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State v. Payne11/20/2002
her crime" was committed by Brown, not the defendant. The State further argues that any prejudicial effect created by the evidence was slight, pointing out that Rogers's testimony did not directly implicate the defendant in the crime, and that the trial court instructed the jury that the defendant was not charged with the robbery of Rogers and it was not to consider evidence of that robbery when making its determination of the defendant's guilt of the offenses with which he was charged. We agree with the State.
Tennessee Rule of Evidence 404(b) which, with certain exceptions, prohibits " vidence of other crimes, wrongs, or acts . . . to prove the character of a person in order to show action in conformity with the character trait" is inapplicable in this situation, since the crime at issue was committed by Brown, and the State presented no direct evidence that the defendant was involved. The appropriate analysis of this issue, therefore, is under Tennessee Rules of Evidence 401 and 403. Rule 401 provides that relevant evidence is "evidence having any tendency to make the existence of any fact that is of consequence to the determination of the action more probable or less probable than it would be without the evidence." Rule 403 provides that relevant evidence, which under Rule 402 is generally admissible, may be excluded if "its probative value is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice, confusion of the issues, misleading the jury, or by considerations of undue delay, waste of time, or needless presentation of cumulative evidence." Tenn. R. Evid. 403.
The trial court found that Rogers and Brown were both "an integral part of whole scenario" and that there was no meaningful way for the State to present Rogers's testimony without introducing evidence that he was being robbed by Brown. Consequently, the court ruled that the evidence was relevant in order to establish the context for Rogers's testimony, including the conditions that existed at the time he heard Brown's statement to the defendant. The court stated, however, that it would instruct the jury that it was not to hold the defendant accountable for the robbery of Rogers:
f there is circumstantial evidence that Mr. Rogers and [the victim] were connected, if there is circumstantial evidence that this is an overall combination of interest by [the defendant] and Mr. Brown, those are issues for the jury to decide. But I can tell the jury that they are not to hold [the defendant] accountable for what happened to Mr. Rogers. That's the only way I know how to do that.
I don't believe you can exclude the facts of what's going on at the same time under the scenario y'all are giving me. I don't see any way to do that at all. So I'll deny that motion.
We find no abuse of discretion by the trial court in this matter. The evidence was relevant to show the context in which Rogers heard Brown's statement and witnessed some of the events that transpired on the porch of the duplex. Moreover, its probative value was not substantially outweighed by the danger that it would unfairly prejudice the defendant. In fact, that Rogers was being robbed as the victim was being robbed and shot would appear relevant to explain why Rogers was not more attentive to the victim's plight and did not try to aid him. To minimize the evidence's prejudicial effect, the trial court twice instructed the jury, at the time the testimony was presented, that the defendant was not being charged with the robbery of Rogers and it should not consider any evidence of that robbery in its determination of the defendant's guilt. Furthermore, the trial court repeated the same instruction to the jury at the conclusion of the trial, pro
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