Court Opinion

ID: 9769134
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 14:35:12.740738+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:30:55.704634
License: Public Domain

LIMBAUGH, Judge,
dissenting.
I have no quarrel with the way in which the majority applies State v. Bernard’s signature modus operandi corroboration exception to justify the admission of evidence of uncharged misconduct under the facts of this ease, but I write separately to revisit the propriety of the exception itself. The exception, stripped to its essence, is based on sheer propensity evidence — evidence that the courts have roundly condemned because, as even the Bernard majority notes, it “may encourage the jury to convict the defendant because of his propensity to commit such crimes without regard to whether he is actually guilty of the crime charged.” State v. Bernard, 849 S.W.2d 10, 16 (Mo. banc 1993). Although Judges Robertson and Thomas both wrote separate opinions in Bernard in which they forcefully voiced their opposition to the adoption of a signature m. o. corroboration exception, and in which Judge Thomas apologetically decried “having planted the seed for [the] exception ... in Sladek,” id. at 27 (Thomas, J. concurring), I will attempt to elaborate and expand on their points. My efforts are prompted all the more by this Court’s reaffirmation today in State v. Burns, 978 S.W.2d 759 (Mo. banc 1998), that the rule barring propensity evidence has a constitutional underpinning.
Both the proponents and the opponents to the exception agree on the basic principles regarding the use of other crimes evidence. As stated in Bernard,
The general rule concerning the admission of evidence of uncharged crimes, wrongs, or acts is that evidence of prior uncharged misconduct is inadmissible for the purpose of showing the propensity of the defendant to commit such crimes.... Evidence of prior misconduct of the defendant, although not admissible to show propensity, is admissible if the evidence is logically relevant, in that it has some legitimate tendency to establish directly the accused’s guilt of the charges for which he is on trial, and if the evidence is legally relevant, in that its probative value outweighs its prejudicial effect.
849 S.W.2d at 13 (citations omitted). Under these principles, only when evidence of other crimes is logically relevant — that is, the evidence is relevant on some issue other than the defendant’s propensity to commit crimes- — may the probative value increase to the point that it outweighs the prejudicial effect so that the evidence becomes legally relevant. In those situations, exceptions to the general rule of excluding other crimes evidence are recognized. The most commonly recognized exceptions, of course, are those involving evidence offered to show motive, intent, absence of mistake or accident, common scheme or plan, and identity, although the list is certainly non-exclusive. Id.
The Bernard majority’s adoption of the signature m. o. corroboration exception rests on two premises: 1) that “evidence of prior ci'imes is logically relevant in that it has a legitimate tendency to prove a material fact in the case by corroborating the testimony of the victim as to the sexual assault,” and 2) that the probative value of such logically relevant evidence outweighs the prejudicial effect when it is “nearly identical to the *144charged crime and so unusual and distinctive as to be a signature of the defendant’s modus operandi.” Id. at 17. This analysis, in my view, is fundamentally skewed. To be sure, the “signature” aspect of the evidence gives it great probative value that may outweigh the prejudicial effect, but the weighing takes place only if it is first determined that the evidence is logically relevant.
Evidence of prior crimes offered for corroboration is not logically relevant because it corroborates solely by showing defendant’s propensity to commit crime. In fact, propensity evidence corroborates the State’s proof on every issue in the case, and if corroboration was a proper exception, there would be no rule. Professor Imwinkelried, in his seminal treatise “Uncharged Misconduct Evidence,” explained the matter in this way:
Corroborating evidence is merely evidence that confirms other evidence of a fact.... Any similar uncharged act generally corroborates in the sense that the act shows the defendant’s propensity toward that type of crime and thereby increases the likelihood that the defendant committed the charged act. But that is precisely the theory of logical relevance forbidden by Rule 404(b)[the federal prohibition against other crimes evidence]. That “corroborative” use of uncharged misconduct would' be a patent violation of Rule 404(b). If “corroboration” were a separate “exception” to the exclusionary rule, that exception would swallow the rule.
EdwaRD J. Imwinkelried, Uncharged Misconduct Evidence, sec. 6:05 (1996).
As I understand the Bernard analysis, the ill effects of the corroboration evidence are somehow cured by restricting the admission of that evidence to signature m. o. eases. In my view, however, the signature n. o. version of corroboration evidence is no less pure propensity evidence; it still corroborates solely by showing defendant’s propensity. In essence, the signature m. o. characteristic does nothing more than boost the probative value of pure propensity evidence, and further, that evidence, in such a supercharged form, is the most prejudicial propensity evidence of all.
Oddly enough, the Bernard majority expressly acknowledged the problem by citing Judge Thomas’ concern that,
[ajlthough we have called this exception coiToboration, it really involves reasoning from the signature modus operandi based upon the propensity of the defendant to commit this type of crime to the conclusion that the defendant committed the crime charged. This reasoning goes squarely against the rationale for the general rule.
849 S.W.2d at 17. Having conceded that signature m. o. corroboration evidence is essentially propensity evidence, which by definition is not logically relevant, the majority nonetheless proceeded to weigh the probative value of the so-called logically relevant evidence against the prejudicial effect to arrive at its desired result.
Indeed, it would have been much more understandable had the majority simply abandoned any attempt at the logical relevance/legal relevance analysis, acknowledged that it was dealing with sheer propensity evidence, and adopted the exception on the basis of competing policy considerations.' It could be said, for instance, that the great probative value of signature m. o. corroboration evidence simply overrides the interests of the defendant. It is not wholly irrational, in other words, to allow propensity evidence as substantive evidence of guilt in certain cases. That is exactly the conclusion reached by the legislature when it enacted section 566.025, RSMo 1994, which provides that in prosecutions for sexual assaults against children under the age of 14, “evidence that the defendant has committed other charged or uncharged crimes involving victims under fourteen years of age shall be admissible for the purpose of showing the propensity of the defendant to commit the crime or crimes with which he is charged.” This approach, of course, is not a viable option as this Court has today ruled that section 566.025 is unconstitutional to the extent that it authorizes the admission of propensity evidence. Alas, I am unable to reconcile the rejection of propensity evidence under Bums with the admission of propensity evidence under Bernard’s signature m. o. exception.
*145For the foregoing reasons, I would overrule that part of State v. Bernard authorizing a signature m. o. corroboration exception. Because admission of the other crimes evidence in the ease at hand depends on the validity of the Bernard exception, the evidence should have been disallowed. Accordingly, I would reverse the conviction and remand for a new trial.