Court Opinion

ID: 9532153
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 04:18:39.450155+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:28:41.277279
License: Public Domain

V. J. Brennan, P. J.
(dissenting). I respectfully disagree with the decision reached by my colleagues in this case. My examination of the record in the case at bar fails to disclose any error warranting or requiring reversal of this defendant’s conviction.
Defendant was convicted by a jury in the Wayne County Circuit Court of carrying a concealed weapon contrary to the provisions of MCLA 750.227; MSA 28.424. The evidence presented below was, as my colleagues recognize, clearly sufficient to support this determination. Defendant contends, however, that his conviction should be reversed because the trial judge admitted certain testimony of the arresting officers as to the condition of his companion. Defendant asserts that the admission of this testimony constituted reversible error because it was highly prejudicial to his cause and had no probative value. I find myself unable to agree with this contention. In a criminal case the prosecution has the burden of showing all the facts surrounding an alleged crime. In other words the prosecution is required to present the entire res gestae at trial. People v Kayne, 268 Mich 186; 255 NW 758 (1934); 1 Gillespie, Michigan Criminal Law and Procedure (2d ed), § 434, pp 527-528. Such a requirement is imposed on the prosecution to assure not only that a defendant receives a fair trial, but also to guarantee that the jury makes its determination on the true facts of a case. The trial *36judge admitted the complained-of testimony on the basis that it constituted a part of the res gestae of the offense. This was clearly proper. The testimony served to show the facts which directed the officers’ attention to defendant and his companion and which aroused the officers’ suspicions. The complained-of testimony illuminated for the jury1 the circumstances under which the officers observed the concealed weapon on defendant. This testimony was not rendered inadmissible simply because it tended to suggest that defendant may have committed another crime. People v Savage, 225 Mich 84; 195 NW 669 (1923); People v Sheehy, 31 Mich App 628; 188 NW2d 231 (1971), lv den, 384 Mich 844 (1971); People v Skidmore, 28 Mich App 677; 185 NW2d 137 (1970), lv den, 385 Mich 753 (1971). Nor was it rendered inadmissible because its prejudicial effect outweighed its probative value. The only prejudicial effect I can discern from this testimony is that it constituted evidence damaging to defendant’s position. This is clearly not a sufficient basis to justify excluding legally admissible evidence.
Similarly, the fact that the prosecutor had defendant’s companion exhibit the scar on his throat to the jury does not require reversal of defendant’s conviction. The fact that defendant’s companion had a cut on his throat was already properly before the jury. This exhibition, therefore, merely served to corroborate the earlier testimony of the officers. No claim is made that the scar was of such a nature as to inflame the passions of the jurors. Accordingly, I fail to see how reversible error could here have been committed.
Defendant finally asserts that the prosecutor’s closing argument and the failure of the trial judge to give an instruction to the jury served to deprive *37him of a fair trial. Defendant did not, however, object to the prosecutor’s closing argument nor to the final charge given the jury. The "promise” to give an instruction relied on by defendant in his claim of reversible error was made before jury selection and in terms somewhat less definite than defendant asserts. Defendant never reminded the Court of the need for such an instruction and never objected to the final charge. It is clear that had defendant done so the errors here complained of, including those alleged to have occurred during the prosecutor’s closing argument, could have been remedied. I would not, therefore, reverse defendant’s conviction on the basis of these alleged errors.
For all of the foregoing reasons I would affirm defendant’s conviction.