Court Opinion

ID: 9730664
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 15:20:16.334741+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:26:08.435828
License: Public Domain

SHIRLEY S. ABRAHAMSON, J.
(dissenting). The prosecutor asked Officer McKale:
“Q. Now, in your capacity as a detective with the Vice Squad for almost ten years, do you have an opinion as to the presence of these — this shotgun and this pistol in the house in conjunction with the other materials and other property that you found there?”
Defense counsel objected. The grounds for the objéction were lack of relevancy, materiality and foundation. The court allowed the officer to testify as follows:
“A. Yes. Well, on numerous occasions when executing search warrants for people involved in the distribution of controlled substances we have encountered guns and gunfire.”
*539The majority considers the objection on its merits and so do I. The majority concludes that McKale’s testimony is relevant in the instant case. I disagree.
The determination of relevancy can be a difficult task. Before considering the merits of the objection in the case at bar I think it essential to set forth the process to be used to determine relevancy.
The general rule is that all relevant evidence is admissible and that evidence which is not relevant is not admissible. Rule 904.02, Stats. 1979-80. Evidence is relevant if it has “any tendency to make the existence of any fact that is of consequence to the determination of the action more probable or less probable than it would be without the evidence.” Rule 904.01, Stats. 1979-80. Accordingly the test of relevancy is does the evidence alter the probability of the existence of the fact to be proved.
Though easily stated the test is difficult to apply. Relevancy is not an inherent characteristic of any item of evidence but exists only as a relation between an item of evidence and the fact to be proved. Evidence is relevant if there is a relation between the proffered evidence and a fact that is of consequence to the determination of the action, that is, a fact important under the substantive law of the crime.1 James, Relevancy, Probability and the Law, 29 Calif. L. Rev. 689, 696, n. 15 (1941), in Selected Writings on Evidence and Trial, 610, 615, n. 15 (Foyer ed. 1957), cited in 59 Wis.2d R69.
To determine relevancy we must apply principles of experience, science, and reason to discern the relation, if it exists, between the evidence offered and a fact which either plaintiff or defendant must prove or dis*540prove to prevail in the prosecution or defense of the matter.2
Whether the proffered evidence is relevant is determined by a process consisting of the following three steps: (1) describing the item of evidence proffered; (2) stating the “fact of consequence to the determination of the issue,” which fact we shall call the consequential fact, Rule 904.01, Stats. 1979-80; and (3) setting forth the analysis by which the trier of fact is to infer the consequential fact from the proffered evidence. The third step, explaining how the proffered evidence may tend to prove or disprove the consequential fact, enables the trial court to determine whether the evidence actually alters the probability of the existence of the consequential fact. Because the determination of relevancy depends on reason, science, and human experience, people may disagree whether there is a relation between the evidence (the fact known) and the consequential fact to be proved. The trial court in ruling on relevancy is vested with discretion which accommodates both variance in the application of reason and science and differences in the human experience. Oseman v. State, 32 Wis.2d 523, 527, 145 N.W.2d 766 (1966). Yet to vest discretion is not to abandon inquiry and analysis. State v. McCleary, 49 Wis.2d 263, 182 N.W.2d 512 (1971).
Where relevancy is readily apparent, the trial court may simply announce its ruling on the objection without extended analysis. When an objection is made and relevancy is not readily apparent, the proponent of the evidence when arguing its admissibility, and the trial court, when later ruling on the objection, should set forth on the record the relevancy relationship. On review, when *541the relevancy is not readily apparent, an appeal court should set forth its analysis.3
In the instant case, the majority and I agree that relevancy is not readily apparent. The majority correctly concludes that “[tjaken in isolation, McKales’ prior weapons experiences with other drug cases not involving the defendant would no doubt be irrelevant, since under any expression of relevance the testimony would not be germane or logically related to the crime charged.” (Supra, p, 529.)
The majority concludes that McKale’s testimony is relevant to prove defendant’s intent to deliver heroin only in connection with what the majority calls “a chain of facts.” These facts are set forth by the majority opinion which is quoted below and include the guns, the entire assortment of drugs and paraphernalia at the residence, money at the residence, the bars on the windows and door of this ground floor apartment, the high cost of heroin, and the inference drawn from the bars on the windows and door that the occupant of the apartment is resorting to self-help and self-protection. The majority sets forth the chain of facts to be used to make McKale’s testimony relevant as follows:
