Ex parte Peraita

• Decision Date: 04 June 2004
• Citation: 897 So.2d 1227
• Parties: Ex parte Cuhuatemoc Hinricky PERAITA. (In re Cuhuatemoc Hinricky Peraita v. State of Alabama).
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court

897 So.2d 1227

Ex parte Cuhuatemoc Hinricky PERAITA.

(In re Cuhuatemoc Hinricky Peraita v. State of Alabama).

1021974.

Supreme Court of Alabama.

June 4, 2004.

Rehearing Denied August 27, 2004.

Everette A. Price. Jr., and Charles E. Johns, Jr., Brewton, for petitioner.

William H. Pryor, Jr., atty. gen., Richard F. Allen, acting atty. gen., Nathan A. Forrester, deputy atty. gen., and A. Vernon Barnett IV and Anne C. Adams, asst. attys. gen., for respondent.

HOUSTON, Justice.

Cuhuatemoc Hinricky Peraita appeals his conviction on two counts of capital murder and his resulting sentence of death. The Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed his conviction and his sentence. Peraita v. State, [Ms. CR-01-0289, May 30, 2003] ___ So.2d ___ (Ala.Crim.App.2003). Peraita petitioned this Court for a writ of certiorari, and we granted that petition as to four issues. We affirm.

Facts and Procedural History

The record reveals the following facts. Peraita is an inmate in Holman Correctional Facility. At the time of the incident resulting in the capital murder convictions, he was serving a sentence of life imprisonment as the result of earlier convictions for murder. At some time during his incarceration, he broke off a homosexual relationship with fellow inmate Quincy Lewis and began another homosexual relationship with inmate Michael Castillo. After Peraita began his relationship with Castillo, Lewis often threatened Peraita and Castillo.

In the early hours of December 11, 1999, Peraita and Castillo were sitting on or near Castillo's bunk bed in a dormitory-like room housing several inmates. Lewis walked toward Castillo's bed and sat on a bed across from Castillo's, facing Castillo and Peraita. Peraita stood to leave and walk back to his bunk bed. As he did, Lewis stood up and slapped Peraita on his face. Peraita did not respond, but continued walking to his bed.

Minutes later, Peraita returned to Castillo's bed. Lewis was still sitting on the bed across from Castillo's, Peraita sat down, remained seated for a few minutes, then stood to leave. However, instead of leaving, Peraita grabbed Lewis's head and snapped it back. Castillo then drew a knife and stabbed Lewis multiple times in the neck and other areas; he also accidentally stabbed Peraita. Lewis died later that morning.

Peraita was charged with two counts of capital murder. Count one alleged a violation of Ala.Code 1975, § 13A-5-40(a)(6), which classifies as a capital offense "[m]urder committed while the defendant is under sentence of life imprisonment." His indictment on that count stated that he committed intentional murder while "under a sentence of life imprisonment imposed by the Circuit Court of Etowah County, Alabama." (Emphasis added.) Count two alleged a violation of Ala.Code 1975, § 13A-5-40(a)(13), which classifies as a capital offense "[m]urder by a defendant who has been convicted of any other murder in the 20 years preceding the crime." His indictment on this count stated that he committed intentional murder "after having been convicted of murder within the preceding twenty years in the Circuit Court of Etowah County, Alabama." (Emphasis added.)

Before trial, Peraita agreed to stipulate to his six prior convictions that resulted in his sentence of life imprisonment,¹ and his counsel drafted a proposed stipulation. For each count, the stipulation tracked the language of the capital-offenses statute, Ala.Code 1975, §§ 13A-5-40(a)(6) and (13), respectively. The State refused to accept Peraita's proposed stipulations, stating that they were "factually incomplete and inaccurate." The State proposed six stipulations, which, for each prior conviction, recounted the date, the name of the offense, the sentence imposed, and the case number and indicated the circuit court that had imposed the sentence. The stipulations proposed by the State contained no facts concerning the nature of the underlying crimes or the events surrounding them. Peraita rejected the State's proposed stipulations.

The trial court allowed the State to introduce documents evidencing Peraita's prior convictions for purposes of proving the capital offenses. Those documents were heavily redacted, detailing no facts concerning the nature of Peraita's past offenses. Most pages were either case-action summaries, jury verdict forms, or similar "housekeeping" documents. The court determined that the documents were relevant for the State to meet its burden of proof, and that the probative value of the documents outweighed any unfair prejudice that might be generated by their introduction.

