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Jeffries v. State1/29/1997
ring a tee-shirt that did not depict a white skull. The words of which the appellant now complains were something other than a white skull and were, for that reason, relevant. In any event, Judge Beard was not guilty of any clear abuse of discretion in making the evidentiary judgment call that the tee-shirt was relevant.
Admission of the Appellant's Previous Gunshot Wound
The appellant's third contention is that the trial court improperly admitted testimony of a previous gunshot wound the appellant had suffered, which was completely unrelated to the current incident. The evidence of the wound came to the attention of the jury because on the night of the incident while the appellant was being apprehended, he was bitten on the arm by one of the K-9 dogs. One of the officers on the scene realized that the injury needed medical attention, and the appellant was transported to Holy Cross Hospital where he received the appropriate care. Dr. Raymond White, the emergency room physician who treated the appellant, testified at trial that he noticed a previous gunshot wound that the appellant had suffered on the same arm as the dog bite. Dr. White further testified, over objection of defense counsel, that he was concerned that the gunshot wound may have been reinjured by the dog bite.
The appellant now contends that evidence of the prior gunshot wound should not have been brought to the jury's attention because "it had absolutely no relevance in the State's case and did nothing but prejudice [the appellant's] defense," and it further portrayed the appellant "as a violent person who came from a violent environment." Thus, the appellant would have us find reversible error on the ground that the previous gunshot wound was improperly admitted as other crimes or other bad acts evidence.
We need not, however, consider the merits of the appellant's argument because he has not preserved the issue for our review. Although defense counsel objected to the evidence at trial, he did so only on the ground of relevancy. He raises for the first time on appeal the argument that the evidence should have been excluded on the grounds of other crimes or other bad acts evidence. As this Court has previously held, "when the grounds for an objection are stated by the objecting party, either on a volunteered basis or at the request of the court, only those specifically stated are preserved for appellate review; those not stated are deemed waived." Banks v. State, 84 Md. App. 582, 588, 581 A.2d 439 (1990); see also Brecker v. State, 304 Md. 36, 39-40, 497 A.2d 479 (1985). Therefore, we need not explore the merits of the appellant's contention.
An objection to the admission of evidence on the ground of irrelevance is by no means the same thing as an objection to evidence on the ground of unfair prejudice. Indeed, the thrust of an unfair prejudice argument is that the prejudicial effect outweighs the acknowledged relevance. If the evidence were truly totally irrelevant, it would have little, if any, capacity to prejudice. At trial, the appellant objected on the ground of irrelevance but that objection has not been pursued on appeal. On appeal, by contrast, the appellant's argument is exclusively one of prejudice of the "other crimes" evidence variety, but that objection was not preserved for appellate review. The argument that was preserved is not being pursued; the argument that is being pursued was not preserved.
Even if the merits of the prejudice claim were before us, however, we fail to follow the appellant's argument either as a matter of law or as a matter of logic. He cites us no case, and we are aware of none, that holds that a gunshot wound or other scar is evidence of "o
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