Court Opinion

ID: 9790859
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 02:00:29.893313+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:37:32.261726
License: Public Domain

Utter, J.
(concurring in part, dissenting in part)—I agree with the majority opinion's conclusion that jury misconduct could not be used by the trial court as grounds for a new trial.
I cannot agree, however, with its conclusion that the trial court erroneously granted a new trial based upon " [njewly discovered evidence . . . which [the defendant] could not have discovered with reasonable diligence and produced at the trial". CrR 7.6(a)(3).
The trial court additionally, correctly in my view, cited as a third ground accumulated errors which referred to "the misstatement in closing argument of a significant item of testimony." Conclusion of law 3(A). The standard of review regarding a trial court's determination of grounds justifying *784a new trial, as the majority agrees, is substantial evidence to support its factual findings and abuse of discretion as to conclusions drawn from those facts. State v. Williams, 96 Wn.2d 215, 220-21, 634 P.2d 868 (1981).
Where a new trial has been granted we are guided by our previous cases which hold that,
[t]he trial judge, by his very presence, is in a favored position. It has been reiterated in appeals from orders granting new trials in both civil and criminal cases that a much stronger showing is required to overturn an order granting the new trial than denying a new trial. The question is: Did the respondents have a fair trial? The trial judge thought that they did not. The question is not whether this court would have decided otherwise in the first instance, but whether the trial judge was justified in reaching his conclusion. In that respect, he has a very wide discretion.
State v. Marks, 71 Wn.2d 295, 302, 427 P.2d 1008 (1967), quoting State v. Taylor, 60 Wn.2d 32, 42, 371 P.2d 617 (1962). The majority presents reasons why it would have decided differently, and labels the trial court's action abuse of discretion, but does not accord the trial court the very wide latitude we have previously given when a new trial is granted.
The trial court's findings indicate that Jackman had subpoenaed the witness, LuAnne Tracy, but then was unable to locate her. On Jackman's motion, the court issued a material witness warrant for Tracy's arrest. The court noted this was done after the court had been apprised of "defense efforts to keep in contact with and to produce the witness for trial." Finding of fact 2(B). Substantial evidence exists to support these findings. The affidavit on file by the attorney for Jackman states Tracy was personally served with a subpoena on May 12, 1986 to appear at trial on June 3. Subsequently, on June 9, a letter and additional subpoena were sent to Tracy informing her that the trial had been continued until June 16. In addition, a defense investigator talked with Tracy "a number of times" and "expended a lot of energy looking for" Tracy when she could not be located a few days before the trial.
*785The majority premises its affirmance of the Court of Appeals and reversal of the trial court on this issue upon its conclusion that "due diligence was not exercised here . . . not only on the failure of proper service of the second subpoena, but also on Jackman's failure to seek a continuance in order to obtain Tracy's appearance." Majority, at 781. The majority notes Jackman's counsel never requested more time to continue their efforts to serve a subpoena on Tracy and concludes that "having made no request of the court for a continuance, or for even some delay, to afford an opportunity to find his witness[], [Jackman] cannot contend that the court erred in denying him any relief, as he asked for none." State v. Douglas, 193 Wash. 425, 430, 75 P.2d 1005 (1938).
My difficulty with this conclusion is that it fails to give proper deference to the trial judge who heard the testimony, who witnessed efforts of defense counsel to obtain the presence of Tracy as a witness, and who had the opportunity to observe whether or not in that setting a failure to ask for a continuance should have been fatal to a later request for a new trial. While we may disagree with the conclusions of the trial court, the trial court's conclusions of law were properly drawn from findings of fact supported by the record. Unless we are willing to say as a matter of law that a failure to request a continuance bars a later request for a new trial on newly discovered evidence when the witness is unavailable, the trial court's conclusions of law should be upheld. The majority's footnote 3 presents a strong reason why this should not be an inflexible rule of law. It notes:
This is not to say, of course, that the failure to seek a continuance was unsound trial practice. Tactical decisions made by trial counsel are frequently based on facts not found in an appellate record and reflect the opinion, experience, and judgment of the individual attorney. We cannot, and should not, second-guess such decisions. In any event, the record reveals that Jackman's counsel exercised consistently competent judgment.
*786In addition, it cannot be said from a review of the record that the testimony of Tracy would have been merely cumulative. The State, as was noted by the court, put on five witnesses who testified as to their view of the robber. The fact that there were five witnesses was emphasized in the prosecutor's arguments to the jury. The jury heard five eyewitnesses testify that Jackman was the robber, and heard only one say otherwise. The addition of one more witness to substantiate the defense theory could have had a substantial impact in the quantitative evidentiary advantage held by the State.
