Court Opinion

ID: 9574192
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 21:03:09.268818+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:44:12.116662
License: Public Domain

Williams, J.
(dissenting)—The trial court correctly admitted into evidence the rebuttal testimony of the neighbor girl and the bank manager. Much of the defense presentation was devoted to portraying Ortiz as a man with unusually low mental capabilities who could not be expected to understand, contemplate, or plan rape and murder. Significantly, Ortiz did not present this evidence in order to argue that, although he committed the acts alleged, he did not have the sufficient mental ability to form the mens rea necessary to commit aggravated first degree murder. Instead, he denied any participation in the crime and, aided by the testimony of several family members, attempted to convince the jury that he was home in bed at the time the victim was raped, beaten, and stabbed to death. Thus, the only relevant purpose this defense presentation served was to attempt to corroborate the alibi defense by persuading the jury that Ortiz was not the type of person who would—or even could—commit the heinous crime alleged but, rather, was the sort of person who more likely would have been home in bed at the time of the offense.
The State was not only entitled but had the duty to rebut this defense evidence and any reasonable inferences which might be drawn from it. State v. White, 74 Wn.2d 386, 444 P.2d 661 (1968). The testimony of the neighbor girl was properly offered to prove that Ortiz did understand and could project a future act of rape. Likewise, the bank manager's testimony concerning Ortiz opening a bank account tended to prove that he had the mental ability to *701plan ahead and remember what he had planned. The trial court carefully weighed the probative value of the rebuttal evidence against its possible unfair prejudicial effect and issued a straightforward cautionary instruction to the jury limiting its use. This was a proper exercise of the trial court's discretion. State v. White, supra; State v. Castro, 32 Wn. App. 559, 648 P.2d 485, review denied, 98 Wn.2d 1007 (1982).
I would affirm.
Reconsideration denied June 30, 1983.
Review denied by Supreme Court October 21,1983.