“. . . But the testimony in question was not offered, nor should it be viewed, in isolation. It was closely related to McKale’s other testimony concerning the discovery of the guns at the defendant’s residence. Thus we believe the relevancy of McKale’s previous encounter with guns and gunfire is inextricably linked to the relevancy of the other testimony evidence of the guns found at the defendant’s residence . . . We believe the testimony and other evidence relating to the weapons found in the defendant’s residence were part of a chain of facts by which the state sought to have the jury infer that the defendant possessed heroin with the intent to deliver it. The chain included the entire assortment of drugs and *542paraphernalia as well as the presence of money and physical fortifications of the residence. As Detective McKale stated in his testimony, heroin is an expensive commodity. The defendant could not rely upon the police to protect him in his business transactions or upon the courts to enforce his drug-related obligations. McKale’s testimony is indicative of the role of self-help and self-protection in the business of drug trafficking, and we believe the evidence of the presence of guns in the defendant’s residence, in conjunction with the other accoutrements of heroin trafficking, had some tendency to make it more probable than it would have been absent such evidence that the defendant possessed heroin with the intent to deliver.” (Supra, pp. 529, 532, 533.)
The majority concludes but does not explain how the facts in the “chain of facts” operate to make McKale’s testimony which is conceded to be irrelevant standing alone have a tendency to make the existence of defendant’s intent to deliver heroin more probable than it would be without the testimony. To test the majority’s conclusion I will use the three-step analysis set forth above.
The first step, as stated before, is to identify the proffered evidence. Here it is McKale’s statement. McKale’s statement is ambiguous and subject to different interpretations. McKale refers to “numerous occasions” and conjunctively describes encountering “guns and gunfire” in executing search warrants for persons involved in drug distribution. If McKale’s statement is to have application to this case, the majority must by inference be interpreting the statement to mean that on the basis of his ten years’ experience on the narcotic squad he concludes that numerous persons who intend to deliver heroin (hereafter called heroin dealers) have guns and engage in gunfire.4
*543The second step, as stated before, is to identify the consequential fact to be proved. Here it is that the defendant intended to deliver heroin.
The majority correctly concludes that it cannot infer from the proffered testimony the consequential fact that the defendant intended to deliver heroin. The evidence that the defendant had guns does not establish the relation between McKale’s testimony and the consequential fact that the defendant is a heroin dealer. The evidence that numerous heroin dealers have guns and that the defendant has guns does not have any tendency to make the existence of defendant’s intent to deliver heroin more probable than it would be without this evidence. Guns may be possessed for a variety of purposes, legal and illegal. Numerous people have guns: numerous hunters *544have guns; numerous police officers have guns; numerous people interested in guns have guns; numerous heroin dealers have guns; numerous thieves have guns; numerous people in illegal activities have guns; the defendant has a gun. In light of the multiplicity of reasons for which guns are possessed, evidence that the defendant has a gun and that numerous heroin dealers have guns does not give rise to any inferences as to the defendant’s hobby, occupation or use of or delivery of heroin. The majority must therefore be relying on the other facts to make McKale’s testimony relevant.
The issue on which the case is decided and to which I now turn is whether McKale’s testimony about guns is relevant in connection with the chain of facts.
Evidence of the defendant’s possession of a coffee grinder, razor blades, film negatives and scales — paraphernalia which were present in defendant’s apartment and three of which had traces of heroin residue — and McKale’s testimony explaining how these paraphernalia are used by heroin dealers, not users, tend to prove that defendant is involved in the sale, rather than the use, of heroin. We all know that many homes have coffee grinders, razor blades, scales and film negatives. But in homes where people are not involved with heroin, traces of heroin residue are not found on these items, and these items are not generally assembled or grouped in one place as they were in the defendant’s apartment. The defendant’s razor blades, scale and film negatives were together on the dining room table. The coffee grinder was on a kitchen shelf and had heroin residue on it. These items are used directly in the sale of heroin.
