Samaniego-Hernandez v. State
| Decision Date | 30 December 2005 |
| Docket Number | No. 20A05-0505-CR-309.,20A05-0505-CR-309. |
| Citation | 839 N.E.2d 798 |
| Parties | Guillermo SAMANIEGO-HERNANDEZ, Appellant-Defendant, v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee-Plaintiff. |
| Court | Indiana Supreme Court |
Bridgette F. Greene, Elkhart, for Appellant.
Steve Carter, Attorney General of Indiana, Scott L. Barnhart, Deputy Attorney General, Indianapolis, for Appellee.
Following a jury trial, Appellant-Defendant Guillermo Samaniego-Hernandez ("Samaniego") appeals his conviction for possession of cocaine weighing three grams or more with intent to deliver, a Class A felony.1 We affirm.
Samaniego presents three issues for review, which we restate as:
I. Whether the trial court properly admitted evidence that Samaniego entered into a "controlled buy" prior to execution of the resulting search warrant;
II. Whether the evidence is sufficient to sustain the verdict; and
III. Whether Samaniego's sentence is appropriate in light of aggravating and mitigating circumstances.
The facts most favorable to the verdict follow. Juanita Sanchez ("Sanchez"), who had previously been convicted of delivering cocaine and who was consequently serving a sentence of six years at the department of correction, was acting as an informant for the Drug Unit of the Goshen Police Department. She had arranged a "controlled buy"2 of cocaine with Samaniego's wife and, on the evening of September 2, 2004, was driven by an undercover officer to Samaniego's residence at 605 Mill Street to make the purchase. She entered the home and sat on a chair while Samaniego and his wife both sat on the couch nearby. After Sanchez showed the purchase money, Samaniego pulled the cocaine out of his sock and handed it to his wife, who then handed it to Sanchez. Samaniego's wife collected the money from Sanchez and passed it to Samaniego, who put it in his pocket. Sanchez left the residence, returned to her waiting ride, and gave the cocaine to the waiting officer.
Later that evening, officers of the Goshen Police Department obtained a search warrant for Samaniego's house. They executed the warrant the next evening. As they approached the residence, Samaniego was on the front porch. Officers ordered him to the ground, secured him, and then entered the residence, where they found four individuals on the first floor and three on the second floor. After securing those individuals, the officers searched the home and found the following items in the master bedroom, all of which (or pictures of which) were entered into evidence at trial: an electronic scale, the corner of a clear plastic bag found in an ash tray next to the scale, a rolled one dollar bill with traces of a white powdery residue, several pieces of "evidence of domain" (items containing Samaniego's name and address) (Tr. at 151) located within his wallet in the same dresser drawer as the rolled dollar bill, a box of plastic sandwich bags located behind an ottoman and containing clear plastic bags with a residue of a white powdery substance, another sandwich bag box containing a plastic bag and a white plastic spoon, three plastic bags containing a white rock-like powdery substance, and another box of sandwich bags found under the dresser. One of the bags found contained 1.18 grams of cocaine and another bag contained 24.84 grams of cocaine.
The State charged Samaniego with Class A felony possession of cocaine weighing more than three grams with the intent to deliver. On April 4, 2004, the trial court denied Samaniego's motion in limine and Samaniego repeated his objection at trial. Following trial, the jury found him guilty as charged.
On May 5, 2005, the trial court sentenced Samaniego to thirty-five years, which sentence was to run consecutively to an unrelated case. The greater-than-presumptive sentence was based upon mitigators (Samaniego's age of twenty-seven and his lack of prior felony convictions) being outweighed by aggravators (his status as an illegal alien; his prior misdemeanor conviction; documents which, if found to be true, would demonstrate Samaniego's use of unlawful identification; and the fact that Samaniego committed the instant offense while on probation). Samaniego now appeals.
Additional facts are given below as they pertain to the issues discussed.
I. Admission of Evidence
Samaniego first claims that the trial court improperly admitted evidence of his involvement in the "controlled buy" of September 2. In particular, he claims that his involvement should be characterized as prior bad act evidence that should be excluded under Indiana Evidence Rule 404(b). We disagree.
A trial court's evidentiary rulings are reviewed for an abuse of discretion, which occurs if a trial court's decision is clearly against the logic and effect of the facts and circumstances before it. Howard v. State, 816 N.E.2d 948, 960 (Ind.Ct.App.2004). Indiana Evidence Rule 404(b) provides:
Evidence of other crimes, wrongs, or acts is not admissible to prove the character of a person in order to show action in conformity therewith. It may, however, be admissible for other purposes, such as proof of motive, intent, preparation, plan, knowledge, identity, or absence of mistake or accident....[3]
Rule 404(b) is meant to prevent the State from punishing people for their character. Bassett v. State, 795 N.E.2d 1050, 1053 (Ind.2003). Evidence of extrinsic offenses endangers the defendant of being convicted because he or she is a person of bad character generally, or has criminal tendencies. Id. The rationale for the prohibition against bad act and character evidence is "predicated upon our fundamental precept that every defendant should only be required to defend against the specific charges filed." Oldham v. State, 779 N.E.2d 1162, 1173 (Ind.Ct.App.2002), trans. denied.
