Miller v. State, 01-236.
| Decision Date | 30 April 2003 |
| Docket Number | No. 01-236.,01-236. |
| Citation | 2003 WY 55,67 P.3d 1191 |
| Parties | Benita MILLER, Appellant (Defendant), v. The STATE of Wyoming, Appellee (Plaintiff). |
| Court | Wyoming Supreme Court |
Kenneth M. Koski, Wyoming State Public Defender; Donna D. Domonkos, Appellate Counsel; Ryan R. Roden, Senior Assistant Appellate Counsel, Representing Appellant. Argument by Mr. Roden.
Hoke MacMillan, Wyoming Attorney General; Paul S. Rehurek, Deputy Attorney General; D. Michael Pauling, Senior Assistant Attorney General; Georgia L. Tibbetts, Senior Assistant Attorney General; Theodore E. Lauer, Faculty Director, and Karen L. Greene, Student Director, of the Prosecution Assistance Program, Representing Appellee. Argument by Ms. Greene.
Before HILL, C.J., and GOLDEN, LEHMAN, KITE, and VOIGT, JJ.
[¶ 1] In this appeal, we consider issues presented by Appellant Benita Miller (Miller) following her conviction for aggravated assault and battery for threatening another with a drawn deadly weapon in violation of Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 6-2-502(a)(iii) (LexisNexis 2001).1 We affirm.
[¶ 2] Miller presents the following statement of the issues:
The State rephrases the issues as:
[¶ 3] Miller and the victim, Dessmon DuVall (DuVall), had long disliked each other and frequently argued, insulted each other, and verbally abused one another with vulgar language. In April of 2001, Miller lived with her boyfriend, Lyle Geist. Geist had previously been married to DuVall's sister, Joanne, and Geist and DuVall had been friends for some years. At Geist's invitation, DuVall began living with Miller and Geist.
[¶ 4] On April 8, 2001, after an evening of drinking alcohol by all three, DuVall and Miller argued, and DuVall called her several foul names. Miller grabbed a loaded 357 magnum pistol and pointed it at DuVall. During the State's case-in-chief, DuVall testified that as Miller pointed the gun at him, she told him and Geist that she would blow his head off. The pistol was a single action that required the hammer to be manually cocked before firing. Miller pulled back the hammer while it was pointed at DuVall. Geist pushed Miller's hand, and the gun discharged, firing one shot into the floor. Geist was also a State witness; however, he testified that Miller never said a word to DuVall as she pointed the gun and drew back the hammer. DuVall called police, and Miller was arrested.
[¶ 5] Miller was charged with one count of aggravated assault and battery for threatening DuVall with a drawn deadly weapon. The State filed a motion in limine to exclude evidence of two of DuVall's three felony convictions. DuVall had been convicted in 1965 for escape, burglary, and auto theft; convicted again in 1976 of aggravated assault for threatening another with a drawn deadly weapon; and in 1998 for possession of cocaine. The State contended that W.R.E. 609(b) prohibited introduction of convictions into evidence if those convictions were more than ten years old and claimed that it would be prejudiced by their admission. At a hearing on the motion, the State did not object to Miller's questioning DuVall about the 1998 cocaine possession conviction, and Miller agreed that she would not be inquiring about the 1965 conviction. Defense counsel also stated that she would not be mentioning the 1976 conviction itself, but argued that if DuVall denied being violent, she should be entitled to introduce the conviction as impeachment as permitted by W.R.E. 404(a). The district court granted the State's liminal motion for the 1976 conviction, but stated that it would reconsider that ruling if upon Miller's inquiry into the victim's violent character, the evidence was required for impeachment purposes. [¶ 6] In his testimony, DuVall admitted calling Miller very vulgar names but denied that he raised his voice to her or lost his temper on that evening. DuVall also denied ever getting angry, but, during Miller's cross-examination, DuVall admitted that he had assaulted another person, threatened others who threatened him, and threatened another with a deadly weapon. Miller's defense counsel also elicited that DuVall was a convicted felon who illegally possessed a firearm and had been convicted of felony possession of cocaine. Following this cross-examination, Miller's defense counsel did not request that the district court reconsider its order excluding admission of DuVall's 1976 assault conviction.
[¶ 7] Miller presented a self-defense theory at trial based on her fear of DuVall's past violence and threats of violence to her, claiming that on April 8, 2001, although she was not speaking to him at all, DuVall became violently angry at her, came out of his chair, screamed profanities into her face, shook his finger in her face, and threatened her with physical harm. The State's witness, Geist, confirmed that DuVall had threatened her in the past, that Miller had stated that she was afraid of him, and that DuVall did become violent that night. Geist testified that DuVall got out of his chair, stood over Miller, screamed at her, called her vulgar names, and shook his finger at her. During his testimony, DuVall described the incident as some name-calling and denied that he raised his voice or moved from his chair.
