Court Opinion

ID: 9591469
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 00:04:31.040185+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:01:10.763613
License: Public Domain

ZIMMERMAN, Justice
(concurring):
I join in the majority opinion. However, I write separately to point out that the trial court erred in admitting evidence of Gardner’s prior convictions before the jury had determined whether Gardner was guilty of a knowing or international homicide.1 See State v. James, 767 P.2d 549, 556-557 (1989); State v. Bishop, 753 P.2d 439, 494-99 (Utah 1988) (Zimmerman, J., concurring, joined by Stewart and Durham, J.J.). The bifurcated guilt phase procedure that a majority of the Court said was required in Bishop and that we unanimously imposed in James should have been followed in the present case. See James, 767 P.2d at 556-557; cf. State v. Payton, 361 *290So.2d 866, 870-74 (La.1978) (holding that prior convictions may not be introduced in the guilt phase of a murder trial and that they may therefore not serve as elements of the crime of first degree murder but must be limited to introduction in the penalty phase as aggravating circumstances justifying imposition of the death penalty).
A situation virtually identical to that in both the present case and James was presented in Bishop. During the guilt phase of Bishop’s trial for sexual abuse and murder, the State offered evidence of many unrelated prior sexual crimes. The Chief Justice, joined by Associate Chief Justice Howe, concluded that the admission of this evidence during the guilt phase did not deny Bishop his constitutional rights because it was authorized by section 76-5-404.1(3)(g) of the Code, which makes one convicted of sexual abuse of a child eligible for an enhanced penalty if the convicted person has committed more than five other acts of sexual abuse. See Bishop, 753 P.2d at 483-88; Utah Code Ann. § 76-5-404.1(3)(g) (Supp.1988). However, in a separate opinion a majority of the Court, consisting of Justice Stewart, Justice Durham, and me, held that the introduction of the prior crimes evidence during the guilt phase was not permitted by section 76 — 5—404.1(3)(g). See Bishop, 753 P.2d at 494-97 (Zimmerman, J., concurring). Alternatively, we held that even if section 76-5-404.l(3)(g) did authorize introduction of this evidence during the guilt phase, we would exercise our inherent supervisory power over the trial courts to require the trier of fact to determine guilt on the underlying charge before evidence of unrelated prior conduct could be admitted to enhance the penalty. See Bishop, 753 P.2d at 498-99 (Zimmerman, J., concurring). This procedure preserves both the accused’s interest in a fair trial and the State’s interest in punishing repeat offenders more severely. We found no legitimate state interest to be served by requiring the introduction of the unrelated prior crimes evidence during the guilt phase.2
In James, issued several weeks ago, we unanimously held that evidence of prior convictions may not be introduced in the guilt phase of a first degree murder trial until after the finder of fact has determined whether the defendant is guilty of a knowing or intentional killing. 767 P.2d at 556-557. That holding followed the separate majority in Bishop, but extended it to section 76 — 5—202(l)(h).3 See James, 767 P.2d at 556-557.
The next question is whether the trial court’s erroneous mode of proceeding resulted in prejudicial error. As Associate Chief Justice Howe notes, the only evidence of prior crimes introduced to satisfy the requirements of section 76 — 5—202(l)(h) of the Code related to two robberies. See Utah Code Ann. § 76 — 5—202(l)(h) (Supp. 1988). After the evidence of the previous crimes was admitted, the prosecutor referred to the prior convictions only as necessary to demonstrate that the State had proven the aggravating element of first degree murder contained in subpart (h). Gardner took the stand and disclosed his extensive criminal record, which included other convictions that were more prejudicial than the two robberies. Finally, Gardner did not contest that he had, in fact, committed the murder of which he was convicted; his only defense was that *291he did not have the requisite intent for first degree murder.
Under these circumstances, I conclude that the error committed by the trial court was harmless under the standard contained in rule 30 of the Utah Rules of Criminal Procedure and rule 103 of the Utah Rules of Evidence. See State v. Bishop, 753 P.2d at 499-500 (Zimmerman, J., concurring); State v. Hackford, 737 P.2d 200, 204-05 & n. 1 (Utah 1987); Utah R.Crim.P. 30; Utah R.Evid. 103. I also conclude that the error was harmless under the federal constitutional harmless error standard, if it is applicable here. See Bishop, 753 P.2d at 500-01 (Zimmerman, J., concurring); Hackford, 737 P.2d at 205-06 & n. 3.
For the foregoing reasons, I join the majority in holding that Gardner’s conviction should be affirmed.
DURHAM, J., concurs in the concurring opinion of ZIMMERMAN, J.

. If there is any doubt that evidence of prior convictions and other bad acts has tremendous potential to sway the finder of fact unfairly; those doubts should be dispelled by several recent empirical studies. See, e.g., Greene & Loftus, When Crimes are Joined at Trial, 9 Law & Hum. Behav. 193, 193-94, 196-98, 201, 204-06 (1985); Teitelbaum, Sutton-Barbere & Johnson, Evaluating the Prejudicial Effect of Evidence: Can Judges Identify the Impact of Improper Evidence on Juries?, 1983 Wis.L.Rev. 1147, 1173-74 & Table E nos. 3 & 4; Wissler & Saks, On the Inefficacy of Limiting Instructions, 9 Law & Hum. Behav. 37, 37-39, 41-47 (1985); Note, The Appearance of Justice: Judges' Verbal and Nonverbal Behavior in Criminal Jury Trials, 38 Stan. L.Rev. 89, 105, 113, 120-24 & n. 99 & Table 1, 129-30, 133 (1985). The studies uniformly show that in cases involving the same or similar facts, the admission of evidence of prior convictions or the joinder of separate charges significantly increases the likelihood that the accused will be convicted.

. In Bishop, Justice Durham and I would have gone further and held that the Chief Justice’s reading of section 76-5-404. l(3)(g) violates the due process clause of article I, section 7 of the Utah Constitution. 753 P.2d at 497-98. Justice Stewart found no occasion to reach that question. In the present case, there is no need to revisit the constitutional question since the Court has already unanimously expressed itself as being of the view that admission of the evidence of prior crimes was improper on noncon-stitutional grounds. See State v. James, 767 P.2d 549, 556-559 (1989); In re Clatterbuck, 700 P.2d 1076, 1080-81 (Utah 1985).

. Section 76-5-202(l)(h), the provision challenged both in the present case and in James, is indistinguishable from section 76-5-404.1(3)(g), the section at issue in Bishop. In fact, the separate majority opinion in Bishop cites section 76 — 5—202(l)(h) as a statute which produces the same evil that led to the conclusion that the order of proof followed by the trial judge in Bishop was improper. See Bishop, 753 P.2d at 499 n. 8 (Zimmerman, J., concurring).