Court Opinion

ID: 9629574
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 09:45:13.366896+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:07:21.340626
License: Public Domain

WEISBERGER, Chief Justice,
concurring and dissenting.
I concur with the majority opinion on all issues save issue No. Ill, in which the defendant asserts error on the part of the trial justice for having admitted evidence of his commission of a prior uncharged act of arson .and permitted improper argument as to its use. I believe that the admission and prosecutorial argument relating thereto was in direct violation of Rule 404(b) of the Rhode Island Rules of Evidence adopted by this Court. We stated in State v. Gallagher, 654 A.2d 1206, 1210 (R.I.1995):
“As a general rule, evidence that shows or tends to indicate that the accused has participated in a crime for which he or she is not on trial, even if it is the same type of crime, is irrelevant and inadmissible. State v. Cardoza, 465 A.2d 200, 202 (R.I.1983); State v. Jalette, 119 R.I. 614, 624, 382 A.2d 526, 531 (1978); State v. Mastracchio, 112 R.I. 487, 493, 312 A.2d 190, 194 (1973). ‘The overriding policy of excluding such evidence * * * is the practical experience that its disallowance tends to prevent confusion of issues, unfair surprise and undue prejudice.’ State v. Colvin, 425 A.2d 508, 511 (R.I.1981) (quoting Michelson v. United States, 335 U.S. 469, 476, 69 S.Ct. 213, 218-19, 93 L.Ed. 168, 174 (1948)). When a jury is allowed to consider independent crimes for which a defendant is not on trial, a real possibility exists that such indication of bad character or bad acts would create prejudice in the minds of the jurors and improperly influence their decision in regard to the crimes charged. Colvin, 425 A.2d at 511. The danger is that jurors may believe that the prior crimes or bad acts denote a propensity in a defendant to commit the crime with which he or she is charged. In these circumstances the potential for prejudice outweighs the probative value of such evidence, and it is therefore inadmissible. State v. Brown, 626 A.2d 228, 233 (R.I.1993); State v. Chartier, 619 A.2d 1119, 1122 (R.I.1993).”
In the case at bar, two witnesses stated that defendant had relayed to them a prior exploit in which he had burned down a “crackhead’s” house in New York because the owner had “stiffed him” for an indebtedness of $600. The New York crime had *1058nothing to do with the criminal act with which defendant was charged in the case at bar. Counsel for defendant had filed a motion in limine to exclude this evidence. The trial justice denied this motion and deferred his ruling until the testimony would be offered at trial. At that time the trial justice overruled the objection and admitted the testimony. Counsel for defendant objected and indicated that this was a violation of Rule 404(b), which specifically forbids the introduction of evidence of prior bad acts “to prove the character of a person in order to show that the person acted in conformity therewith.”
In the case at bar, counsel for the state during closing arguments referred to the testimony relating to defendant’s having committed arson in the State of New York in the following manner: “Why did he become involved [in the arson at .issue]? Because it was * * * an excuse to do what he was best at, burning houses in revenge, just like he had done in New York. [He] burned a crackhead’s house when [he] got stiffed for $600. * * * What he was doing was acting in conformity about what he had done.” Counsel for defendant objected to this statement. The trial justice overruled the objection and declined to give a cautionary instruction at that point. Counsel for defendant also moved to “pass the case.” This motion was denied by the trial justice.
It is hard to imagine a more flagrant example of a prosecutor’s urging a group of lay jurors to consider a prior criminal act for the sole purpose of seeking to persuade them that defendant acted in conformity with a propensity evidenced by a prior act.
More than twenty years ago Justice Kelleher writing for this Court in State v. Jalette, 119 R.I. 614, 624, 382 A.2d 526, 531-32 (1978), gave a general admonition setting forth the inadmissibility and irrelevance of evidence which tended to indicate that the accused has committed another crime completely independent of that for which he is on trial, even though it be a crime of the same type. For this proposition he cited State v. Mastracchio, 112 R.I. 487, 312 A.2d 190 (1973); People v. Kelley, 66 Cal.2d 232, 57 Cal.Rptr. 363, 424 P.2d 947 (1967); Ross v. State, 276 Md. 664, 350 A.2d 680 (1976); State v. Cote, 108 N.H. 290, 235 A.2d 111 (1967); and Whitty v. State, 34 Wis.2d 278, 149 N.W.2d 557 (1967).
He went on to give the rationale for the proposition.
