People v. Warren, Docket No. 190133

• Decision Date: 27 February 1998
• Docket Number: Docket No. 190133
• Citation: 228 Mich.App. 336,578 N.W.2d 692
• Parties: PEOPLE of the State of Michigan, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Brian Andre WARREN, Sr., Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: Court of Appeal of Michigan — District of US

Page 692

578 N.W.2d 692

228 Mich.App. 336

PEOPLE of the State of Michigan, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Brian Andre WARREN, Sr., Defendant-Appellant.

Docket No. 190133.

Court of Appeals of Michigan.

Submitted Nov. 4, 1997, at Grand Rapids.

Decided Feb. 27, 1998, at 9:20 a.m.

Released for Publication June 8, 1998.

Before MARKEY, P.J., and MICHAEL J. KELLY and WHITBECK, JJ.

WHITBECK, Judge.

Defendant appeals as of right his convictions by jury of first-degree felony murder, M.C.L. § 750.316; M.S.A. § 28.548, two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct (CSC I), M.C.L. § 750.520b(1)(c); M.S.A. § 28.788(2)(1)(c), first-degree home invasion, M.C.L. § 750.110a(2); M.S.A. § 28.305(a)(2), assault and battery, M.C.L. § 750.81; M.S.A. § 28.276, kidnapping, M.C.L. § 750.349; M.S.A. § 28.581, and the unlawful driving away of a motor vehicle (UDAA), M.C.L. § 750.413; M.S.A. § 28.645. Defendant was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for the felony-murder conviction, thirty to sixty years' imprisonment for each of the CSC I convictions, ten to twenty years' imprisonment for the first-degree home invasion conviction, ninety days' imprisonment for the assault and battery conviction, thirty to sixty years' imprisonment for the kidnapping conviction, and three to five years for the UDAA conviction. Defendant's conviction of home invasion and the sentence for the home invasion conviction were subsequently vacated because that offense was used by the prosecution to provide the basis for the felony-murder charge. We affirm.

The record in this case reflects that defendant and his wife engaged in an escalating argument on the evening of January 18, 1995, at their apartment in Battle Creek. Eventually, at approximately midnight, defendant's wife and their two children went with defendant's mother-in-law, Claudette Powell, to Powell's residence, also in Battle Creek. In a statement given to the Battle Creek police on January 19, 1995, defendant stated that, before his wife, the two children, and Powell arrived at Powell's residence, he had gone to that residence "and busted the side window and went in and went downstairs." Defendant also stated that he then hid in the downstairs area of the home.

According to defendant, during the early morning hours of January 19, 1995, the following occurred:

Then she [Powell] came down and she started beating me with that instrument she had, the mop or whatever it was, started beating me with it. And I grabbed her and we was tussling around and stuff and she said[,] "Call the police, call the police" and I pushed and then she did like this and I looked (inaudible), I looked and she feel [sic], I was like "Oh, my God" and then I run up the stairs, I said "No," you know, and she was, I repeat she was not dead, I did not kill her, she was not dead, indeed she was bleeding, I seen her blood on the knife, and I said "Oh, my God."

An autopsy conducted on Powell's body revealed numerous sharp-force wounds, in the nature of cuts or stabs, and one blunt-force wound to her body. The expert who conducted the autopsy stated that the sharp-force wounds were inflicted by some type of bladed instrument, and could have been caused by a knife found in the victim's kitchen.

Defendant's wife testified that defendant then beat and sexually assaulted her. Defendant stated that, after two or three hours during which he and his wife were "making love," he heard Powell "moving around" in the downstairs area and that he "went down there and ... looked," but that he refused to let his wife go downstairs to see her mother. Defendant ultimately left Powell's residence sometime before noon on January 19, 1995, after tying his wife's hands and feet together with shoestrings and gagging her mouth. ¹ After defendant left Powell's residence--taking and using Powell's automobile--defendant's wife escaped to a neighbor's house. Ultimately Powell's body was found in her basement, lying in a pool of blood.

I

Defendant first argues that the trial court abused its discretion in allowing defendant's wife to testify regarding the charges of murder, home invasion, and UDAA. Defendant contends that this testimony was prohibited by the spousal privilege.

The admission of evidence is within the sound discretion of the trial court and will not be disturbed on appeal absent an abuse of discretion. People v. Lugo, 214 Mich.App. 699, 709, 542 N.W.2d 921 (1995). An abuse of discretion is found only if an unprejudiced person, considering the facts on which the trial court acted, would say there was no justification or excuse for the ruling made. People v. McAlister, 203 Mich.App. 495, 505, 513 N.W.2d 431 (1994).

