Court Opinion

ID: 9795769
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 03:38:21.706615+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:36:19.190506
License: Public Domain

*253McFarland, C J.,
concurring in part and dissenting in part: I dissent from the majority’s decision reversing the conviction based on the conclusion that the prosecutor’s conduct in this case prejudiced the defendant Lafayette Cosby and denied him a fair trial.
The majority’s decision to reverse the conviction in this case is based heavily on the prosecutor’s inquiry at trial about the defendant’s failure to tell the officers that he was defending Alrick Johnson when he killed Martin. This inquiry was an effort to impeach the defendant’s trial testimony with his post-Miranda silence, in violation of Doyle v. Ohio, 426 U.S. 610, 49 L. Ed. 2d 91, 96 S. Ct. 2240 (1976). There is no question that the prosecutor’s inquiry was improper. The question is whether reversal is required. I believe it is not.
First, the Doyle violation cannot serve as grounds for reversal in this case because there was no objection at trial to the prosecutor’s questions about the defendant’s failure to tell the officers his exculpatory version of events. It is well settled that “[a] timely and specific objection to the challenged question or comment is necessary to preserve a Doyle issue for appeal. State v. Fisher, 222 Kan. 76, 83-84, 563 P.2d 1012 (1977).” State v. Haddock, 257 Kan. 964, 973, 897 P.2d 152 (1995), overruled on other grounds State v. James, 276 Kan. 737, 79 P.3d 169 (2003). The basis for this rule is K.S.A. 60-404, which prohibits reversal for the erroneous admission of evidence where there was no contemporaneous objection:
“A verdict or finding shall not be set aside, nor shall the judgment or decision based thereon be reversed, by reason of the erroneous admission of evidence unless there appears of record objection to the evidence timely interposed and so stated as to make clear the specific ground of objection.”
The majority frames the Doyle issue as one of prosecutorial misconduct, which, of course, is a claim that can be raised on appeal despite a lack of objection at trial. See State v. Miller, 284 Kan. 682, 715, 163 P.3d 267 (2007). I understand there is a potential conflict between the contemporaneous objection rule of K.S.A. 60-404 and our rule allowing prosecutorial misconduct claims to be raised for the first time on appeal. See State v. Hernandez, 284 *254Kan. 74, 79,159 P.3d 950 (2007) (recognizing the potential conflict but finding it unnecessary to address it as there was a contemporaneous objection to the alleged Doyle violations). I do not believe, however, that the contemporaneous objection rule can be avoided by characterizing what is essentially a complaint concerning the admission of evidence of the defendant’s post-Miranda silence as prosecutorial misconduct. There is no claim in this case that the prosecutor violated Doyle during closing arguments.
The purpose of the rule requiring a timely and specific objection is to give “ ‘the trial court the opportunity to conduct the trial without using the tainted evidence, and thus avoid possible reversal and a new trial.’ ” State v. Moore, 218 Kan. 450, 455, 543 P.2d 923 (1975). By failing to lodge a Doyle objection at trial, the defendant failed to take advantage of the opportunity to avoid prejudice from the admission of evidence of his post-Miranda silence and, thus, has waived the right to claim prejudice on appeal.
Second, even if the Doyle violation is properly before us, reversal is not required as the error was harmless under the facts of this case.
As noted above, there is no question that the prosecutor’s inquiry was improper. Therefore, the first step of the Tosh prosecutorial misconduct analysis is met. State v. Tosh, 278 Kan. 83, 85, 91 P.3d 1204 (2004). Under the second step of the prosecutorial misconduct analysis, an appellate court considers three factors in determining whether reversal is required:
“(1) whether the conduct is gross and flagrant; (2) whether the misconduct shows ill will on the prosecutor’s part; and (3) whether the evidence against the defendant is of such a direct and overwhelming nature that the misconduct would likely have little weight in the minds of the jurors. None of these three factors is individually controlling. Before the third factor can ever override the first two factors, an appellate court must be able to say that the harmlessness tests of both K.S.A. 60-261 (inconsistent with substantial justice) and Chapman v. California, 386 U.S. 18, [22,] 17 L. Ed. 2d 705, 87 S. Ct. 824 (1967) (conclusion beyond a reasonable doubt that the error had little, if any, likelihood of having changed the results of the trial), have been met.” State v. White, 284 Kan. 333, Syl. ¶ 2, 161 P.3d 208 (2007).
Applying the third factor, the majority concludes that the evidence was not overwhelming: “The lack of overwhelming evidence *255undercutting the defense-of-another theory, when both K.S.A. GO-261 and Chapman are taken into account, further persuades us that this case must be reversed and remanded for a new trial.” 285 Kan. at 252. I strongly disagree. Even without the evidence admitted in violation of Doyle, the credibility of this defense was persuasively undermined in three ways: (1) by the direct and overwhelming evidence which showed the shooting was unprovoked and unjustified; (2) by the undisputed evidence that before he was apprehended, the defendant failed to tell anyone that he killed Martin in defense of another, despite numerous opportunities during which it would have been natural to do so; and (3) by the utter lack of credibility of the defendant’s testimony.
The facts of this case are quite unique. Nine people who all knew each other gathered socially in the defendant’s apartment. Included in this group were the defendant’s roommates, Mamadou Drame and Bouba Sembene, the defendant’s very close friend, Alrick Johnson, and Johnson’s girlfriend, Brianna Moten. In addition, the defendant had invited his downstairs neighbor, Vanessa Engelbert, and her friends, Andrea Garrison and Chad Davis. Robert Martin, whom the defendant had known for a number of years, arrived at the party with Davis. Martin had not been invited, and it was established that the defendant was aware that Johnson was “leery” of Martin due to a prior incident involving Johnson’s foster sister, who was Martin’s girlfriend. Nevertheless, by all accounts, Martin was greeted warmly by everyone at the gathering, including the defendant.