“This principle is merely an expression of the rule which bars the state from the initial introduction of evidence of the accused’s, bad character. See State v. Guaraneri, 59 R.I. 173, 194 A. 589 (1937). Thus, the state may not present evidence of other criminal activity by the accused unless the evidence is ‘substantially relevant for some other purpose than to show a probability that he has committed the crime on trial because he is a man of criminal character.’ McCormick, Evidence § 190 at 447 (2d ed.1972). Moreover, another reason for this exclusionary principle is the prejudicial potential of such evidence, the real possibility that the generality of the jury’s verdict may mask a finding of guilt which is based upon involvement with unrelated crimes rather than on the evidence which shows the defendant guilty of the crime charged. Spencer v. Texas, 385 U.S. 554, 560, 87 S.Ct. 648, 652, 17 L.Ed.2d 606, 612 (1967).” Jalette, 119 R.I. at 624, 382 A.2d at 532.
Justice Kelleher did not end with that general admonition but went on to instruct trial justices and hopefully this Court concerning the manner in which such evidence, even if admissible, should be managed in the trial court, including the method of instruction to be given to the jury.
“We are extremely conscious that the indiscriminate use of ‘other crimes’ evidence poses a substantial risk to an accused’s right to a fair trial. We adopt the holding in Kelley with the,admoni*1059tion that this type of evidence should be sparingly used by the prosecution and only when reasonably necessary. Whitty v. State, supra. The trial court should exclude such evidence if it believes it is purely cumulative and not essential to the prosecution’s case. Evidence of other crimes is admissible only when it tends to show one of the exceptions to which we have previously alluded and only when that exception is relevant to proving the charge lodged against the defendant. State v. Curry, 43 Ohio St.2d 66, 380 N.E.2d 720 (1975). In seeking to attain this particular goal, the trial court may insist that the prosecutor point to the specific exception on which he relies and show how that exception relates to the pending charge. In its charge the trial court should not take a scatter-shot approach and list all of the exceptions to the exclusionary rule. Rather, it shall designate with particularity the specific exceptions to which the ‘other crimes’ evidence is relevant and delete from its charge the remaining exceptions.” Id. at 627-28, 382 A.2d at 533.
In the instant case, the trial justice did not follow this admonition. He did not give a cautionary instruction at the time the evidence was introduced. He did not delineate when the instruction was given the specific exception on which the state relied. Nor did he show how that exception related to the pending charge.
It is not difficult to understand why counsel for the state did not indicate the specific exception, since in his closing argument the prosecutor suggested to the jury that the sole purpose of this evidence was to show propensity (that he acted “in conformity about what he had done”). I earnestly suggest that this evidence and particularly the argument of counsel for the prosecution did not fit any of the exceptions listed in Rule 404(b). These exceptions are “proof of motive, opportunity, intent, preparation, plan, knowledge, identity, absence of mistake or accident, or to prove that defendant feared imminent bodily harm and that the fear was reasonable.” Id. An examination of these exceptions with a minimum of analysis would show with transparent clarity that none of them applied to the burning of the “crack-house” in New York. The sole motivation and purpose of this evidence was to prove propensity. If the rule means anything, it is designed to bar propensity evidence. Unlike the situations involved in some of our prior cases, this evidence was not introduced to prove an element material to the chain of proof of the crime at issue. See, e.g., State v. Acquisto, 463 A.2d 122, 128 (R.I.1983); State v. Cline, 122 R.I. 297, 330, 405 A.2d 1192, 1210 (1979).
The trial justice did prior to final argument at the request of counsel for Garcia give the following instruction:
“Now there’s been some evidence of a statement by one of the defendants about an alleged crime. Let me read you what the rules say. ‘Evidence of a — evidence of other crimes, wrongs or acts are not admissible to prove the character of the person in order to show that he acted in conformity therewith. It may, however, be admissible for other purposes such as proof of motive, opportunity, intent, preparation, plan, knowledge, acts [sic ] of mistake or accident.’
So, it’s not used to show the defendant committed this particular crime. He’s presumed innocent. All — both defendants are presumed innocent and evidence of any other unlawful activity is not used to show that someone has the capacity to commit a crime.”
If any instruction could be construed as “scatter-shot” as described by Justice Kelleher, the foregoing instruction would meet such a description.
The majority raises two arguments in support of the trial justice’s ruling. First, they suggest that the crackhouse burning revealed both Garcia’s “vengeful motive and his ‘settled purpose’ to commit the charged misconduct, as well as his pre*1060ferred plan and intention to achieve his revenge via arson * * *.”