These drug paraphernalia in and of themselves were not sufficient to establish defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. McKale’s testimony as to the guns was, as the state argued, required to show that the defendant fit the pattern of or conduct followed by heroin dealers *545so that the trier of fact could conclude that the defendant was a heroin dealer.5
McKale’s testimony as to the use of guns by drug dealers does not perform the same evidentiary function as does his testimony as to the paraphernalia which, like guns, are found in homes of innocent citizens — as well as criminals. The residue on the paraphernalia directly showed possession of heroin. The paraphernalia and McKale’s testimony explaining the use of these items by heroin dealers are circumstantial evidence of intent to *546deliver heroin, that is, evidence from which a jury could infer defendant’s intent to sell, because the paraphernalia are typically utilized by sellers of heroin not users of heroin. In contrast, McKale’s testimony about dealers’ use of guns does not tie guns particularly to dealers rather than to users or the defendant’s guns directly or indirectly to heroin sale per se even when viewed in connection with the chain of facts.
In order for McKale’s testimony as to the guns to have a tendency to alter the probability that the defendant intended to deliver heroin, the majority must be making the following inferences from McKale’s statement: Numerous heroin dealers possess guns, because they need guns to protect their person and property. The heroin dealer’s need for protection comes from his being engaged in an illegal activity. He must protect himself from the police, which is why McKale experienced gunfire in executing search warrants. He must protect himself from drug addicts and thieves, because he cannot rely on police protection. He fears addicts and thieves because as a dealer he has valuable property on his premises — heroin, which is costly, and the cash which he receives on the heroin sale. The majority must then infer that a heroin possessor is also engaged in illegal activity and will want to protect himself from the police, but that a possessor, having less heroin and less cash on his premises, is not as fearful of addicts and thieves as is the dealer. The majority must then further infer — all from McKale’s one sentence — that the heroin possessor is therefore less likely to have guns than is a heroin dealer. Because the defendant is involved in heroin activity and has a gun, the majority must then infer that the defendant has a gun because he anticipates having to protect himself from police, addicts and thieves, because he anticipates having large amounts of heroin and cash, because he knows he is a dealer.
*547McKale did not state that heroin dealers are more apt to have guns than are heroin users. McKale did not testify that the guns in defendant’s possession were of a type generally used by heroin dealers as distinguished from those used by heroin users or by other criminals or that the guns were used or possessed by this defendant for self-help or in any other manner related to the sale of heroin.6 Without such testimony, the majority cannot infer from its experiences that heroin dealers are more apt to have guns than are heroin users. The majority knows from its experience that numerous drug users steal cash and valuables in order to get money to buy drugs and that such thieves use weapons, including guns. Consequently, from experience and the record, the majority can infer only that numerous heroin users, as well as numerous heroin dealers, have guns. Because the majority cannot infer that heroin users are less likely to have guns than heroin dealers, McKale’s testimony, without further foundation or explanation, does not make the existence of the defendant’s intent to deliver heroin more probable than it would be without McKale’s testimony. Consequently I conclude that the officer’s testimony as to drug dealers and guns is no more relevant to intent to deliver heroin with the “chain of facts” than without the chain of facts.
In order to infer defendant’s intent to deliver heroin from McKale’s testimony as to his encounters with numerous dealers, one must construct many links in a chain of inferences. A great number of the links are weak and rest on speculation and reaction, not on assumptions and inferences logically drawn on the basis of probabilities resting in human experiences, science or reason.
*548McKale’s testimony is an invitation to the trier of fact to speculate as to the association between the witness’s statement and the innocence or guilt of the defendant. Admitting testimony on this basis invites prejudice by presenting assertions to the jurors which are received as evidence yet which bear not so much on the issues in the case but upon the reactions of the jury.
I therefore conclude that the evidence should have been excluded on grounds of relevancy. If I viewed this evidence as marginally relevant, I would conclude that Mc-Kale’s testimony, which raises the spectre of the police doing their job while being met by gunfire, should have been excluded because its probative value is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice, confusion of the issues, and misleading the jury. Sec. 904.03, Stats. 1979-80.
Although it is a close question, I conclude the error was prejudicial. I therefore dissent.

