Court Opinion

ID: 9536656
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 07:04:22.180332+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:54:55.278856
License: Public Domain

TRAYJNTOR, J.
— I dissent.
I would reverse the judgment and order on all counts.
Defendants were convicted of four crimes alleged to be part of an extensive criminal venture whereby Tarantino used threats of exposure by magazine and radio to extort money from his victims. Since the victims were of unsavory character, to convince the jury, it was necessary for the prosecution to substantiate its case by evidence that the victims were telling the truth. It accomplished this purpose by introducing 60 excerpts of illegally obtained recordings of conversations that took place in Tarantino’s room. These recordings permeated the prosecution’s case, and the record demonstrates that they weighed heavily with the jury in substantiating the testimony of the victims. After the jury had been out for over a day, the jurors reported that they could not agree on any count of the indictment. Thereafter excerpts of the recordings were repeatedly played to them at their request, and not until after four days of deliberation were they able to reach a verdict.
The majority opinion concedes that under these circumstances the admission of the illegally obtained evidence was prejudicial as to three of the counts. It concludes, however, that as to Count 2, no prejudice is shown. It reaches this conclusion on the following grounds: (1) The alleged Vlasoff extortion occurred before the microphone was hidden in Tarantino’s room, and there “is no mention in the evidence obtained by the device of the alleged offense against Vlasoff.” (2) Vlasoff’s testimony is “impressively strength*603ened by the testimony of other witnesses, the victims of Counts 3 and 4 and the victims of extortions not charged against the defendants, showing the pattern of defendant’s criminal operations.” (3) The jury was instructed that “Bach count set forth in the Indictment charges a separate and distinct offense. You must consider the evidence applicable to each alleged offense as though it were the only accusation before you for consideration, and you must state your finding as to each count in a separate verdict; uninfluenced by the mere fact that your verdict as to any other count or counts is in favor of, or against, the defendants. They may be convicted or acquitted upon any or all of the offenses charged, depending upon the evidence and the weight you give to it, under the Court’s instruction.” (4) “It is to be presumed that the jury obeyed this instruction and was not influenced to return a guilty verdict as to Count 2 upon evidence other than that pertinent to this count.” When these grounds are viewed in the light of the record they demonstrate that the admission of the illegally obtained evidence was just as prejudicial with respect to the Vlasoff count as it was with respect to the others.
Vlasoff testified that during the pendency of the present proceedings he had been indicted for attempting to steal money by means of fraudulent and marked cards and loaded dice, that he had been a pimp living off the earnings of prostitutes, and that he had been arrested at different times for vagrancy, pimping, gambling, and after-hours sales of liquor. He also admitted committing perjury for $1,000 by signing a false affidavit. Had his testimony stood alone, it is doubtful that it would have convinced the jury of defendants’ guilt on Count 2. What other evidence would the jury consider “pertinent to this count”? It would consider the same evidence that the majority opinion considers relevant to sustain the conviction on Count 2, namely, the evidence “showing the pattern of defendant’s criminal operations,” evidence that, with respect to crimes not charged, was only admissible because it was relevant as showing “criminal methods and purposes similar to those shown by the testimony of Vlasoff.” Inextricably intermixed with the admissible relevant evidence of other crimes was the inadmissible evidence of those crimes provided by the recordings. The jury could not rationally determine whether the testimony of the other victims “impressively strengthened” Vlasoff’s testimony until it determined whether those victims were telling the truth, and it *604would inevitably turn to the recordings in making that determination.
The judgment in this case must stand or fall as a whole. Since all of the offenses charged were part of one pattern of alleged criminal conduct, evidence of each offense was relevant to prove all of the others. The indictment itself listed defendants’ conversations with Vlasoff as overt acts of the conspiracy charged in Count 1. In reaching its verdict on Count1 2 the jury was not required so to compartmentalize the evidence as to disregard the evidence on the other counts, for the evidence on the other counts, including the illegally obtained evidence, was not only relevant but “pertinent” to Count 2, and indeed, the majority opinion itself relies on the legally obtained evidence on the other counts to affirm the conviction on Count 2. Since the jury was instructed to consider all of the relevant evidence, it cannot be assumed that in reaching its verdict on Count 2 it relied solely on the legally obtained evidence on the other counts to substantiate Vlasoff’s testimony and disregarded the illegally obtained evidence on those counts. Nor can it be assumed that it relied on both classes of evidence in reaching its verdict on Counts 1, 3, and 4 but only on legally obtained evidence in reaching its verdict on Count 2. The conclusion is inescapable that if the admission of the illegally obtained evidence was prejudicial as to Counts 1, 3, and 4, it was also prejudicial as to Count 2.
Gibson, C. J., concurred.