Longfellow v. State, 90-7

• Decision Date: 18 December 1990
• Docket Number: No. 90-7,90-7
• Citation: 803 P.2d 848
• Parties: Mindi Hobson LONGFELLOW, Appellant (Defendant), v. The STATE of Wyoming, Appellee (Plaintiff).
• Court: Wyoming Supreme Court

Page 848

803 P.2d 848

Mindi Hobson LONGFELLOW, Appellant (Defendant), v. The STATE of Wyoming, Appellee (Plaintiff).

No. 90-7.

Supreme Court of Wyoming.

Dec. 18, 1990.

Leonard Munker, State Public Defender, Wyoming Defender Aid Program, Gerald M. Gallivan, Theodore B. D'Arcy and Terrie Riley, Student Interns, Laramie, for appellant.

Joseph B. Meyer, Atty. Gen.; John W. Renneisen, Deputy Atty. Gen., Karen A. Byrne, Sr. Asst. Atty. Gen., Kaylin D. Kluge, Asst. Atty. Gen., Cheyenne, for appellee.

Before URBIGKIT, C.J., and THOMAS, CARDINE, MACY and GOLDEN, JJ.

GOLDEN, Justice.

This case arises out of the short, brutal life and untimely death of Christopher Hobson, aged not quite three months. Appellant Mindi Hobson, now known as Mindi Hobson Longfellow, the child's mother, challenges her conviction of felony child abuse under W.S. 6-2-503 (Cum.Supp.1987) and of voluntary manslaughter under W.S. 6-2-105(a)(i) (Cum.Supp.1987).

Appellant raises the following issues:

I. Whether there is sufficient evidence to support the defendant's conviction of voluntary manslaughter.

II. Whether testimony concerning prior treatment of appellant's daughter, Valerie Hobson, by defendant and the temperament of defendant was improperly admitted under Rule 404(b) of the Wyoming Rules of Evidence.

We affirm.

FACTS

From his birth on September 10, 1987, until December 2, 1987, Christopher Hobson resided with his mother, appellant Mindi Hobson, and her boyfriend, Brad Longfellow, in Brad's trailer in Cheyenne. On December 2, 1987, appellant spent most of the morning and early afternoon caring for Christopher and for her daughter, Valerie Hobson. Brad arrived home from work at about 4:30 p.m. that afternoon. Appellant left the residence at approximately 5:00 p.m. to run some errands, leaving Brad in charge of the children.

After appellant left, Brad and the children sat on the couch watching television. Christopher had been propped up in a corner of the couch with a pillow. The couch was about eighteen inches high.

Sometime around 6:00 p.m. Brad left the living room to place some wood on the stove, located in another room. He heard a thud and returned to the living room where he found Christopher lying on the floor in front of the couch. Christopher was gasping for breath. He soon became limp and unconscious. After several minutes of unsuccessful attempts to revive Christopher, Brad dialed 911 for help.

Emergency Management Services (911) logged the call in at 6:20 p.m. and dispatched an ambulance to the trailer. Appellant passed the ambulance about a mile from her house and "just knew it was going to her home." When the personnel from the ambulance service arrived at Longfellow's residence, they found that Christopher had no signs of heartbeat or resuscitation, and that he had become cyanotic or blue in color.

Appellant returned home to find the emergency personnel attempting to revive her son. Efforts to revive him at the scene were unsuccessful, and Christopher was transported to DePaul Hospital, where his heartbeat and breathing were finally stabilized. The attending physician noticed an obvious swelling over the right scalp above and behind Christopher's right ear.

Early on the morning of December 3, 1987, Christopher was transported to Children's Hospital in Denver. He was treated there for approximately twenty-four hours, after which it was determined that he had little chance of recovery. Life support systems were withdrawn at 11:55 a.m. on December 4, 1987, and Christopher was pronounced dead.

An autopsy was performed on Christopher at Denver General Hospital on December 5th. The autopsy revealed numerous injuries, both old and recent. The doctors The pathologist who performed the autopsy testified that the blunt trauma injuries were inconsistent with a fall from a couch, and that the accumulated injuries were probably caused by "three or four episodes of significant force." These injuries exhibited what he called "typical classical child abuse findings."

discovered external scrapes and bruises of various ages, new and old subdural hematomas, evidence of old torn or missing brain tissue, a total of eighteen rib fractures in various states of healing, and a three and one-quarter inch horizontal skull fracture. Christopher also had retinal hemorrhages of various ages caused by brain damage. The cause of death was determined to be brain injuries as a result of blunt trauma to the head. This caused brain swelling, which cut off blood supply to the brain and ultimately resulted in brain death.