The State contends that Tracy's testimony would be cumulative in the same manner as the testimony deemed cumulative in State v. Williams, supra. There the defendant was convicted of robbing, kidnapping, and murdering a convenience store cashier. A hidden store camera had produced pictures of the perpetrator, a black man wearing a fatigue jacket and cap. Asserting a defense of mistaken identity, the defendant offered testimony of a witness who saw someone fitting this description near the scene of the crimes on the evening of their occurrence and again at the VA hospital several days later. That witness testified this person was not the defendant. The newly discovered evidence alleged in Williams was testimony of a security guard who corroborated the sighting at the VA hospital. The court held that this evidence was not the sort that would justify a new trial, noting that another trial witness, a VA pharmacist, already had corroborated the VA sighting. The court concluded, "[the security guard's] testimony would merely have duplicated the pharmacist's testimony and would have added nothing because the latter's testimony was undisputed by the prosecutor." Williams, at 224. Thus, the new evidence was deemed "merely cumulative". Williams, at 223.
The Williams case is not controlling on this issue. There the newly discovered evidence concerned an issue of fact "undisputed by the prosecutor". Here, in contrast, the State vigorously disputes the substance of what Tracy *787would testify—that the man who fled in an orange car at the time the grocery was robbed was not Wilfred Jackman. A second distinction between Williams and the present case, related to the first, is that the new testimony offered in Williams would not have been directly exculpatory, as Tracy's testimony would have been in this case.
The trial court concluded that Tracy's testimony "appears to have a high probability of changing the result of the trial in this case." Conclusion of law 2(A). In earlier cases where new trial has been denied, the evidence has been clear and the proffered new evidence was of patently questionable veracity. See State v. Peele, 67 Wn.2d 724, 409 P.2d 663 (1966). The evidence is not that clear in this case. Several of the State's witnesses only hesitantly identified Jackman as the robber; LuAnne Tracy, by contrast, was "positive" that Jackman was not the person seen fleeing from the area of the grocery. The trial court's finding that Tracy's testimony would probably change the result is not an abuse of discretion by any standard this court has enunciated. The finding that Tracy's testimony " appears to have a high probability of changing the result of the trial in this case" is of sufficient certainty that its granting of a new trial should be upheld.
Petitioner's final ground supporting the order granting the new trial was the prosecutor's misstatement in her closing argument. The prosecutor concedes that in closing argument she misspoke in her assertion that a witness had seen the robber flee in the company of a black man and a white man. The witness said only that there was a "male in the back rear and there was a white male in the front seat" of the car in which the robber fled. Verbatim Transcript of Proceedings, at 169. At the time the statement was made, defense counsel did not object to the prosecutor's statement. Defense counsel also inaccurately stated in her closing argument that the witness had said both the men in the car were white. The trial court found the prosecutor's misstatement constituted error that, when combined with the other errors found, denied Jackman substantial justice. The *788court based its ruling in part on a juror's affidavit stating that the prosecutor's misrepresentation of the evidence was accepted by the jurors during deliberations. As the majority correctly notes, we may not consider a juror's affidavit indicating that the prosecutor's misrepresentation of the evidence was accepted by the jurors during deliberations. The issue is not, therefore, the fact that there was a misstatement—the prosecutor concedes this—but whether the trial court's reliance on the misstatement as a basis for ordering a new trial constituted an abuse of discretion. Unfortunately, it is not clear whether the trial court could have reached the same conclusion as to the prejudicial effects of the prosecutor's misstatement if she had not considered the juror's affidavit attesting to the effect of the misstatement on the deliberations. For this reason, at a minimum, if it is not agreed that the other grounds stated by the trial court are sufficient to support granting a new trial, the case should be remanded to the trial court so it may determine the prejudice caused by the misstatement without reference to the juror's affidavit.
The majority only disagrees with the conclusions reached by the trial court. It does not as to the second and third grounds stated by the trial court, indicate there is not substantial evidence in the record to support the findings of fact. The trial court's findings offer support for the trial court's conclusions of law. I would, therefore, affirm the order granting a new trial as to the second and third grounds stated by the trial court. If a majority do not agree, I would, at a minimum, remand the case to the trial court so that it may determine the prejudice caused by the misstatement in concluding argument by the prosecutor without reference to the juror's affidavit.
Dore and Smith, JJ., and Pearson, J. Pro Tern., concur with Utter, J.