Opinion ID: 1926802
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Hit Man Statement

Text: At trial, the State introduced evidence that defendant had written a number of letters to Sandra before, during, and after their marriage. The State used Sandra to authenticated a number of handwritten letters by identifying defendant's handwriting and also identifying specific letters she had received. Dozens of handwritten letters were admitted into evidence over the two-day period of Sandra's testimony. They were not published to the jury at the time; the jury was permitted to review them during deliberations. One of the letters written to Sandra before the marriage and admitted into evidence contained the following statement: my greed for the all mighty dollar might have led me down the path of a professional hit man. I was on my way. The context of the statement was defendant's assertion that God, through Sandra, had intervened in his life and kept him from that path. This statement was never read aloud to the jury; no one ever quoted it. Indeed, it was buried in the many letters admitted and would have required the jury to pick out that single statement and seize upon it. While the State referred to several letters in its closing argument, it did not refer to this letter. Defendant claims that the admission of the hit man letter caused irremediable prejudice and forms ground for reversal. Defendant claims that this statement, along with the ice-pick statement discussed below, were spun together to portray defendant as a professional killer. We will reverse a trial court's decision to admit evidence only if the court withheld or abused its discretion. See State v. Powers, 163 Vt. at 99-100, 655 A.2d at 713. The statement at issue is not an act within the usual meaning of Rule 404; it is merely a statement defendant wrote. The statement does not reveal any prior misconduct such as Rule 404 forbids. It reflects only defendant's state of mind and not any crime or wrong committed by defendant in the past. Defendant was commenting on what might have been, and attributing to Sandra the power to help him. Therefore, Rule 404 does not apply. See United States v. Mixon, 185 F.3d 875 1999 WL 436269 at  (10th Cir.1999) (Rule 404 argument was off the mark because statement that witness thought defendant was selling drugs again was not bad act evidence, but rather testimony of her state of mind); Hicks v. State, 690 N.E.2d 215, 221 n. 11 (Ind.1997) (where defendant said he wanted and wished victim would die, those statements were admissible because they are not evidence of `other crimes, wrongs, or acts'); Massey v. State, 933 S.W.2d 141, 154 (Tex.Crim. App.1996) (where testimony concerned defendant's thoughts rather than conduct, Rule 404 was not implicated); Moreno v. State, 858 S.W.2d 453, 463 (Tex.Crim.App. 1993) (inchoate thoughts about desire to kidnap and kill someone were not excludable under Rule 404(b)). Therefore, the test of admissibility is simply whether the evidence was relevant and not unduly prejudicial. See V.R.E. 402 and 403. Overall, defendant's letters to Sandra were relevant because they suggested a motive for the killing, by illustrating defendant's desire to reconcile with Sandra and his conviction that they belonged together. Given that the statement about potentially becoming a hit man was buried in one of many letters and was not emphasized in any way to the jury, we cannot conclude that its admission was unduly prejudicial.