On the day following Christopher's funeral, December 11, 1987, police interviewed both appellant and Brad Longfellow concerning Christopher's death. Both were considered suspects at that point. Initially, Brad Longfellow was arrested and charged in connection with Christopher's death. After he passed a polygraph test, the charges against him were dismissed. ¹ The investigation then focused on appellant Mindi Hobson. She was arrested and charged with second-degree murder of Christopher under W.S. 6-2-104 (June, 1983 Repl.), and child abuse of both Christopher and Valerie in violation of W.S. 6-2-503.

The charge of abuse of Valerie was dropped on preliminary hearing and appellant proceeded to trial on the other charges. Before trial, defense counsel filed a motion in limine seeking, inter alia, to exclude testimony as to appellant's abusive treatment of her daughter Valerie. The trial court reserved ruling on this aspect of the motion until trial, when it decided that the testimony should first be presented outside the presence of the jury at which time the court would make a ruling on its admissibility.

At her jury trial, the state presented, over appellant's objection, testimony by appellant's brother, her sister-in-law, and Chris Vannest, appellant's former husband, concerning her alleged abuse of Valerie Hobson. The state also questioned Brad Longfellow about appellant's temper.

Appellant was convicted of voluntary manslaughter and felony child abuse. On December 1, 1989, she was sentenced to five to six years for voluntary manslaughter and four to five years for felony child abuse.

DISCUSSION

We discuss appellant's second issue first, because a determination of whether the challenged evidence was properly admitted under W.R.E. 404(b) is a necessary prerequisite to a decision on appellant's sufficiency of the evidence claim. The evidence which tied appellant to the homicide was circumstantial. The evidence of appellant's character and prior conduct was therefore an essential part of the state's case and of our substantial evidence review.

Admissibility of Evidence Under Rule 404(b) ²

Appellant challenges the admission of testimony regarding her temper and her previous abuse of Valerie Hobson. She characterizes this evidence as irrelevant and as impermissible character evidence under W.R.E. 404(b), which reads in pertinent part (a) Character evidence generally.--Evidence of a person's character or a trait of his character is not admissible for the purpose of proving that he acted in conformity therewith on a particular occasion, except:

(1) Character of Accused.--Evidence of a pertinent trait of his character offered by an accused, or by the prosecution to rebut the same;

* * * * * *

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

Standard of Review

W.R.E. 404(b) generally prohibits the introduction of evidence of extrinsic acts for the purpose of proving the accused's character and conformity therewith. However, the rule recognizes certain exceptions where the evidence is introduced for another purpose. These exceptions, enumerated in Rule 404(b), are illustrative rather than exhaustive. In determining admissibility on another ground beyond those stated, we look to see whether the trial court abused its discretion in light of our previous decisions. Gezzi v. State, 780 P.2d 972, 974 (Wyo.1989).

On appeal, we give great deference to a trial court's determination concerning admissibility of 404(b) evidence. So long as there is a legitimate basis for a court's decision we cannot say that there was an abuse of discretion. Pena v. State, 780 P.2d 316, 318 (Wyo.1989).

This discretion is not without parameters, however. This court previously adopted a five-part test for admissibility of Rule 404(b) evidence:

1. The extent to which the prosecution plainly, clearly, and convincingly can prove the other similar crimes.

2. The remoteness in time of those crimes from the charged offense.

3. The extent to which the evidence of other crimes is introduced for a purpose sanctioned by W.R.E. 404(b).

4. The extent to which the element of the charged offense, that the evidence is introduced to prove, is actually at issue.

5. The extent to which the prosecution has a substantial need for the probative value of the evidence of the other crimes.

Garcia v. State, 777 P.2d 1091, 1096 (Wyo.1989) (quoting Bishop v. State, 687 P.2d 242, 246 (Wyo.1984), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 1219, 105 S.Ct. 1203, 84 L.Ed.2d 345 (1985)).

These factors do not serve as absolute requirements for the trial court's exercise of its sound discretion. We give considerable deference to the trial court's discretionary balancing of these Rule 404(b) factors and to its additional required determination under W.R.E. 403 that the probative value of the evidence exceeds the danger of unfair prejudice to the defendant. Gezzi, 780 P.2d at 978; Garcia, 777 P.2d at 1096. That one of the stated factors is absent does not necessarily prevent the trial court from exercising its discretion and allowing in the 404(b) evidence. Pena, 780 P.2d at 318. In most instances,...