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Lancaster v. State3/28/2002
fficer's use of a certain amount of guile in accomplishing the appellant's arrest. It is true that, upon encountering the appellant, the officer did not immediately ask him whether he was the murderer the Casper police were looking for. Neither did the officer, upon determining the appellant's identity, immediately state that he was under arrest for that crime. In a perfect world, we might want our police officers to act that way. But, in a perfect world, there would be no murders and we would not need police officers. Our constitutional protection against unreasonable searches and seizures must be interpreted in light of the real world's limitations and dangers. More often than not, complaints about police/citizen encounters describe law enforcement officers who are too quick to resort to force. In the case now before this Court, a police officer on routine patrol in a remote area, alone with a murder suspect, accomplished an arrest with minimal intrusion and with no use of force.
[ ] The above conclusions mean that the first element of the Strickland test has not been met in that trial counsel's performance was not deficient. While this determination makes it unnecessary to address the second element--prejudice to the appellant--we will make a few brief comments in that regard. In his appellate brief, the appellant's prejudice argument focuses on two pieces of evidence: the identification card found in the appellant's wallet and appellant's statement in the patrol car about drinking with friends and having a rough night. However, even had this evidence been illegally obtained, no substantial prejudice to the appellant resulted from its introduction. It is true that the New Mexico identification found in the appellant's wallet was used when the appellant purchased the rifle which allegedly was used in shooting Penn and Hanson, and that this became direct evidence that the appellant owned the rifle. It is also true that when officers searched the area of the Star Apartments after the murder, they found the rifle hidden in high weeds together with a suitcase containing the appellant's identification. Further, the crime occurred in the appellant's apartment and the appellant was seen just outside the apartment holding the rifle. In short, there was considerable evidence besides the New Mexico identification card connecting the appellant to the rifle. Absence of the New Mexico identification would not have changed the outcome of the trial.
[ ] The same can be said of receipt into evidence of the appellant's statement in the patrol car. The statement--that he had been drinking with friends and had had a rough night--was not needed to identify the appellant as the person who had been involved in the incident. There was overwhelming evidence of that fact. Beyond that, the statement is not really even inculpatory; drinking and having a rough night is as consistent with the appellant's version of the incident as it is with Hanson's version. If any prejudice to the appellant resulted from admission of his statement, such prejudice was neither unfair nor undue.
CONCLUSION
[ ] The trial court committed error in admitting into evidence a videotaped re-enactment of the appellant's attack upon Penn and Hanson, but such error was harmless. There is no reasonable possibility that the verdict would have been more favorable to the appellant absent introduction of the videotape. The videotape was merely cumulative of the voluminous admissible evidence pointing to the appellant's guilt.
[ ] Under the circumstances of this case, the prosecutor's questions to a police officer about the appellant having "ignored" the officer and having "not responded" to the officer were not improper comments upon t
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