After the State rested its case, Peraita's attorneys attempted to introduce the testimony of Dr. Craig Haney, a psychologist. Dr. Haney was called for the stated purpose of discussing the theory of "institutionalization," whether Peraita had undergone institutionalization, and whether institutionalization could have affected Peraita's state of mind so as to validate his claim that he killed Lewis in self-defense. The court excluded Dr. Haney's testimony.

Peraita also attempted to introduce evidence indicating that Lewis had a reputation for being violent. Michael Best, a fellow inmate of Peraita and Lewis's, testified that Lewis "had a tendency to prey upon young white dudes that came in" to Holman Correctional Facility. The trial court struck Best's comment and instructed the jury to disregard it. Jimmy Harden, another fellow inmate, testified that Lewis had a reputation as "a notorious knife-fighter ... and homosexual stalker." The trial court struck Harden's testimony and instructed the jury to disregard it also. The jury, however, was allowed to hear Best's and Harden's testimony that Lewis had a reputation for being "violent" and "sexually violent."

Peraita was convicted of both counts of capital murder. He appealed his conviction to the Court of Criminal Appeals, which affirmed his conviction. He then petitioned this Court for the writ of certiorari, which we granted as to the following four issues:

1. Whether evidence of the theory of "institutionalization" of prison inmates, as that evidence would bear on Peraita's claim that he killed Lewis in self-defense, was improperly excluded;

2. Whether some parts of the testimony of two fellow inmates, Best and Harden, concerning Lewis's violent nature was properly excluded;

3. Whether the State was required to accept Peraita's stipulations as to his prior convictions; and

4. Whether Peraita's conviction for two counts of capital murder for the murder of Lewis violated his right to be free from double jeopardy.

Standard of Review

A trial court's order governing the admission or exclusion of evidence constitutes reversible error when the trial court has exceeded its discretion in admitting or excluding the evidence. Ex parte Loggins, 771 So.2d 1093, 1103 (Ala.2000). Where an issue presents a pure question of law, such as one relating to a defendant's constitutional rights, this Court's review is de novo. See Ex parte Morrow, [Ms. 1021059, April 9, 2004] ___ So.2d ___, ___ (Ala.2004).

A. Institutionalization

Peraita argues that "institutionalization" is a psychological phenomenon among prison inmates analogous to battered women's syndrome ("BWS"). He argues that, like BWS, which causes a victim of domestic abuse to believe that she has no way to escape her abuser, institutionalization convinces an inmate that he cannot seek help from prison authorities because if he did prisoners other than his abuser would subsequently victimize him.

In order to prove his institutionalization theory, Peraita attempted to introduce the testimony of Dr. Haney, a professor of psychology and an expert in prison psychology. Peraita contends that Dr. Haney is familiar with the Holman Correctional Facility, and Peraita notes that, after interviewing him, Dr. Haney determined that Peraita suffered from institutionalization. However, while Dr. Haney had been inside the facility multiple times, he had "toured" the facility only once, in 1994, years before Peraita arrived at the facility. Additionally, Dr. Haney conducted his three- or four-hour interview of Peraita in May 2001, nearly one and a half years after Peraita had killed Lewis. Dr. Haney conceded that there is no specific timetable in which institutionalization occurs.

Moreover, while Dr. Haney testified that institutionalization might lead Peraita to believe that retaliation against Lewis was "reasonable," Dr. Haney did not testify that actions Peraita took in retaliation were reasonable. His testimony was limited to explaining the theory and process of institutionalization and expressing his opinion that, at least as of May 2001, when he interviewed him, Peraita had become institutionalized.

The trial court excluded this evidence. The judge ruled that the introduction of Dr. Haney's testimony might cause jurors to view the reasonableness of Peraita's belief that he could not escape Lewis in a subjective, rather than an objective, light. Although the State argues that the court excluded Dr. Haney's testimony as being irrelevant, it appears that the trial judge was more concerned that the testimony would mislead the jury or confuse the issue, matters addressed by Rule 403, Ala. R. Evid. However, the standard of review is the same regardless of whether he excluded the testimony because it was irrelevant or because it would mislead the jury or confuse the issue.

For this Court to reverse the judgment of the trial court on this issue, we must find that the court exceeded its discretion in excluding Dr. Haney's testimony. Loggins, 771 So.2d at 1103. Given Dr. Haney's bare familiarity with Holman Correctional Facility, the long period of time between Peraita's crime and his interview with Dr. Haney, and the confusion that this evidence might cause the jury, we cannot say that the trial judge exceeded his discretion in excluding Dr. Haney's testimony.

B. Reputation Evidence

Peraita next argues that the trial court...