Court Opinion

ID: 9789418
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 01:36:11.210303+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:37:22.408429
License: Public Domain

HALL, Chief Justice:
(dissenting).
I am not persuaded that on the facts of this case the trial court abused its discretion by receiving the photographs of the crime into evidence.
The burden was upon the State to prove the essential elements of the offense of second degree murder as charged. Second degree murder is the unlawful killing of a human being with malice aforethought, while manslaughter is the unlawful killing of a human being without malice.1
Inasmuch as defendant admitted the killing, the basic issue at trial was one of his intent in doing so. Defendant testified that he was suffering from extreme mental or emotional distress, and therefore the element of malice was absent from his actions in taking the life of the victim. Consequently, he could at most be convicted of manslaughter. The State was thus put to the task of proving the essential element of malice.
It is not disputed that the photographs accurately depict the condition of the victim at the scene of the crime. The photographs depict the nature and extent of the numerous wounds inflicted and the atrocity of the crime and are therefore competent, relevant, and material to the issue of intent.
All evidence tends to prejudice the jury, and photographs are no exception. The fact that the photographs depict a gruesome scene created by defendant is no reason to exclude them from evidence if they are otherwise admissible. Also, it is not a valid objection that oral testimony has been offered regarding the detail shown by the photographs because photographs give a much clearer impression than does an oral description.
Applying the essential evidentiary value test as espoused by the Court in State v. Garcia,21 would affirm the conviction and judgment of the trial court.
HOWE, J., concurs in the dissenting opinion of HALL, C.J.

. Farrow v. Smith, Utah, 541 P.2d 1107, 1109 (1975). See also U.C.A., 1953, §§ 76-5-203, 76-5-205.

. Utah, 663 P.2d 60, 63-64 (1983).