The spousal privilege is contained in M.C.L. § 600.2162; M.S.A. § 27A.2162 and states in pertinent part:

A husband shall not be examined as a witness for or against his wife without her consent or a wife for or against her husband without his consent, except as follows:

* * * * * *

(d) In a cause of action that grows out of a personal wrong or injury done by one to the other....

Defendant argues that two of the crimes against Powell did not "grow out of a personal wrong or injury" done by him to his wife, because those crimes--murder and home invasion ²--occurred before the crimes against his wife. Defendant cites People v. Love, 425 Mich. 691, 709, 391 N.W.2d 738 (1986) (Williams, C.J., concurring) to the effect that, "[s]omething cannot 'grow out of' something that did not exist."

We believe defendant's reliance on Love is misplaced. The crimes of assault and battery, CSC, and kidnapping constitute personal wrongs and injuries to defendant's wife. Therefore, the trial court properly admitted the testimony of defendant's wife regarding the circumstances of the commission of these crimes. The fact that such testimony may also have implicated defendant in the crimes of murder, home invasion, and UDAA against Powell does not make such testimony inadmissible. A party should "be able to give the jury an intelligible presentation of the full context in which disputed events took place." People v. Sholl, 453 Mich. 730, 741, 556 N.W.2d 851 (1996). In this regard, evidence of other criminal acts is admissible when so blended or connected with the charged crime that proof of the other criminal act explains the circumstances of the charged crime. Id. at 742, 556 N.W.2d 851.

In this case, while the testimony of defendant's wife about hearing Powell scream from the basement and then seeing defendant coming up the stairs with a knife tended to implicate defendant with regard to the murder and home invasion charges, it also provided important background information regarding why defendant's wife did not provide further resistance to defendant when he physically and sexually assaulted her and confined her within Powell's home. Similarly, the testimony of defendant's wife that defendant took the keys to Powell's automobile and that she then heard an automobile drive away implicated defendant in committing UDAA. However, it also provided an explanation for why defendant bound and gagged his wife, which, in turn, provided strong evidence of secret confinement in connection with the kidnapping charge. Accordingly, we conclude that the trial court did not abuse its discretion by admitting the testimony from defendant's wife that, in addition to providing relevant evidence regarding the charged crimes that constituted personal wrongs against defendant's wife, also constituted evidence to support the home invasion, murder, and UDAA charges.

II

Defendant argues that there was insufficient evidence that his wife had been secretly confined to support his kidnapping conviction. Specifically, defendant contends that because his wife's relatives, as well as the police, were aware of his wife's location during the time of her confinement, her confinement was not secret.

In a criminal case, due process requires that a prosecutor introduce evidence sufficient to justify a trier of fact in concluding that the defendant is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. People v. Fisher, 193 Mich.App. 284, 287, 483 N.W.2d 452 (1992). In reviewing a sufficiency of the evidence question, this Court reviews the evidence in a light most favorable to the prosecution to determine whether a rational trier of fact could conclude that the elements of the crime were proved beyond a reasonable doubt. People v. Wolfe, 440 Mich. 508, 515, 489 N.W.2d 748 (1992), amended 441 Mich. 1201 (1992). When deciding this issue, this Court should not interfere with the jury's role of determining the weight of the evidence or the credibility of the witnesses. Id. at 514, 489 N.W.2d 748.

A person can be convicted of kidnapping if it is proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the person wilfully, maliciously, and without lawful authority forcibly or secretly confined or imprisoned any other person within this state against the other person's will. M.C.L. § 750.349; M.S.A. § 28.581.

In People v. Jaffray, 445 Mich. 287, 309, 519 N.W.2d 108 (1994), the Michigan Supreme Court provided the following definition of "secret confinement" kidnapping:

[T]he essence of "secret confinement" as contemplated by the statute is deprivation of the assistance of others by virtue of the victim's inability to communicate his predicament. "Secret confinement" is not predicated solely on the existence or nonexistence of a single factor. Rather, consideration of the totality of the circumstances is required when determining whether the confinement itself or the location of the confinement was secret, thereby depriving the victim of the assistance of others. That others may be suspicious or aware of the confinement is relevant to the determination, but is not always dispositive.

In People v. Johnson, 171 Mich.App. 801, 805-806, 430 N.W.2d 828 (1988), the defendant argued that the victim's confinement could not have been secret because at least one other person saw the...