Court Opinion

ID: 9622594
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 06:20:21.033166+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:27:52.361706
License: Public Domain

*518Justice PLEICONES
concurring:
I concur in the majority’s decision to affirm here, but write separately to express my disagreement with Part IV of the majority’s opinion. In my opinion, whether the trial judge committed an abuse of discretion in denying appellant’s mistrial motion following improper questioning by the solicitor is not preserved for our review.
The sole issue regarding Dr. Crawford before the Court at this juncture is whether the trial judge should have granted a mistrial because of Dr. Crawford’s penalty phase testimony. To explain why I do not believe this issue is preserved, I will quote liberally from the penalty phase transcript of the solicitor’s questioning of Dr. Crawford:
Solicitor: And your employment with the Department of Mental Health is as what?
Answer: A forensic psychiatrist.
Solicitor: And, now, back on September the 3rd, did you have occasion at my request to come to Greenville, South Carolina?
Answer: Yes, I did.
Solicitor: As an employee of the Department of Mental Health?
Answer: That’s correct.
Solicitor: And were you also in any way connected with any other state agency at that time?
Answer: Yes. The Department of Mental Health had what we call a memorandum of agreement with SLED, South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, where I was the consultant forensic psychiatrist for SLED.
Solicitor: Explain to the jury prior to September the 3rd of 2003, what the working relationship you had either with my office or other solicitors.
Answer: This was all through my work with Department of Mental Health, through the memorandum of agreement with SLED. I would do a variety of things. Some of the things I would do, for example, go on SWAT calls and assist with negotiations. But as far as your office and the solicitor’s office is concerned, I would be called by a solicitor if, for example, there was some kind of alleged *519crime of significant magnitude. And they would call me and ask me to come and provide assistance.
Solicitor: All right. What type of assistance in particular did I request from you in this particular case on September the 3rd?
Answer: In this particular case, and again I’m called by various solicitors throughout the state, and I’m only called when it’s a case of a very severe nature. And typically it’s when the death penalty may be considered. And I’m asked to assess—
Mr. Nettles: Objection. And I’m going to ask the jury be sent out.
The Court: Mr. foreman, members of the jury don’t discuss the case. I’ll get you back very shortly.
After an in camera discussion, the judge gave the following curative instruction, without objection from appellant, and the questioning continued:
The Court: Mr. foreman, ladies and gentlemen of the jury please disregard anything that she said that she may be asked to assess concerning the death penalty. Disregard that. That’s not appropriate. We’re not going there.
Solicitor.
Solicitor: Let me clarify and go back. We were talking about what you had come to Greenville for. And as a result of coming to Greenville, did you in fact interview the defendant?
Answer: Yes, I did.
Solicitor: What was the purpose of you interviewing — •
Mr. Nettles: Objection.
The Court: Hold on a second. Solicitor, you may lead her through these questions, please, sir, laying your foundation. You may lead her.
Mr. Ariail: Was the purpose of you interviewing the defendant to provide that information to me in consideration of whether or not — •
Mr. Nettles: Objection. And I’m going to—
The Court: Hold on. Don’t get into the facts. Come on up here for a second, both of you. *520(bench conference held within the presence but outside the hearing of the jury.)
The Court: Mr. foreman, ladies and gentlemen, go to the jury room. Don’t discuss the case please.
During the ensuing in camera discussion, the solicitor agreed to withdraw the question. One of appellant’s attorneys requested a curative instruction, and was given an opportunity to write one for the trial judge’s use. While that charge was being written, appellant’s other attorney argued for a mistrial.9 The judge denied the mistrial request, but gave the solicitor and Dr. Crawford strict instructions on the limits of permissible questions and answers. Following that, appellant renewed his mistrial motion. When the jury returned, they were given this curative instruction:
The Court: Mr. foreman, members of the jury, I told you this in the first phase of the trial. I’m going to tell you again. Whenever one of the attorneys makes an objection, they’re merely telling the court that they do not think that’s admissible under the rules of evidence or the rules of court. And it’s my job to decide whether it’s admissible or not admissible. I ask you to leave the courtroom so I can comment on the facts, because I’m not at liberty to comment on the facts when the jury is present.