[¶ 8] Based on this testimony, the defense moved for a judgment of acquittal, contending that the State had not proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Miller had not acted reasonably in self-defense or had verbally threatened DuVall. During its consideration of the motion, the trial court asked the State whether it could disregard the many inconsistencies in the testimony presented by the State's witnesses. The State replied that Miller's actions, not her words, constituted a threat within the definition established by judicial precedent. The trial court denied the motion for judgment of acquittal.
[¶ 9] At the jury instruction conference, Miller requested, but the trial court denied, a reckless endangering instruction as a lesser-included offense. Miller was convicted and sentenced, filed motions for a new trial, and renewed her Motion For Judgment of Acquittal. The motions were denied, and this appeal followed.
[¶ 10] Generally, an evidentiary ruling is within the sound discretion of the trial court, and we will not find error unless the court abused its discretion. Ramirez v. State, 994 P.2d 970, 973 (Wyo.2000) (citing Gentry v. State, 806 P.2d 1269, 1271 (Wyo.1991)). "Judicial discretion is a composite of many things, among which are conclusions drawn from objective criteria; it means a sound judgment exercised with regard to what is right under the circumstances and without doing so arbitrarily or capriciously." Vaughn v. State, 962 P.2d 149, 151 (Wyo.1998). A witness's prior convictions may be used as impeachment evidence under W.R.E. 609. Ramirez, 994 P.2d at 973.
[¶ 11] The standard we employ in reviewing sufficiency of evidence claims is well established:
[The standard] is this court's assessment as to whether all of the evidence presented is "adequate to support a reasonable inference of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt to be drawn by the finder of fact, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the state." * * * We do not substitute our judgment for that of the jury in applying this rule, and our only duty is to determine if a quorum of reasonable and rational individuals would, or even could, have come to the same result the jury actually did.
Baier v. State, 891 P.2d 754, 761 (Wyo.1995) (quoting Taul v. State, 862 P.2d 649, 657 (Wyo.1993)).
W.R.E. 609(b)'s Time Limitation Did Not Automatically Exclude Evidence of the Victim's Conviction For Aggravated Assault.
[¶ 12] Miller argues that her self-defense claim would have been proved had she been able to show that she justifiably feared DuVall because he had been violent in the past. She contends that although DuVall's convictions exceeded the ten-year limitation imposed by W.R.E 609, the convictions were admissible for impeachment purposes when DuVall testified on cross examination that he did not have a violent character. The State contends that because the trial court made a provisional ruling and the defense did not offer the evidence at trial, the defense has failed to show that the trial court prohibited the use of the conviction or abused its discretion in any manner.
[¶ 13] Our review of the record shows that, at trial, DuVall admitted being violent in the past, but denied being violent to Miller in the past. At the hearing on the State's motion in limine, Miller stated she did not intend to introduce the 1976 assault conviction, but intended, as permitted by W.R.E. 404(a), to impeach any testimony of DuVall's denying that he had been violent in the past. The district court apparently understood this to mean that unless DuVall denied being...
To continue reading
Request your trial
- State ex rel. Wyo. Dept. of Revenue v. UPRC
-
Dean v. State
...v. State, 2003 WY 57, ¶ 44, 67 P.3d 1207, 1225 (Wyo.2003) (quoting Williams v. State, 986 P.2d 855, 857 (Wyo.1999)). See also Miller v. State, 2003 WY 55, ¶¶ 22-23, 67 P.3d 1191, 1197 (Wyo.2003) and Cureton v. State, 2003 WY 44, ¶ 6, 65 P.3d 1250, 1252 [¶ 46] Appellant claims that the State......
-
Bustos v. State
...and the prosecutor was merely emphasizing for the jury the two different versions of the event presented by the evidence. See Miller v. State, 2003 WY 55, ¶ 22, 67 P.3d 1191, 1197 (Wyo.2003) (as fact finder, jury weighs credibility of witnesses). We agree. While we are not enamored of the p......
-
Jensen v. State
...the instructions to the jury requires "proof of an actual threat of physical injury during the act of employing a deadly weapon." Miller v. State, 2003 WY 55, ¶ 24, 67 P.3d 1191, ¶ 24 (Wyo.2003); see also Lowseth v. State, 875 P.2d 725, 729 (Wyo.1994) and Johnston v. State, 747 P.2d 1132, 1......