In determining the admissibility of extrinsic act evidence under Evidence Rule 404(b), courts must first determine whether the evidence is relevant to a matter at issue other than the person's propensity to perform a wrongful act, and the court must then balance the probative value of the evidence against its prejudicial effect pursuant to Evidence Rule 403. Camm v. State, 812 N.E.2d 1127, 1131 (Ind.Ct.App.2004), trans. denied. As to the relevance determination, evidence is inadmissible if offered to prove the defendant's propensity to commit the crime, but "[e]vidence of uncharged misconduct which is probative of the defendant's motive and which is inextricably bound up with the charged crime is properly admissible under [Evidence Rule] 404(b)." Willingham v. State, 794 N.E.2d 1110, 1116 (Ind.Ct.App.2003) (internal quotations omitted). Additionally, otherwise inadmissible evidence may become admissible where the defendant "opens the door" to questioning on that evidence. Jackson v. State, 728 N.E.2d 147, 152 (Ind.2000). The evidence relied upon to "open the door" must leave the trier of fact with a false or misleading impression of the facts related. Id.
Here, Samaniego explained in his opening statement that, when the officers arrived at his home on September 3, 2004, to execute their search warrant, they subsequently encountered numerous individuals on both the first and second floors, a number of which "were in the proximity or the direct location of all of the various items that were found. . . ." (Tr. at 33) Throughout trial, Samaniego cross-examined witnesses to show that he had nothing to do with the cocaine. For instance, he attempted to show that, during the controlled buy, the only reason police informant Sanchez had any contact with him was because of Sanchez's contact with his wife. (Tr. at 89) He then attempted to show that, because he had been detained throughout the execution of the search warrant, he could not have been in possession of a sock containing cocaine; the sock turned up in an area of the backyard after officers had previously examined that area and found nothing. (Tr. at 119-21) In short, Samaniego fostered the impression that he knew nothing about the cocaine found in his home and therefore could not have possessed the requisite elements of knowledge and intent to deliver it. That this impression was intentionally fostered is clearly supported by Samaniego's closing argument as well as his statements to the judge during trial.4
For these reasons, we believe that evidence of the controlled buy was not introduced solely to prove the forbidden inference of Samaniego's propensity to commit the charged crime. Rather, Samaniego put his knowledge of the cocaine at issue, thereby "opening the door" to the admissibility of evidence from the controlled buy. That evidence was admissible to challenge the impression that Samaniego could not have had knowledge of the cocaine found in his home.5
Although the evidence of Samaniego's prior uncharged misconduct was relevant to show knowledge, it may still be inadmissible under the second prong of the 404(b) test if its probative value is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice pursuant to Indiana Rule of Evidence 403. Iqbal v. State, 805 N.E.2d 401, 408-09 (Ind.Ct.App.2004). A decision regarding prejudice is within the sound discretion of the trial court, and its decision is afforded a great deal of deference on appeal. Sandifur v. State, 815 N.E.2d 1042, 1048 (Ind.Ct.App.2004), trans. denied. We only reverse upon a showing that the trial court manifestly abused its discretion and the defendant was denied a fair trial. Id.
"[A]ll relevant evidence is inherently prejudicial in a criminal prosecution, so the inquiry boils down to a balance of probative value against the likely unfair prejudicial impact the evidence may have on the jury." Richmond v. State, 685 N.E.2d 54, 55-6 (Ind.1997) (internal quotations omitted). As discussed, the evidence here is highly probative to challenge the impression that Samaniego did not have knowledge of the cocaine...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Walsman v. State
... ... Panels of this court have reached different conclusions on that issue. At least one has held that advisory sentencing applies. See Samaniego-Hernandez v. State, 839 N.E.2d 798 (Ind.Ct. App.2005). But at least three panels have held that the presumptive sentencing scheme applies. See Weaver v. State, 845 N.E.2d 1066 (Ind.Ct.App.2006), trans. denied; Patterson v. State, 846 N.E.2d 723 (Ind.Ct.App.2006); Henderson v. State, 848 N.E.2d 341 ... ...
-
Roney v. State
...trans. denied. When conducting this inquiry, we may look to any factors appearing in the record. Cf. Samaniego-Hernandez v. State, 839 N.E.2d 798, 806 (Ind.Ct.App.2005) ("our review of the record does not disclose any basis upon which to grant relief relative [defendant's] character or the ......
-
Cannon v. State
...and intent where a defendant challenges his knowledge of the drug," and relies—to its own detriment—on Samaniego–Hernandez v. State, 839 N.E.2d 798 (Ind. Ct. App. 2005), abrogated on other grounds by Anglemyer v. State, 868 N.E.2d 482 (Ind. 2007) (clarified on reh'g, 875 N.E.2d 218 (2007) )......
-
Creekmore v. State
... ... 6. See State v. Fell, 210 Ariz. 554, 115 P.3d 594 (2005); State v. Upton, 339 Or. 673, 125 P.3d 713 (2005) ... 7. We note a split of opinion among members of this court with respect to this conclusion, as well as our holding in Weaver v. State, 845 N.E.2d 1066. See Samaniego-Hernandez v. State, 839 N.E.2d 798 (Ind.Ct.App.2005) (the change from presumptive sentences to advisory sentences was procedural rather than substantive, and, therefore, retroactive application does not violate the ex post facto prohibition) ... 8. As to these three crimes, we need not reach the issue of ... ...