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State v. Blackwell9/7/2004
e contends the following evidence was erroneously admitted:
(1) Testimony from a Durham County court clerk that Defendant had prior convictions fordriving while license revoked, driving without insurance, expired registration, and having an unregistered vehicle;
(2) Testimony from a Granville County court clerk regarding an entry in a judgment book and court minutes indicating Defendant pled guilty to driving while under the influence of intoxicants and received a suspended sentence of six months to three years;
(3) Testimony from a Person County court clerk that Defendant was arrested in 1984 for 'driving to an impaired substance' and received 30 days in jail.
We need not indulge in a protracted discussion of whether this testimony was inadmissible under State v. Wilkerson, 356 N.C. 418, 571 S.E.2d 583 (2002), because even if it was error to allow it, Defendant was not prejudiced since the State presented sufficient admissible other evidence from which the jury could infer malice.
Specifically, the State presented the testimony of six law enforcement officers who testified regarding Defendant's DWI incidents between 1989 and 1997. The officers described Defendant's erratic driving, his intoxicated demeanor, blood- alcohol concentration and other physical evidence leading up to his convictions. This additional evidence of the circumstances surrounding other prior convictions elicited from the officers rendered any error harmless.
Defendant also contends the 1984 Person County DWI and the 1979 Granville County DWI convictions should have been deemed inadmissible under Rule 404(b) because temporal proximity was lacking.
"The admissibility of any evidence under Rule 404(b) is guidedby two constraints--similarity and temporal proximity." State v. Goodman, 357 N.C. 43, 577 S.E.2d 619 (2003), adopting the dissent of 149 N.C. App. 57, 72, 560 S.E.2d 196, 206 (2002).
Rule 404(b) evidence is limited by a temporal proximity requirement because even though offenses may be similar, if they are distanced by significant stretches of time, commonalities become less striking, and the probative value of the analogy attaches less to the acts than to the character of the actor a purpose for which 404(b) evidence is excluded. Moreover, after the passage of time, the admission of other crimes . . . allows the jury to convict a defendant because of the kind of person he is, rather than because the evidence discloses beyond a reasonable doubt, that he committed the offense charged.
Id. As stated in Goodman, "driving convictions dating back sixteen years are admissible to prove malice, any conviction beyond sixteen years, however slight, runs afoul of the temporal proximity requirement of Rule 404(b)." Id. (indicating this Court is bound by the holding in State v. Miller, 142 N.C. App. 435, 440, 543 S.E.2d 201, 205 (2001)). As the 1984 Person County conviction occurred only 13 years before the crime at issue in this case, the trial court did not erroneously admit said conviction.
Defendant also challenges the admission of his 1979 Granville County DWI conviction because temporal proximity was lacking. Even assuming the admission of the 1979 conviction was error, such error would be harmless given the lengthy testimony from several law enforcement officers describing six driving while impaired episodes involving Defendant between 1989 and 1997. These prior convictions provided a sufficient basis upon which the jury could concludeDefendant acted with malice during the present offense. Thus, any error in admitting the alleged stale prior conviction was harmless.
Defendant next challenges the trial court's jury instruction regar
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