This statement like the trial justice’s charge is a mere collocation of words. The burning of the crackhouse in New York had nothing to do with the motive for burning the house in Providence. The majority gives lip service to the obligation of the trial justice to explain the limited purpose for which the jury may consider such evidence, but apparently are unable to select an appropriate purpose even at the appellate level. They cite a series of cases which are wholly inapplicable to the case at bar. The New York incident did not reveal a plan or motive or design. Nor did it prove an element of the crime charged. See Acquisto, 463 A.2d at 128. Its sole purpose was to show propensity, a purpose which is forbidden.
The majority further relies upon the fact that counsel for Garcia withdrew his objection to evidence concerning the New York incident after that objection had been overruled.
Nevertheless, counsel for Garcia asked for a cautionary instruction in regard to the Rule 404(b) evidence. In response to that request, the trial justice gave the scatter-shot instruction quoted above. Certainly the issue of the adequacy of this instruction has been preserved.
There is certainly no question that counsel for Garcia objected clearly and emphatically to the final argument of counsel for the prosecution and asked for an immediate instruction indicating that this argument was improper. The trial justice overruled the objection, thus blessing the argument of the prosecutor with judicial approval, and declined to give an instruction at that point. This issue has been preserved and is admitted by the majority to have constituted error. However, the majority considers that error to be harmless in light of the instruction given by the trial justice. I must vehemently disagree with that conclusion.
The prosecutor’s argument set at naught anything that the trial justice may have indicated in his scatter-shot instruction earlier in the case. The evidence was wrongfully admitted in the first instance. The motion in limine was wrongfully denied in the first instance. The withdrawal of objection at one point in the trial did not dilute or vitiate the reassertion of that objection at later points in the trial and particularly at the time of final argument. The trial justice’s response to those objections was wholly inadequate and ineffective.
The majority’s determination that these errors were harmless emphasizes again the admonition of Justice Kelleher in Jal-ette that such evidence should be used only when reasonably necessary. If this error was harmless, the evidence could not have been reasonably necessary to the prosecution’s case.14
It is time that this Court should rein in the prosecutorial tendency to utilize evidence of prior bad acts even when totally irrelevant to the crime charged. See State v. Hopkins, 698 A.2d 183, 189-91 (R.I.1997) (Weisberger, C.J., dissenting). Unless we are willing to abandon the field in this area and erase Rule 404(b) from the Rhode Island Rules of Evidence, it is incumbent upon us to enforce it particularly in such an egregious case as that presented before us now.
As Judge Posner suggested in United States v. Wright, 901 F.2d 68, 70 (7th Cir.1990), the admitting of evidence of other crimes of the same general character as that with which the defendant is charged without fitting it into an appropriate exception would erase Rule 404(b). In that case, similar to the situation in the case at bar, the trial judge admitted a statement *1061made by the defendant which was recorded by the police. On the tape the defendant admitted committing other drug crimes and bragged about being a drug dealer. The trial judge admitted the evidence purportedly pursuant to Rule 404(b) of the Federal Rules of Evidence as exceptions for the purpose of establishing identity and intent. Judge Posner writing for the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals asserted unequivocally that the statement did not prove identity or intent but rather established only the forbidden element of propensity.
Since, in the case at bar, the trial justice declined to give an instruction immediately following the prosecutor’s admittedly wrongful and inappropriate statement of the use to which the evidence of the burning of the crackhouse should be put and failed to address this matter in his final instructions to the jury, the lay jurors were permitted to embark upon their deliberations with the erroneous words of the prosecutor ringing in their collective ears. If this is not an invitation to erroneous application of a prior uncharged crime, it would be difficult to conceive of a situation wherein the invitation would be more emphatic.
My suggestion to the majority most respectfully advanced is that either Rule 404(b) should be honored or it should be repealed. The crime with which this defendant was charged and of which he was convicted is of the most heinous sort. The brutality with which innocent persons were burned to death is almost beyond description. Such a crime is appropriately punished by the most severe sentence that the law of the State of Rhode Island would allow, life imprisonment without parole. However, it is in just such a case that this Court must demand of the prosecution and the trial justice that evidence used to convict the defendant be properly admissible and probative of the crime charged. It is in such cases that our resolve to accord due process and appropriate standards of proof is most severely tested.
I, therefore, would respectfully dissent from the majority opinion on this issue and would award the defendant a new trial in which this evidence would be unequivocally and categorically excluded.

. We suggested in State v. Acquisto, 463 A.2d 122, 129 (R.I.1983), that the reasonable necessity requirement of Jalette would not be mandatory in a case not involving a sexual offense when the evidence was relevant to prove an element of the crime charged. There is no such relevance here.