Camm v. State

• Decision Date: 10 August 2004
• Docket Number: No. 22A01-0208-CR-326.,22A01-0208-CR-326.
• Citation: 812 N.E.2d 1127
• Parties: David R. CAMM, Appellant-Defendant, v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee-Plaintiff.
• Court: Indiana Appellate Court

812 N.E.2d 1127

David R. CAMM, Appellant-Defendant, v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee-Plaintiff.

No. 22A01-0208-CR-326.

Court of Appeals of Indiana.

August 10, 2004.

Katharine C. Liell, Stacy R. Uliana, Liell & McNeil, Bloomington, IN, Attorneys for Appellant.

Steve Carter, Attorney General of Indiana, Andrew A. Kobe, Deputy Attorney General, Indianapolis, IN, Attorneys for Appellee.

OPINION

BARNES, Judge.

Case Summary

David R. Camm appeals his three convictions for the murder of his wife and two children. We reverse.

Issues

The dispositive issue we address today is whether the trial court committed reversible error by allowing the State to present extensive evidence of extramarital sexual activity by Camm. For retrial purposes, we also address other issues that Camm has raised.

Facts

The evidence most favorable to the convictions is that on the evening of September 28, 2000, Camm shot and killed his wife Kim and their children, seven-year-old Brad and five-year-old Jill, at their home in Georgetown. The shooting took place in the Camms' garage, apparently sometime after 7:30 p.m., when Kim and the children would have been due to arrive home from Brad's swimming practice. Camm's version of events was that he was playing basketball at a nearby church from 7:00 p.m. until approximately 9:20 p.m., after which he drove home and found Kim, whom he immediately thought was dead, lying on the ground next to her Bronco. He then claimed to have looked inside the vehicle and found Jill and Brad. Camm thought Brad might still be alive, so he reached in over Jill, removed him from the Bronco, placed him on the garage floor next to Kim, and began performing CPR. When this proved futile, Camm said he called the Sellersburg Indiana State Police post for help, then ran across the street to his grandfather's house to tell his uncle, who was staying there, what had happened. Camm had been a State Police trooper for many years, but had quit the force several months earlier to work for a family business that, among other things, waterproofed basements.

Police showed the t-shirt Camm was wearing on the night of the 28th to a blood spatter expert. The expert believed certain blood droplets, which were later confirmed to be from Jill, found on one corner of the shirt were high velocity impact spatter resulting from a gunshot. Based in part on this evidence, on October 1, 2000, the State charged Camm with three counts of murder.¹

On January 7, 2002, a jury trial began with the selection of jurors from Johnson County because of the extensive media coverage of the crime in the Louisville area. The trial continued in Floyd County until March 15, 2002, when the jury retired to deliberate. The key physical evidence against Camm was the purported high velocity blood spatter on his t-shirt, which was challenged by Camm's forensic expert. The State also presented extensive evidence of Camm's personal life, specifically, evidence that he had had several sexual encounters with or propositioned women other than Kim during his time with the State Police. On March 17, 2002, the jury informed the trial court that it was dead-locked; the trial court instructed the jury to continue deliberating. Later that day, the jury returned with guilty verdicts on all three counts. Camm was sentenced to a total of 195 years, and he now appeals.

Analysis

I. Evidence of Camm's Adultery

During the State's case-in-chief, it presented the testimony of twelve women who had had various types of relationships with Camm since 1991. At one end of the romantic spectrum were three women with whom Camm had had prolonged sexual relationships, the most recent of which occurred in 1997. Camm had a relationship with one of these women, Stephanie Neely, while he was separated from Kim in 1994 and had moved out of the family home and into an apartment. On the other end of the spectrum were two women to whom Camm apparently made implied sexual advances, such as offering to take care of one woman's basement waterproofing bill in "other ways." Tr. p. 2848. Two other women testified as to more overt sexual overtures that they had rebuffed. The remaining five women, who had varying levels of acquaintanceship with Camm, had had at least one instance of sexual contact with Camm, including kissing, fondling and, in some instances, intercourse, but little else besides what the women described as extensive flirting. Some of the women were asked during their testimony to divulge details of their relationships with Camm, such as when, where, and how they engaged in sexual activities, including such details as the shaving of pubic hair. Camm filed a motion in limine challenging the admissibility of this evidence and repeated his objection at trial. He argues that the admission of this evidence was an attack on his character not admissible for any proper purpose under Indiana Evidence Rule 404(b).