I’m the one that asked you to leave the courtroom so I can be free with what I say to the attorneys and the questions I ask the attorneys. The attorneys are not trying to hide anything, they just have an opinion it’s not admissible, and that’s their job. You are not to consider anything for or against either one of the attorneys when they make objections as to the rules of evidence. That’s the procedure we are going through, and that’s the reason I’ve been running you in and out of the courtroom, so I would be free, not that the attorneys are hiding anything. You understand?
All right. Now, normally opinions are not given in a courtroom. However, opinions may be given in a courtroom by laypersons when they’re based on the percep*521tions of a witness, such as, if someone is staggering and you smell alcohol on their breath, you have an opinion they’re intoxicated, that’s a lay opinion that may be admissible in a courtroom; or if it’s going to be helpful for the jury to understand and does not require special skill, experience, or training.
An expert may give his opinion if they qualify when there’s a scientifically, technical, or other specialized knowledge required for the jury to understand the question.
Now, in this particular case this witness has not been qualified as an expert. In order for an expert to give an opinion, they have to be qualified. And the court has to find that they’re qualified. This witness has not been qualified as an expert and I’m going to tell you, you must disregard any suggestion either in the solicitor’s questions or any answer that this witness has given an opinion of any kind in this case. She’s going to be treated as a lay witness, not an expert.
Solicitor.
Appellant made no objection to the sufficiency of this instruction, but argues on appeal that the trial judge erred in failing to grant a mistrial. In my opinion, this issue is not preserved for appellate review. As the factual recital above demonstrates, appellant did not seek a mistrial when the solicitor first questioned Dr. Crawford about her consulting role, and her assessments in serious death-penalty type cases. Instead, appellant merely objected. The trial judge sustained the objection and gave a curative instruction, to which appellant did not object. Since appellant accepted this ruling and neither objected to the charge’s sufficiency nor moved for a mistrial following it, no issue regarding these questions and answers are preserved for our review. See, e.g., State v. George, 323 S.C. 496, 476 S.E.2d 903 (1996).
When the solicitor resumed his improper questioning, the trial judge sustained the objection. One of appellant’s attorneys sought a curative instruction; the other, a mistrial. Following the in camera arguments, the judge denied the second attorney’s mistrial motion but then gave, again without objection, the curative instruction apparently drafted by the *522other lawyer. Under these circumstances, the mistrial issue is not before us. State v. George, supra; cf. State v. Patterson, 337 S.C. 215, 522 S.E.2d 845 (Ct.App.1999) (mistrial motion arguably preserved where trial attorney specified he did not “waive” mistrial motion after hearing curative instruction). Here, appellant did not renew or reserve his mistrial motion after hearing the curative instruction drafted by his own attorney, apparently finding it sufficiently cured any prejudice from the solicitor’s improper questioning. Accordingly, there is no mistrial issue before the Court.
Although I do not believe the mistrial issue is preserved, because it is addressed, and because I differ in my assessment, I comment briefly. The State’s position is that Dr. Crawford was being offered merely as a “fact” witness. If this is so, then her education, her training, her profession, and her special relationship with the solicitor’s office are irrelevant. The only reason to allow this background evidence is to enhance Dr. Crawford’s credentials, that is, to permit the jury to view her testimony in light of her expertise. Compare State v. Douglas, 380 S.C. 499, 671 S.E.2d 606 (2009) (testimony from expert clothed “with an air of authority that does not attach to “ordinary witnesses” ”) (Pleicones, J., dissenting).
Moreover, I do not understand why Dr. Crawford’s testimony, offered allegedly to show appellant’s mental state, was relevant in this penalty phase. The State sought to prove two aggravating circumstances, neither of which involved appellant’s state of mind. Had appellant put his mental state at the time of the offense in issue, then Dr. Crawford’s testimony as to her “lay” observations in the hours surrounding the offense would be relevant. Here, however, Dr. Crawford’s testimony was offered only to bolster the solicitor’s decision that this case warranted a death sentence. Unlike the majority, I do not see how the curative instruction negates the prejudice from Dr. Crawford’s irrelevant yet prejudicial testimony.

. In my view, the better practice is to permit only one of the attorneys to object to evidence.