Court Opinion

ID: 9645939
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 21:40:44.059621+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:11:33.246206
License: Public Domain

WINTERSHEIMER, Justice,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent because Wager received a fundamentally fair trial and the basis of the majority decision for reversal is seriously flawed.
Wager was not denied due process because the witness testified in rebuttal only and was not listed as a witness before trial. Quinn testified that Wager told him, while they were both in prison, that he forced his way into the 87-year-old-victim’s home intending to rob her and while there he *32gnawed on her finger to force her to submit to the rape. This testimony specifically contradicted Wager’s previous denials. The trial judge did not abuse his discretion by allowing Quinn to testify in rebuttal. The Wager defense was absolute denial of the rape and assault. The majority’s assertion that the evidence was highly prejudicial is unconvincing. Wager did not object to the substance of the testimony but only to the point at which it was introduced. Wager testified in surrebuttal. The practical effect is the same regardless of when Quinn or Wager testified. I do not believe this situation amounts to reversible error. The 87-year-old-victim died prior to trial. About a day and a half after the burglary, rape and assault, she spoke with a detective from her hospital bed. She was coherent and alert. She identified the defendant as having been to her home previously to sell her firewood. She did not know his name.
Only the victim and defendant knew what actually happened. The victim is dead and the defendant has no responsibility to implicate himself. I believe that a sincere search for the truth would surely support the admission of the detective’s testimony about the out-of-court identification of her assailant when the victim died prior to trial. I do not believe it was reversible error for the trial judge to admit the statement pursuant to Maynard v. Commonwealth, Ky.App., 558 S.W.2d 628 (1977) and the residual hearsay exception. This case was tried on January 26, 1987, prior to any disposition of this Court as to the residual hearsay rule expressed in Estes v. Commonwealth, Ky., 744 S.W.2d 421 (1988). Bussey v. Commonwealth, Ky., 697 S.W.2d 139 (1985) declined to adopt the residual hearsay rule but was not a clear beacon to the trial court of such a categorical position. In my view the majority has substituted its view of the facts for that of the trial court when it announces that the victim’s identification was somewhat confused in spite of the fact that the police detective testified that he knew who she was talking about.
The statement of the victim was partially corroborated by the defendant himself and his father-in-law. Both said that Wager had been to the victim’s home twice to sell her firewood. Another witness testified that he had driven Wager to the victim’s home on the night of the crime and waited for him in the driveway.
Any confusion about the victim’s statement is a matter involving the credibility of the witness and should properly be determined by the finder of fact, the jury.
The residual hearsay exception should be only rarely used where there are exceptional circumstances in which the exception does not fit within any other accepted exception. The federal courts have adopted such a rule in Federal Rules of Evidence 804(b)(5). How can there be a different standard in Federal and State court rules in the search for the truth? Surely Kentucky courts are not less advanced than the federal system. Here the victim is dead, but her statement should be allowed to be introduced so that the jury can determine who speaks the truth. The right of confrontation is compromised only to the extent that a dead victim is forever silent.
The failure to present certified documentation of the Matthews blood test is inexcusable. However the guilt of Wager was not based on the fact of another person’s blood type. The failure to offer a certified copy was harmless error. RCr 9.24. The same is true with the argument relating to the failure of the prosecutor to properly complete the strict authentication procedures of KRS 422.040. I join with the majority in admonishing prosecutors to follow the strict procedures required by the law. If they do not, it should be obvious that a majority of this Court will reverse any conviction obtained and hope that a remand will cure the situation. Although it is technically error, the omission of a clerk’s certificate relating to the custody of the records standing alone is a very weak ground for reversible error.
The real departure from existing standards of practice occurs when the majority announces that there was reversible prejudicial error resulting from prosecutorial misconduct during the closing argument.
*33During closing argument, the prosecutor told the jury that he had seen farmers removing an old fence and that they had been scratched by thorns from the fence. He brought one of the fence posts into the courtroom and argued it as some kind of demonstration. Defense counsel did not object to the demonstration on the grounds that it was improper argument but rather objected to the display because the fence post was not admitted into evidence. In my view this argument is not properly preserved for appellate review pursuant to RCr 9.22.
Moreover, this Court seems to have opened a new criteria for reviewing alleged prosecutorial misconduct. Previously, Lynem v. Commonwealth, Ky., 565 S.W.2d 141 (1978) permitted reasonable latitude in making a closing argument. Earlier it had been held in Jackson v. Commonwealth, 301 Ky. 562, 192 S.W.2d 480 (1946) that only when the comments of the prosecutor are entirely foreign to the facts introduced at trial must the conviction be reversed. A criminal conviction should not be lightly overturned on the basis of a prosecutor’s comments standing alone, for the statements must be viewed in context. Only by doing so can it be determined whether the comments and conduct affected the fairness of the trial. United States v. Young, 470 U.S. 1, 105 S.Ct. 1038, 84 L.Ed.2d 1, (1985).
It is inconceivable to me that absent the alleged misconduct of the prosecutor, this verdict of conviction would have been any different. Smith v. Commonwealth, Ky., 734 S.W.2d 437 (1987); Niemeyer v. Commonwealth, Ky., 533 S.W.2d 218 (1976). United States v. Hasting, 461 U.S. 499, 103 S.Ct. 1984, 76 L.Ed.2d 96 (1983).
The remarks of the prosecutor did not exceed the bounds of reasonable latitude as noted in hynem, supra. He drew reasonable conclusions from the testimony in which Matthews said he was scratched while setting fence posts. Wager questioned a variety of defense witnesses trying to show that Matthews had received the scratches elsewhere. The prosecutor’s statements were a fair comment on the evidence presented. Wager was not denied a fundamentally fair trial because the prosecutor showed the jury a thorny fence post. It does not amount to reversible error.
I would affirm the conviction in all respects.
GANT, J., joins in this dissent.