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State v. Davis12/21/2000
that defendant wrote to his mother since his arrest while he was incarcerated. Defendant contends that the exclusion of the letters violated settled evidence rules as well as the United States and North Carolina Constitutions. We disagree.
Defendant relies on State v. Jones, 339 N.C. 114, 154, 451 S.E.2d 826, 847 (1994), cert. denied, 515 U.S. 1169, 132 L. Ed. 2d 873 (1995), in which this Court stated:
When evidence is relevant to a critical issue in the penalty phase of a capital trial, it must be admitted, evidentiary rules to the contrary under state law notwithstanding. Green v. Georgia, 442 U.S. 95, 60 L. Ed. 2d 738 (1979). The jury cannot be precluded from considering mitigating evidence relating to the defendant's character or record and the circumstances of the offense that the defendant offers as the basis for a sentence less than death.
In Jones, this Court held that the trial court erred by excluding the testimony of a witness who was prepared to say that the defendant had communicated remorse for what he had done. However, this Court ultimately found that the exclusion of the evidence was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt because another witness had been allowed to read to the jury a letter the defendant had written in which the defendant expressed regret. Notably, while the rules of evidence do not apply in a sentencing proceeding, the trial judge still must determine the admissibility of evidence subject to general rules excluding evidence that is repetitive or unreliable. State v. Simpson, 341 N.C. 316, 350, 462 S.E.2d 191, 211 (1995), cert. denied, 516 U.S. 1161, 134 L. Ed. 2d 194 (1996).
In the present case, defense counsel requested that defendant's mother be allowed to read the letters to the jury and proffered the exhibits as evidence tending to show defendant's remorse and relationship with his mother. The State objected. Defendant's mother was allowed to testify that she received the letters from defendant; that they were personal in nature; and that, in them, defendant expressed remorse for what he had done. The trial court ruled that the letters were inadmissible on grounds that they were cumulative of evidence already before the jury: "I'm going to find that the admission of the letters themselves to prove remorse or his relationship with his mother would be cumulative, that there's already been evidence produced for the jury to consider on those issues, and I'm going to exclude those letters."
When the trial court made its ruling, defendant had already presented evidence that he loved his mother. Moreover, several witnesses had testified that defendant constantly cried and expressed remorse about what he had done when they visited him during his incarceration. There was even evidence in the record that defendant frequently cried during the capital sentencing proceeding.
We conclude that the letters would have offered substantially the same evidence as the testimony of defendant's mother and other witnesses. Defendant was allowed to present to the jury evidence of remorse and of a loving relationship with his mother. In any event, the letters were unreliable in that they were written by a defendant facing a capital sentencing proceeding to a likely witness in the proceeding. As such, we hold that the trial court properly excluded the letters as cumulative and unreliable. Assuming arguendo that the trial court erred in excluding the letters from evidence, such error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. N.C.G.S. § 15A-1443(b) (1999); Jones, 339 N.C. at 154, 451 S.E.2d at 848. This argument is without merit.
In his thirteenth argument, defendant contends that the trial court erred in excluding the tes
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