Court Opinion

ID: 9774823
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 18:34:52.426911+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:32:16.579501
License: Public Domain

DWYER, Judge
(concurring).
While I fully concur with our brethren in their conclusion as to the competency of the evidence of other crimes, some distinction in rationale should be observed.
It is true that the issue of identity is a question of fact for the jury and not for the court. It should be noted, however, that clearly a question of law is first advanced when the court is called upon to decide if the other independent crime(s) is admissible on the question of identity as an exception to the general rule that other crimes are not admissible. The general guidelines as to the admissibility of other crimes as substantive evidence on the issue of identity are, I think, twofold:- (1) there need be such similarity (uniqueness) in the circumstances of the commission of the offenses; or, such connection between the offenses, see Pruitt v. State, 3 Tenn.Cr.App. 256, 460 S.W.2d 385, 386, as to afford evidence of the identity of the offender as being the accused in the indictment crime; and (2) the admission of the other crimes need be necessary to aid in establishing identity, see Warren v. State, 178 Tenn. 157, 161-64, 156 S.W.2d 416, 418-19; Harris v. State, 189 Tenn. 635, 639-42, 227 S.W.2d 8, 10, 11. Such judicial determination of admissibility is a necessary safeguard so as to screen out incompetent evidence which, otherwise, if admitted, would leave the defendant open to being unfairly tried and convicted on other than the indictment crime, see Pruitt v. State, supra.
As noted in the majority, it is true that I concurred in Graybeal v. State, 3 Tenn.Cr.App. 466, 463 S.W.2d 159. A vast distinction exists, however, in that case and this one at hand. In Graybeal, the other crime was introduced in rebuttal of the defendant’s asserted alibi defense and to impeach the testimony of the alibi witnesses. The other crime was relevant for it was proven to have occurred during the same time span on the same date as the indictment crime was alleged and for which alibi was offered. *745I, therefore, can see the relevancy of the additional crime to impeach his defense.
However, Caruthers v. State, 219 Tenn. 21, 406 S.W.2d 159, appears to teach that denial and alibi make relevant other crimes which are not similar or connected to the indictment crime. I think the mere fact that all victims identified the defendant alone is not the key to relevancy and does not satisfy the similarities requirement; nor is denial and alibi the key to relevancy, see Harris v. State, supra.
I concur that the similarities found in this record between the other crime and the indictment crime placed a mark upon the defendant as being the perpetrator of the crime for which he was tried, and when coupled with the fact that identity was a crucial issue, the evidence of the independent crime was, I think, relevant on that issue, and importantly, does not go beyond the boundaries of Warren v. State, supra, see Harris v. State, supra.
With the above observations, I concur in the affirmation of this judgment.