Court Opinion

ID: 9720505
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 08:33:22.987157+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:24:18.898559
License: Public Domain

RILEY, Judge,
dissenting
I respectfully dissent as to Issue IV. Ineffective Assistance of Counsel. The majority correctly states that in order to reverse a conviction there is a two-pronged test that is delineated in Jewell v. State. Roberts must show that the prosecution acted deliberately to prejudice the jury and the evidence was inadmissible. In the colloquy cited by the majority opinion, Roberts answers “no” to the question of whether he had ever killed an animal in front of the children. The prosecutor next asked Roberts if he had ever beaten a cat to death with a ball bat while the children were watching, to which Roberts replied “[ajbsolutely not. I’ve never even heard of this allegation.” (R.1059). Then, the prosecutor asked another question that, in my view, was a deliberate attempt to prejudice the jury:
So then you would deny that you then cut the animal open and took the little kittens out of the animal?

Id.

This question has no suitable answer because the purpose of the question was simply to act as an evidentiary harpoon intended to prejudice the jury. Roberts repeatedly responded that he never killed or cut an animal open in front of the children. Furthermore, whether Roberts cut an animal open is irrelevant as to the charges of rape and child molesting. This is a collateral matter that speaks to Roberts’ character. It is obvious that the evidence was inadmissible without a rebuttal witness available to prove that Roberts in fact did cut the animal open. This testimony was never offered by the State either in its ease in chief or in rebuttal. Therefore, because the defense failed to introduce evidence of Roberts’ character in its direct examination of Roberts, this line of questioning is inadmissible because it is beyond the scope of cross-examination. Further, the evidence does not fit into any of the evidentiary exceptions allowing admission of character evidence regarding Roberts. Because the evidence is inadmissible and could not be offered as character evidence, the only purpose of the questions posed to Roberts in cross-examination was to intentionally prejudice the jury. Therefore, it is my view that the prosecutor committed prosecutorial misconduct by proceeding with this line of questioning.
A prosecutor’s misconduct rises to the level of fundamental error when it places the defendant in a position of grave peril to which he should not have been subjected, considering the misconduct’s probable persuasive effect on the jury’s decision. Stowers v. State, 657 N.E.2d 194, 198 (Ind.Ct.App. 1995), trans. denied. The evidence was inadmissible under Ind.Evidence Rule 403 because it was more prejudicial than probative of any fact at issue. Further, Roberts is not accused of killing animals. He is accused of child molesting. The prosecutor’s questions do not fall within any exceptions to the prohibition against proving action in conformity with bad character under Evid.R. 404. Therefore, because the only value of the prosecutor’s line of questioning was to prejudice the jury, I believe that the prosecutor’s misconduct rises to the level of fundamental error.