Court Opinion

ID: 9717998
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 07:14:28.51408+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T11:26:53.542683
License: Public Domain

KELLER, Justice,
dissenting.
Although I agree that the trial court erroneously permitted Roberts to testify to inadmissible hearsay, I dissent from the majority because I do not believe that the introduction of this evidence warrants the reversal of Crowe’s conviction.1
The majority opinion correctly notes that the Commonwealth’s case consisted exclusively of circumstantial evidence. This, however, did not preclude the Commonwealth from establishing a powerful case against Crowe. After examining the other evidence in the record, I do not believe that “there is a substantial possibility that the result would have been any different” 2 if the trial court had excluded the Roberts hearsay testimony. In my opinion, the majority reaches a contrary conclusion because it considers the fact that a prior trial of this indictment resulted in a hung jury as evidence that the Commonwealth’s proof of Crowe’s guilt was tenuous. A jury’s inability to reach a verdict, however, may mean nothing more than one (1) juror possessed reasonable doubts about the defendant’s guilt or, as is equally likely in this case, degree of guilt. I find this Court’s conclusions about the possible prejudice from the Roberts hearsay testimony suspect to the extent they rely upon spéculation about the reasons for a hung jury at a different trial with different evidence instead of the record now before us.
Medical testimony established that Lei-sha Crowe’s death resulted from blunt force trauma in the form of eight (8) blows to her head with a foreign object such as a hammer or crowbar. Evidence from both the prosecution and defense suggested that Leisha Crowe’s wounds would have bled profusely, and the Commonwealth introduced evidence that: (1) two blood spots found on a pair of the appellant’s blue jeans positively matched Leisha Crowe’s DNA; (2) forensics found blood inside a “rinse vac” rented by the appellant the day after his wife disappeared; and (3) the appellant quickly cleaned up a substance on his kitchen floor, believed to be blood, when a visitor in his home took notice of it.
The Commonwealth also introduced evidence of atypical behavior on the part of the appellant in the course of the investigation of Leisha Crowe’s homicide. Aneil Crowe’s description of why his wife had left their home the night she disappeared became more vague when attempts were made to verify the initial information. An-eil Crowe made no inquiries regarding the nature of his wife’s injuries when informed by the investigating detective that his wife was killed. Although two witnesses testified that they observed fresh, asymmetrical scratches on the appellant’s face and right hand, Crowe initially denied having the scratches at all, but then introduced evidence at trial that the scratches came from the family dog.
In support of its theory that the appellant killed his wife after she informed him she intended to divorce him, the Commonwealth introduced testimony from two of Leisha Crowe’s co-workers documenting the appellant’s wife’s stated intention, on *387the day of her death, to inform her husband of her desire to divorce him. A local attorney testified that Leisha Crowe had met with him some months previously to discuss divorce options. Although the majority asserts that the erroneously admitted testimony from another attorney, Roberts, was highly prejudicial because it suggested another, more recent, contact with a divorce attorney, I see the testimony as largely cumulative. Although Aneil Crowe made a token attempt during the cross-examination of Leisha Crowe’s coworkers to suggest that some doubt existed as to exactly what the appellant’s wife intended to “tell him” on the night of her death, the context of those statements is inescapable, and the appellant made no serious attempt to contest the fact that his wife intended to leave him. In my opinion, the Roberts testimony may have made the co-workers statements marginally more credible, but did not seriously influence the result in this trial. Cumulative, undisputed evidence represents the epitome of harmless error.3
I would affirm the judgment of the Warren Circuit Court.
JOHNSTONE and WINTERSHEIMER, JJ„ join this dissent.

. See RCr 9.24:
No error in either the admission or the exclusion of evidence and no error or defect in any ruling or order, or in anything done or omitted by the court or by any of the parties, is ground for granting a new trial or for setting aside a verdict or for vacating, modifying or otherwise disturbing a judgment or order unless it appears to the court that the denial of such relief would be inconsistent with substantial justice. The court at every stage of the proceeding must disregard any error or defect in the proceeding that does not affect the substantial rights of the parties.

Id.

. Abernathy v. Commonwealth, Ky., 439 S.W.2d 949, 952 (1969).

. See Bruce v. Commonwealth, Ky., 441 S.W.2d 435, 438 (1969) ("[T]his evidence, even if erroneously admitted, could not have been prejudicial because it was cumulative in character and concerned incidental matters about which there was no dispute. R.Cr. 9.24.” Id.)-, Patterson v. Commonwealth, Ky.App., 555 S.W.2d 607, 609 (1977) (hearsay evidence cumulative and nonprejudicial).