People v. Masters

• Decision Date: 15 February 2001
• Docket Number: No. 99CA0896.,99CA0896.
• Citation: 33 P.3d 1191
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of Colorado, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Timothy L. MASTERS, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: Colorado Court of Appeals

33 P.3d 1191

The PEOPLE of the State of Colorado, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Timothy L. MASTERS, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 99CA0896.

Colorado Court of Appeals, Div. IV.

February 15, 2001.

Rehearing Denied March 22, 2001.

Ken Salazar, Attorney General, Elizabeth Rohrbough, Assistant Attorney General, Denver, CO, for Plaintiff-Appellee.

Fischer & Fischer, LLP, Erik G. Fischer, Fort Collins, CO, for Defendant-Appellant. Opinion by Judge CASEBOLT.

Defendant, Timothy L. Masters, appeals the judgment of conviction entered upon a jury verdict finding him guilty of first degree murder. We affirm.

Late one night in 1987, as the victim walked along a road near a field adjacent to defendant's home, she was subjected to an apparent surprise attack and was stabbed in the back by a person wielding a knife with a five-inch blade. She was dragged more than a hundred feet into the open field and was found by a passerby the next morning. When found, the body had been partially disrobed and had been sexually mutilated with a very sharp instrument, possibly a scalpel. Scratches were evident on one side of her face, and a pool of blood surrounded her body.

During the investigation that morning, police contacted defendant's father at home. Since defendant's bedroom faced the field, and the victim's body could be seen from his bedroom window, the police contacted the fifteen-year-old defendant at his high school concerning the possibility that he had seen the body on his way to school. When the police detective first spoke to defendant and asked him if he knew why the detective was there, defendant nodded and stated that "it had been bothering him" and that he thought he had seen a body as he was walking to catch the bus. He explained that he did not report it because he believed the body to be a mannequin.

Because of his failure immediately to report the victim's body, defendant became a suspect. A consensual search of defendant's bedroom revealed a large collection of survival knives with long blades, one containing a scalpel in its handle, a fillet knife, a machete, and a ninja sword, as well as a suitcase containing pornographic depictions of female anatomy and a large number of drawings and narratives.

These latter written materials had been created by defendant and depicted surprise attacks, gruesome death scenes, and scenes of violence and sex. Some of the drawings depicted persons with scratches across their cheeks with pools of blood surrounding them, and there were scenes of torture, cutting of body parts, and depictions of survival knives with long blades.

A consensual search of defendant's locker and backpack revealed additional drawings and narratives, including two maps of the field and surrounding area and a drawing of a body being dragged by another person.

The murder had taken place almost exactly four years following the death of defendant's mother. Both the victim and the mother had wavy red hair. Defendant did not know the victim, but admitted that he might have seen her around the neighborhood; they lived in the same area and shopped at the same Albertson's supermarket.

During an interrogation following a Miranda advisement and waiver, a detective stated to defendant that stabbing someone with a serrated-edged knife would cause a lot of damage. Defendant replied, "Yeah, but it would be tough to pull it back out."

Defendant also had stated that the victim was wearing pink shoes. The victim's socks were in fact pink but could not be seen at the crime scene because of the positioning of the body and the arrangement of the clothing.

The detective asked defendant if he had any suggestions concerning investigation of the case, and defendant said to check the ditch under a particular bridge. Six months later, a survival knife with a serrated edge was found in the ditch very close to the bridge. The coroner opined at trial that the serration on that knife could account for the irregularity in the stab wound in the victim's back that he had observed upon autopsy.

The police investigation did not find any blood matching the victim's on any of defendant's clothing or property. Also, there was no fiber evidence that would link defendant to the murder, and there was no property of the victim or any severed body parts found in defendant's possession. As a result, no charges were filed, and the murder remained unsolved.

Ten years later, the police department consulted a forensic psychologist with expertise in the area of "sexual homicides." The psychologist reviewed the drawings and narratives that defendant had produced, together with the other evidence in the case, and prepared reports containing his opinion. He opined that defendant had killed the victim and, by doing so, had symbolically killed his own mother.