Not long after arriving, Martin went to the back of the apartment. The defendant followed him back there. According to Daws, when he went to check on Martin and the defendant they were in the bedroom, relaxed and laughing.
When the men rejoined the party, Martin sat in a chair opposite the couch where Johnson, Moten, and Engelbert were sitting. Martin then got up, walked over to the couch, and tapped Johnson on the shoulder to get him to move over so he could sit on the couch. Martin then squeezed in between Johnson and Engelbert, putting four people on a couch meant for three. As Johnson described it, Martin was sitting so close he could feel Martin’s body next to his.
*256There is no dispute that the defendant walked into the living room and, without comment and in front of seven acquaintances, shot Martin three times at fairly close range as he sat on the couch. These seven witnesses testified about the events before the shooting, the shooting, and the immediate aftermath. All of these witnesses undercut the defendant’s version of the events leading up to the shooting. According to everyone but the defendant, Martin had not said or done anything that caused them concern for anyone’s safety. All seven testified that there was no argument, unpleasantness, or provocation before the shooting. Even the defendant’s good friend, Alrick Johnson, who, according to the defendant’s trial testimony, was in mortal danger from Martin, testified that he had no reason to believe he was in danger from Martin that night. No one other than the defendant claimed to have seen Martin with a gun. It is difficult to see how the evidence could any more directly and overwhelmingly discredit the defendant’s trial testimony as to why he shot Martin.
Moreover, I do not see how the evidence that the defendant failed to tell his exculpatory defense to the police could have had any effect on the jury’s opinion of this defense, given the overwhelming evidence that the defendant failed to tell anyone that he had justifiably shot and killed Martin despite the many opportunities he had to do so before being apprehended. It is permissible to impeach witnesses “ ‘by their previous failure to state a fact in circumstances in which that fact naturally would have been asserted.’ ” Hernandez, 284 Kan. at 82-83 (quoting Jenkins v. Anderson, 447 U.S. 231,239, 65 L. Ed. 2d 86, 100 S. Ct. 2124 [1980]) (holding that impeachment by use of prearrest silence does not violate Doyle).
The defendant’s first and best opportunity to tell someone that he was justified in shooting Martin arose just after the shooting, when Johnson asked the defendant what was going on. Although it would have been natural at that moment for the defendant to tell Johnson that Martin had a gun and he thought Martin was going to shoot Johnson, he said no such thing. Instead, he replied, “I don’t know, man.” The only other statement the defendant made *257to Johnson was that he was worried that the girls would not “keep their mouths shut.”
The defendant also had an opportunity immediately after the shooting to explain to Chad Davis, who was Martin’s good friend, that he thought Martin had a gun and was going to shoot Johnson. However, as Chad Davis testified, the only thing the defendant said to him was, “That motherfucker tried to kill me.”
The defendant’s next opportunity to tell his version of the events occurred after he fled the apartment. According to the defendant, he tried unsuccessfully to flag down cars as he walked along the road. He even tried to flag down a police car. He then walked to a church and attended a service. A friend of his was there and the defendant spoke with him, but the defendant did not tell him what had happened.
The defendant’s next opportunity to tell someone that he had killed in defense of another occurred after he arrived in Topeka. He went to a friend’s house where he got a change of clothes and spent the night. Although he told his friend that police officers would be looking for him, he did not tell his friend anything about the incident.
The next opportunity came later when he met a man at a gas station in Topeka. The defendant testified that they walked around for a while, talking. The defendant admitted to the man that he had killed someone the previous night, but he did not tell him that he did it because he was defending someone.
The defendant’s theory of defense of another was contradicted by direct and overwhelming evidence from seven eyewitnesses. Furthermore, the credibility of the defendant’s theory was effectively impeached by properly admitted evidence showing that before he was apprehended, the defendant failed to offer his exculpatory version of events under circumstances in which it would have been natural to do so. That evidence was more than sufficient to support the reasonable inference that the defense-of-another theory was a recent fabrication. Thus, I believe beyond a reasonable doubt that the jury would have rejected the defendant’s defense-of-another theory even without the Doyle violation.
*258This is not what could be called a close case. The jury had the defendant’s version of events, contrasted with the evidence from the seven eyewitnesses which did not even marginally corroborate the defendant’s version. The credibility of the defendant’s testimony was impeached by the evidence that, before he was apprehended, he failed to tell anyone that he shot Martin in defense of Johnson. The desire to justify the killing to the eyewitnesses would have been strong. Two of the witnesses were his roommates. The defendant did not even tell Johnson he shot Martin to save his life. Any lingering question of credibility evaporated when the defendant’s testimony degenerated into vague, rambling claims that he was on trial as the result of two separate conspiracies: (1) a conspiracy between Martin, Davis, and Garrison to “set him up” and (2) a conspiracy on the part of the Lawrence Police Department to cover up for Martin by moving evidence around in the apartment. To say the evidence of guilt in this case was overwhelming is an understatement; it was more like a massive tsunami.
Even if the issue is properly before us, I would hold that under the unique facts of this case the prosecutor’s violation of Doyle was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt because it had little, if any, likelihood of changing the result. I would, therefore, affirm Cosby’s conviction.