the ascertainment of an unnecessary quantity of subordinate facts, particularly given the limited and non-probative inferences that could be drawn from Gibson's testimony regarding cocaine abuse. See id. In sum, we find no abuse of discretion in the decision of the trial judge to limit impeachment of Gibson on the issue of the timeframe of his prior cocaine abuse. Second, regarding the prior criminal complaint filed by Valerie King against Gibson with respect to an alleged assault, appellant claims that by exploring this prior allegation, he could have established that Gibson was biased and that his testimony was motivated by his fear of being accused of the murder himself, since he had been accused of similar violent crimes against women in the past. Appellant claims that by precluding any such inquiry of Gibson, the trial court improperly denied appellant the protections of the Sixth Amendment. In Davis v. Alaska, 415 U.S. 308, 94 S.Ct. 1105, 39 L.Ed.2d 347 (1974), the United States Supreme Court reviewed a challenge to a trial judge's limitations on cross-examination of a material witness under the Sixth Amendment's Confrontation Clause. The appellant in Davis had been accused of stealing a safe from a bar. Richard Green, a crucial prosecution witness, testified that he had seen appellant standing by a blue Chevrolet with something like a crowbar in his hands near the same spot in which the safe was later found with its contents removed. The safe was found near the home of Green's stepfather, with whom Green resided. The trial judge granted the prosecutor's motion for a protective order seeking to exclude reference to Green's prior adjudication of delinquency for burglarizing two cabins. On the strength of Green's testimony and physical evidence showing that paint chips in the trunk of the appellant's rented Chevrolet could have originated from the stolen safe, the appellant was convicted of burglary and grand larceny. The United States Supreme Court determined that the appellant had been denied his Sixth Amendment right to confront witnesses against him when the trial court refused to allow impeachment of Green for bias stemming from his own conviction for burglary. The Court explained: The partiality of a witness is subject to exploration at trial, and is always relevant as discrediting the witness and affecting the weight of his testimony. We have recognized that the exposure of a witness' motivation in testifying is a proper and important function of the constitutionally protected right of cross-examination. .... The claim of bias which the defense sought to develop here was admissible to afford a basis for an inference of undue pressure because of Green's vulnerable status as a probationer, as well as of Green's possible concern that he might be a subject in the investigation ... While counsel was permitted to ask Green whether he was biased, counsel was unable to make a record from which to argue why Green might have been biased or otherwise lacked that degree of impartiality expected of a witness at trial . . . counsel should have been permitted to expose to the jury the facts from which jurors, as the sole triers of fact and credibility, could appropriately draw inferences relating to the reliability of a witness. Id. at 316-17, 94 S.Ct. 1105. Here, appellant argues that the same principles that guided the Supreme Court in Davis mandate the conclusion that he was denied his Sixth Amendment right to probe Gibson for bias on the basis of assault charges that Gibson's ex-girlfriend, Valerie King, had filed against him. We disagree. In Davis, the Supreme Court held that cross-examination of a crucial witness had been improperly limited so as to preclude reference to that witness' prior conviction and the fact that the witness was presently on probation. Since defense counsel was prohibited from making any inquiry as to whether the witness was presently on probation, the witness' categorical denial of ever having been the subject of any similar law-enforcement interrogation went unchallenged. Id. at 313, 94 S.Ct. 1105. Here, appellant does not aver that Gibson was ever convicted of assault, or that Gibson was serving a period of probation. Appellant merely urges that the prior filing of a criminal complaint against Gibsonwhich was subsequently discontinued by the complainantmight have motivated or biased Gibson's testimony in this case. Appellant fails to offer a rational argument as to how Gibson might have been biased to testify against appellant as a result of these prior unrelated charges which were not prosecuted nor outstanding. In essence, appellant invites us to create new law which would allow a witness' character to be blackened in any criminal trial simply if an allegation was ever raised against the witness in the past regarding criminal activity. Such a sweeping rule of law would likely result in an endless series of minitrials regarding the merits of unrelated allegations of criminality against the witness. Moreover, the outcome of these distracting sideshows would not materially advance the inquiry into the witness' possible bias or motive in testifying. Therefore, we find that the trial judge did not abuse his discretion by refusing to allow testimony on the collateral issue of whether Gibson previously assaulted a woman. Appellant next argues that the trial court erred by allowing certain black-and-white photographs and a black-and-white video to be shown to the jury during the guilt phase. The admissibility of photographic or videotaped evidence depicting a crime scene is within the sound discretion of the trial court and only an abuse of that discretion will constitute reversible error. Commonwealth v. Buehl, 510 Pa. 363, 391, 508 A.2d 1167, 1181 (1986). The admissibility of photographs involves a two-step analysis. First, the court must decide whether a photograph is inflammatory by its very nature. If the photograph is deemed inflammatory, the court must determine whether the essential evidentiary value of the photograph outweighs the likelihood that the photograph will improperly inflame the minds and passions of the jury. See Commonwealth v. Marshall, 537 Pa. 336, 341, 643 A.2d 1070, 1075 (1994). Appellant first contends that four evidentiary photographs of the victim which emphasized the way in which the victim's arms and legs were spread were unduly inflammatory to the jury and prejudicial to appellant. The four black-and-white photographs at issue were offered by the Commonwealth to corroborate the description of Detective Dennis Arnold regarding the crime scene and the condition in which the victim was found. Furthermore, defense counsel called a pathologist to testify as to the conclusions that could be drawn from the blood smear patterns seen on the victim in the photographs. The Commonwealth also called a pathologist who drew contrary conclusions to those of the defense expert. The photographs provided the jury with a point of reference by which to evaluate the testimony of these conflicting expert witnesses. The jury viewed two of the photographs for approximately twenty-seven (27) seconds and the other two photographs for forty-one (41) seconds. The jury was not permitted to take the photographs with them when they adjourned to deliberate. In light of the dispute between the pathologists and the limited extent to which these photographs were viewed by the jury, we find that the trial court did not abuse its discretion by determining that the evidentiary value of the photographs outweighed the possible prejudicial effect. [18] Accordingly, this claim merits no relief. Next, appellant contends that the trial court erred by allowing jurors to view a black-and-white video depicting the victim's body. Appellant urges that the video should have been excluded because it was unduly inflammatory and merely cumulative of the photographs previously shown. However, both the defense and the prosecution participated in redacting inflammatory portions of the video. Moreover, the court issued a limiting instruction to the jury prior to showing the video, cautioning the jurors as to its narrow relevance and clearly instructing them not to allow the video to stir their emotions to the prejudice of the defendant. [19] Since the jury is presumed to follow the court's instructions, Steele, supra, at 61, 559 A.2d at 913, we find that the trial court did not err by allowing the video to be shown.