Based on this and the other evidence, defendant was arrested and charged with first degree murder in 1998. The police obtained a search warrant and seized additional drawings and narratives defendant had created following the crime.

By a motion in limine, defendant sought to bar the psychologist's testimony and to preclude admission of the drawings and narratives under CRE 404(b). At a hearing on the motion, the psychologist testified at length regarding research in the area of sexual homicide.

The psychologist stated that a sexual homicide, i.e., one in which there is sexual activity by the perpetrator, is generally preceded by a triggering event in the emotional life of the perpetrator. He explained that fantasy is the motivation behind sexual homicides and that a perpetrator's fantasies become a rehearsal for his commission of the crime. He described in detail five different categories of such fantasies and opined how defendant's drawings and narratives fit into each of the five categories.

He opined that the materials reflected a preference for surprise attack, rather than a ruse or seduction; that the materials exhibited "piquerism," i.e., stabbing and slicing as the means of sexually penetrating the victim's body, as demonstrated by defendant's preoccupation with knives and cutting; that the victim resembled defendant's mother in age and hair color, and the killing occurred almost exactly four years after the defendant's mother had died; that the victim was a stranger or, at most, a casual acquaintance; and that defendant perceived himself as a warrior character without empathy or feeling who engaged, through fictional narratives and pictures, in a variety of killings.

The court admitted the drawings and narratives under CRE 404(b), but limited the expert's testimony. The court permitted the psychologist to testify about the concept of sexual homicide and the associated concepts of triggering events, fantasy, and rehearsal fantasy, and allowed him to describe evidence that fit its characteristics. The expert, however, was precluded from giving an opinion that this was a sexual homicide, that defendant fit the characteristics of a sexual homicide perpetrator, that defendant committed the crime, or that any drawing or narrative was evidence that defendant had committed this crime. He was also permitted to testify hypothetically concerning the type of event that might be a trigger for a sexual homicide and to give an opinion that a drawing or narrative defendant had created was an example of one of the categories noted.

Among the other testimony presented at trial was that of defendant's high school teacher and a counselor, who were permitted to testify concerning an incident at school that had happened approximately one month before the victim's murder. The prosecution theorized that this incident was a triggering event for the murder.

Trial resulted in the conviction at issue here.

I.

Before the crime occurred, defendant had created over a thousand pages of drawings and narratives. The trial court permitted the prosecution to introduce the drawings and narratives under CRE 404(b) for the purpose of showing defendant's intent, motive, knowledge, preparation, planning, identification, and opportunity to commit the crime. Defendant contends the court erred in so ruling. We disagree.

Besides being admitted as exhibits, approximately 90 of the drawings and narratives were introduced during trial through a police officer's testimony and slide projections. The officer described individual narratives or drawings and how they referenced use of survival knives, dragging of bodies, cutting upon bodies, blood pools, scratching of faces, violence against women, and the pairing of sex and violence.

A trial court is vested with substantial discretion when determining whether to admit evidence of other acts, and its ruling will be disturbed only if it is manifestly arbitrary, unreasonable, or unfair. See Douglas v. People, 969 P.2d 1201 (Colo.1998)

; People v. Copeland, 976 P.2d 334 (Colo.App.1998),

aff'd,

2 P.3d 1283 (Colo.2000).

For evidence of other crimes, wrongs, or acts to be admissible under CRE 404(b), the evidence must meet the criteria set forth in People v. Spoto, 795 P.2d 1314 (Colo.1990). First, the evidence must relate to a material fact, i.e., it must be of consequence to the determination of the action. Second, the evidence must be logically relevant by tending to make the existence of the material fact more or less probable than it would be without the evidence. Third, the evidence must have relevance independent of the inference that the defendant acted in conformity with a bad character. Finally, the probative value of the evidence must not be substantially outweighed by the risk of unfair prejudice to the defendant.

In reviewing the admission of other act evidence, we must assume the maximum probative value a reasonable fact finder might give the evidence and the minimum unfair prejudice to be reasonably expected from its introduction. People v. Nuanez, 973 P.2d 1260 (Colo.1999).

Applying those criteria here, we observe two bases for a finding of logical relevance. First, the...