Mardis v. State
| Decision Date | 09 October 2013 |
| Docket Number | No. 4D11–338.,4D11–338. |
| Citation | 122 So.3d 950 |
| Parties | Brock D. MARDIS, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Jonathan R. Kaplan of Richard G. Lubin, P.A., West Palm Beach, for appellant.
Pamela Jo Bondi, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Melvin G. Mosier, Assistant Attorney General, West Palm Beach, for appellee.
Brock D. Mardis appeals his conviction for sexual battery on grounds the trial court erred in precluding him from introducing evidence that the victim had financial reasons for falsely testifying against him. We agree with one aspect of Mardis's contention and reverse.
The victim (“T.M.”) met Mardis while she was in high school in Kentucky. They became boyfriend and girlfriend. After graduating, she moved to Florida. A few months later, Mardis followed, and they lived together in an apartment rented by T.M. At some point, Mardis was hired by an employer (“the Employer”) to be a handyman or personal assistant. Mardis would work for the Employer daily. The Employer was very generous, even paying off the couple's credit card debt. Sometimes, Mardis would stay the night at the Employer's residence, and T.M. would stay with him. Eventually, Mardis wanted to live at the Employer's house with T.M., but T.M. didn't want to live there. T.M. and Mardis mutually decided to break off their relationship.
According to T.M.'s testimony at trial, after the breakup, she and Mardis continued to see each other and would occasionally have sex. On the night of the incident, they were together earlier in the evening. Later, while she was sleeping, Mardis called her. Mardis told her that he was coming to see her to discuss some things. T.M. could tell Mardis was intoxicated. T.M. let Mardis into her apartment when he arrived because she didn't want him driving around drunk. Mardis became sick and threw up in T.M.'s bathroom, so T.M. offered to let him sleep on the couch for the night. T.M. went to bed, and at some point, Mardis came into her bedroom. T.M. told him to leave. Instead of leaving, Mardis got into bed with T.M., told her he wanted to snuggle, and then started to rub her stomach and legs. T.M. told him to stop and leave, and Mardis became angry and started to pace the room. Mardis got on the bed and told T.M. that “if [she] wasn't going to have sex with him then he was going to have sex with [her] whether [she] liked it or not.” He then forced T.M. to have sex with him and later threatened to commit suicide. T.M. fled and called 911.
After Mardis was arrested, he was interviewed by police. In the interview, Mardis claimed that although he and T.M. were separated, they were still regularly having sex. The night of the alleged assault, he claimed T.M. invited him into bed and never asked him to sleep on the couch. Mardis admitted that T.M. told him to stop touching her when he put his hand down her underwear. Mardis claimed that he thought she was “playing” him because in the past, she would refuse sex and then agree to have sex. However, later in the interview Mardis seemed to admit to assaulting T.M. because T.M. allegedly told his family that he was having a homosexual relationship with the Employer. He then admitted to feeling so ashamed that he threatened to kill himself.
At trial, Mardis testified that he and T.M. began having financial problems when Mardis was not properly managing his diabetes and could not work to pay his part of the rent. Mardis got a job with the Employer as his personal assistant, but he was paid in kind instead of with money, which caused a further strain in their relationship. Once Mardis moved in with the Employer, his sexual relationship with T.M. began to diminish, and they eventually broke off their relationship.
According to Mardis, the night of the alleged assault, Mardis had a couple of glasses of wine and had just taken his insulin. Mardis was driving to T.M.'s apartment to talk to her. When he arrived, T.M. was dressed only in a sports bra and panties, which Mardis thought was intentionally provocative. They talked, watched TV, and then went to bed. Mardis again claimed T.M. did not ask him to sleep on the couch. They had sex, and Mardis claimed that T.M. did not seem angry or upset until afterwards, because he did not use a condom.
At trial, Mardis made a proffer in an attempt to introduce evidence of bias on the part of T.M. He proffered testimony from the Employer and others that T.M., through a friend (“S.G.”), attempted to solicit money from the Employer to pay money she needed to cancel the rental agreement for the apartment she shared with Mardis. S.G. became T.M.'s roommate after Mardis moved out. Mardis also attempted to introduce testimony from the Employer about two telephone conversations with S.G. in which S.G. and T.M. were soliciting money to drop the charges against Mardis. Although the Employer admitted on cross-examination that he did not speak directly to T.M. on the phone during either call, he testified he heard T.M. speaking to S.G. in the background and, in essence, participating in what S.G. was saying on the phone. The trial court prohibited introduction of the testimony presented on proffer to the jury. Regarding the solicitation of money to cancel the rental agreement, the trial court concluded the proffered evidence was not relevant to the initial report of rape by T.M. The trial court did not specifically explain why it was not allowing the admission of testimony that T.M. solicited the Employer for money to drop the charges.1
Mardis argues on appeal that the trial court improperly excluded evidence that T.M. was financially motivated to lie about being sexually battered by him. He attempted to present two lines of evidence to support that theory of defense: evidence that she was seeking money to get out of a rental contract and evidence that she was seeking money to drop the charges. We conclude the trial court did not err in refusing to admit evidence she sought money to get out of the rental agreement, but we conclude the court improperly excluded evidence of her attempts to obtain money in exchange for dropping charges.
A trial court's ruling on the admissibility of evidence is reviewed for an abuse of discretion. Harden v. State, 87 So.3d 1243, 1246 (Fla. 4th DCA 2012). The trial court's discretion, however, is limited by the rules of evidence. Id.
Section 90.608(2), Florida Statutes (2009), allows a party to attack the credibility of a witness by showing that the witness is biased. “Matters that demonstrate bias include prejudice, an interest in the outcome of a case, and any motivation for a witness to testify untruthfully.” Williams v. State, 912 So.2d 66, 68 (Fla. 4th DCA 2005) (citation omitted). ...
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...A matter that demonstrates a witness’ bias includes any motivation for a witness to testify untruthfully. See Mardis v. State, 122 So. 3d 950, 953 (Fla. 4th DCA 2013) ; Williams v. State, 912 So. 2d 66 (Fla. 4th DCA 2005). Further, "[i]t is well settled that counsel is given wide latitude i......
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...may be inadmissible if it unfairly prejudices the trier of fact against the witness or misleads the trier of fact." Mardis v. State, 122 So. 3d 950, 954 (Fla. 4th DCA 2013) (quoting Breedlove v. State, 580 So. 2d 605, 609 (Fla. 1991) ); see also Tobin v. Leland, 804 So. 2d 390, 393 (Fla. 4t......
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