 Shapiro v. Klinker, 257 Wis. 622, 44 N.W.2d 622 (1951). See comments to Rule 904.01, Stats. 1979-80, 59 Wis.2d Rp. 67-70.

 Hicks v. State, 47 Wis.2d 38, 176 N.W.2d 386 (1970); Zebrowski v. State, 50 Wis.2d 715, 185 N.W.2d 545 (1971).

 1 Weinstein’s Evidence par. 401[08], pp 401-29-30; par. 401 [09], pp. 401-31-37.

 Whether McKale’s statement lends itself to this interpretation is open to question. His testimony was stated in the general terms of his experience on “numerous occasions when executing search warrants.” His testimony was not in terms of the nar*543cotic squad’s experiences with all persons arrested or convicted for selling’ drugs. This omission is critical since the inference sought was that sellers have guns, not persons against whom search warrants are issued upon probable cause to believe that the person is involved in drug distribution. His testimony was in terms of “people involved in the distribution of controlled substances.” The statement could encompass a user or seller, both of whom are involved in the distribution of drugs. Moreover, his testimony was not in terms of heroin nor even in terms of schedule I controlled substances. He did not testify whether the frequency of gun possession or use varied among dealers in different drugs or depended in any way on the quantity of drugs seized. His testimony was in terms of having “encountered guns and gunfire.” His testimony was not clear as to whether guns and gunfire are used as synonyms or refer to separate events occurring during the course of his experience. He does not state whether his experience indicates likely possession of a particular kind or kinds of guns or of a wide variety of guns. There was no evidence with respect to the frequency of drug dealers in the gun possessing population as compared to the frequency of drug dealers in the non-gun possessing populace. Nor was there evidence of the frequency of drug dealers with guns compared to those without fire arms. Nor was there any testimony as to the means by which he organized, compiled and selected the data used to reach his conclusion.

 In this case the state was attempting to draw a picture of the typical heroin dealer in order to enable the trier of fact to fit the defendant into that picture. This case is not like the profile cases concerned with whether the profile evidence provides probable cause to search or a reasonable suspicion to detain briefly. See United States v. Mendenhall, 446 U.S. 544, 64 L. Ed.2d 497 (1980); Reid v. Georgia, 448 U.S. 438, 65 L. Ed.2d 890 (1980); United States v. Cortez, - U.S. -, 101 S. Ct. 690 (1981); United States v. Lopez, 328 F. Supp. 1077 (S.D.N.Y. 1971); United States v. McCaleb, 552 F.2d 717 (6th Cir. 1977); Ninth Circuit Survey, “Profile” Stops and the Fourth Amendment Reasonable Suspicion or Inarticulate Hunches?, 10 Golden Gate U. L. Rev. 112 (1980); Carter, Fourth Amendment — Airport Searches Seizures: Where Will the Court Land?, 71 J. Crim. L. and Crim. 499 (1980). See also Williams, Selection Criteria for Career Criminal Programs, 71 J. Crim. L. and Crim. 89 (1980).
This case does not appear to raise the question of introducing an expert to testify as to statistical inference or the probability theory of the defendant being a dealer if he had the multiple characteristics of a dealer. The application of the law of probability to the courtroom is problematic. See People v. Riley, 214 N.Y. 75, 108 N.E. 200 (1915); People v. Collins, 66 Cal. Rptr. 497, 438 P.2d 33 (1968); McCormick,. Evidence sec. 204 (Cleary ed. 1972); Liddle, Mathematical and Statistical Probability As A Test of Circumstantial Evidence, 19 Case Wes. Res. L. R. 254 (1968); Stoebuck, Relevancy and the Theory of Probability, 51 Iowa L. Rev. 849 (1966); Ball, The Moment of Truth: Probability Theory and Standards of Proof, 14 Vand L. Rev. 807 (1961); Kingston, Probability and Legal Proceedings, 57 J. Crim. L. and Crim. 93 (1966); Comment, Probability Theory and Constructive Possession of Narcotics: On Finding That Winning Combination, 17 Houston L. Rev. 541 (1980) ; Comment, Evidence — Rules of Admissibility and the Law of Probability, 8 Land and Water L. Rev. 285 (1973).

 Were McKale to have offered this testimony a question would remain whether this evidence would be relevant absent other evidence tending to show that the guns, like the paraphernalia here, were actually used in the manner sought to be inferred. No such evidence was offered.