A trial court has broad discretion in ruling on the admissibility of evidence, and we will disturb its rulings only where it is shown that the court abused that discretion. Griffith v. State, 788 N.E.2d 835, 839 (Ind.2003). Evidence Rule 404(b) provides in pertinent part:

Evidence of other crimes, wrongs, or acts is not admissible to prove the character of a person in order to show action in conformity therewith. It may, however, be admissible for other purposes, such as proof of motive, intent, preparation, plan, knowledge, identity, or absence of mistake or accident....

"This rule prevents the State from punishing people for their character...." Bassett v. State, 795 N.E.2d 1050, 1053 (Ind.2003). Evidence of other wrongs or acts poses the danger that a jury may convict a defendant because his or her "general character" is bad. Id. (quoting Gibbs v. State, 538 N.E.2d 937, 939 (Ind.1989)). In determining the admissibility of extrinsic act evidence under Evidence Rule 404(b), courts must: (1) determine whether the evidence of other crimes, wrongs, or acts is relevant to a matter at issue other than the person's propensity to engage in a wrongful act; and (2) balance the probative value of the evidence against its prejudicial effect pursuant to Evidence Rule 403. Id. Otherwise admissible evidence may be rendered inadmissible "if its probative value is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice...." Ind. Evidence Rule 403.

The State asserts that this evidence was offered to establish motive. With respect to the motive "exception" in Evidence Rule 404(b), our supreme court has said that motive is "always relevant" when proving a crime. Ross v. State, 676 N.E.2d 339, 346 (Ind.1996). It is clear, however, that just because motive is "always relevant," this does not mean the State can introduce questionable character evidence simply by labeling it evidence of "motive." If the State's claim of relevance to motive is too strained and remote to be reasonable, then the extrinsic act evidence is inadmissible. See Bassett, 795 N.E.2d at 1053

.

Our supreme court has also said that evidence of extrinsic acts may be relevant as proof of motive if the acts "show the relationship between the defendant and the victim." Ross, 676 N.E.2d at 346. This rationale has been used to uphold the introduction of evidence of prior violence or threats by the defendant against the victim in a trial alleging the battery or homicide of the victim. See id.; Price v. State, 619 N.E.2d 582, 584 (Ind.1993)

. Specifically, "where a relationship between parties is characterized by frequent conflict, evidence of the defendant's prior assaults and confrontations with the victim may be admitted to show the relationship between the parties and motive for committing the crime — `hostility.'" Spencer v. State, 703 N.E.2d 1053, 1056 (Ind.1999).

Neither party has cited to this court, nor has our own research revealed, any Indiana case that has discussed the admissibility, as evidence of motive, of a defendant's adulterous affairs in a trial where the defendant is accused of killing his or her spouse. The Indiana case closest to being on point appears to be Henson v. State, 530 N.E.2d 768 (Ind.Ct.App.1988),trans. denied. In that case, a wife was charged with the voluntary manslaughter of her husband. On cross-examination of the wife, the State questioned her regarding several alleged instances of adultery; her answers to the questions were equivocal. Thereafter, on rebuttal the State presented four witnesses to the affairs. We reversed the wife's conviction, holding (1) that the State's cross-examination regarding adultery was outside the scope of the wife's direct examination and (2) that the rebuttal evidence of the affairs was immaterial and "had no relevance to [the wife's] guilt or innocence." Id. at 770. We further stated, "We can find no basis for the State's introduction of the rebuttal testimony other than to prejudice the jury against [the wife]." Id. The opinion does not address, however, whether the adultery evidence could have been relevant to establishing motive, presumably because that was not argued by the State. Nevertheless, Henson does evidence healthy skepticism about the relevance and admissibility of evidence of extramarital affairs by a defendant charged with killing his or her spouse.

There is a general paucity of cases throughout the country discussing the issue of adultery as evidence of motive to kill one's spouse.² However, we have discovered that the Supreme Court of Mississippi has addressed precisely this issue in detail and in a manner that appears to us entirely consistent with Indiana case law and Indiana Evidence Rule 404(b). In Lesley v. State, 606 So.2d 1084 (Miss.1992), a wife was convicted of conspiring with a lover to murder her husband. The wife admitted to the affair with the accused lover. However, the husband was also allowed to testify as to two other men with whom his wife allegedly had had extramarital affairs in previous years. The Mississippi Supreme Court...