Court Opinion

ID: 9782104
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-30 17:59:03.166347+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:34:47.886104
License: Public Domain

Johnson, J.,
concurring: I also concur with the majority’s result, but write separately to clarify my position on the admissibility of the two commercial pornographic images. I would not find that Miller’s apparently surreptitious downloading, cataloging, and storage of commercial pornography reasonably tended to prove a motive for him to kill his wife, i.e., the evidence had no probative value in this murder prosecution.
Miller’s computer contained literally thousands of pornographic images which had been organized into folders according to activity type. The reasonable inference to be drawn is that Miller had been involved with this computer activity for quite some time prior to his wife’s death. Assuming that the wife was unaware of Miller’s activities and even assuming, based perhaps on one’s own sensibilities, that there was a likelihood that Miller’s wife would be so offended by the images that she would leave him, I am nevertheless unaware of any evidence suggesting that Miller would not have *725been capable of continuing to pursue his secret infatuation with Internet pornography without killing his wife.
More importantly, the “double life” theory that Miller was motivated to kill his wife to avoid the exposure of his computer pornography habits is counterintuitive. Miller’s early declaration to his children that he would be the prime suspect indicates that he had to know that killing his wife in the home would lead to a police investigation. Obviously, such an investigation would carry a significant risk that the computer pornography would be discovered. If Miller was motivated to keep his “double life of pornography” a secret, killing his wife in the home and disclosing to the police that he had been logged into the computer that night were among the worst things he could do. In other words, the State’s theory is illogical.
The suggestion that it is improper for us to base our analysis on the assumption that Miller acted in a logical manner in planning his wife’s murder is curious. The whole point of a relevancy inquiry is to determine whether there is some “ ‘natural, necessary or logical connection’ ” between the proffered collateral facts and the point intended to be established. (Emphasis added.) State v. Gauger, 200 Kan. 563, 565, 438 P.2d 463 (1968) (quoting In re Estate of Isom, 193 Kan. 357, Syl. ¶ 2, 394 P.2d 21 [1964]). If Miller acted irrationally in planning his wife’s murder, then there is no basis for the State to manufacture a theory to explain Miller’s motive.
Likewise, I reject the contention that the State is entitled to admit evidence relevant to a theory it divines, leaving it to the jury to assess the credibility of the theory. The jury’s function is to assess the credibility of admissible evidence, not to determine the legal question of the admissibility of evidence. The court bears the responsibility for making the threshold relevancy determination of whether, if believed by the jury, the State’s theory has a “tendency in reason to prove any material fact.” (Emphasis added.) K.S.A. 60-401(b). The State should not be permitted to present evidence in support of an unreasonable theory. For example, a prosecutor theorizing that a defendant lolled his wife because the defendant was overweight could argue that nude photographs of the defend*726ant were relevant to the fact that defendant was overweight. However, the fallacy is that, without more, there is no logical connection between being overweight and being motivated to kill.
Obviously, Miller’s extramarital affair was germane to the State’s theory. His desire to be with Parbs could reasonably tend to prove a motive to get rid of any impediment to that goal, i.e., to kill his wife. However, I cannot make a logical connection between the commercial pornography on Miller’s computer and his motive to kill his wife. Thus, I would find that all of the testimony about the commercial pornography on Miller’s computer was not relevant to the question of whether Miller had a motive to commit the murder. Therefore, the photographic images, while relevant to explain the testimony, were nevertheless irrelevant to establish motive. Lacking any probative value for the murder prosecution, the photographs should not have been admitted.
Nevertheless, the erroneous admission of the evidence does not require reversal. I have no quibble with the majority’s harmlessness analysis. However, I would find that reversal is not appropriate because the defense did not contemporaneously object and invited the error. The defense led the district court to believe that its complaint was about the prejudicial effect of admitting numerous photographs and then led the court to believe that particular objection had been resolved by the parties’ agreement. Under that scenario, reversal would be inappropriate.
Beier, J., joins in the foregoing concurring opinion.