Court Opinion

ID: 9624565
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 07:08:58.349347+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:05:49.930745
License: Public Domain

BURKE, Justice,
dissenting in part.
I disagree with the holding that it was error to admit evidence concerning Gould’s heroin addiction. The issue of identity was hotly contested; during trial a sharp conflict developed in the evidence as to whether Gould was, or could have been, the robber. Officer Otte’s testimony tended to establish more than the mere fact of Gould’s addiction. According to Otte, Gould not only stated that he was an addict, but that he suffered from a $300 a day habit, was not working at the time of the robbery, and was living with another individual who was apparently without funds. Such evidence, if believed, established a motive for Gould to commit the robbery with which he was charged. Such a motive would, in turn, provide evidence of the robber’s identity.
In Eubanks v. State, 516 P.2d 726 (Alaska 1973), this court noted,
At no time was it indicated that [Eu-banks] was an addict in need of drugs, that he used drugs often, or that drugs had been discussed prior to the events of that day.
516 P.2d at 729. Thus, we held that in a prosecution for grand larceny it was error to admit evidence that after the alleged larceny the defendant purchased heroin with the proceeds, saying:
*541[T]o introduce a possible drug association without more in order to indicate that the defendant must be a thief requires precisely the type of leap of faith the evidence rules have been designed to prevent. Because the prejudicial content of the evidence of possible prior misconduct far outweighs its minimal probative value, the evidence is inadmissible for the purpose of proving motive or intent.
Id. [footnote omitted]. In view of Gould’s need for drugs and his lack of funds to procure the same, I consider Eubanks clearly distinguishable from the case at bar. Given the conflicts in the evidence bearing on the issue of identity and the court’s cautionary instruction that such evidence could be considered only as it might tend to establish motive, I fail to agree that there was error.
Otherwise, I concur.