State v. Almaraz
| Decision Date | 01 April 2013 |
| Docket Number | No. 35827.,35827. |
| Citation | 154 Idaho 584,301 P.3d 242 |
| Court | Idaho Supreme Court |
| Parties | STATE of Idaho, Plaintiff–Respondent, v. Hector B. ALMARAZ, Jr., Defendant–Appellant. |
Molly J. Huskey, State Appellate Public Defender, Boise, for appellant. Jason Pintler argued.
Hon. Lawrence G. Wasden, Idaho Attorney General, Boise, for respondent. Kenneth Jorgensen argued.
SUBSTITUTE OPINION
THE COURT'S PRIOR OPINION FILED MAY 31, 2012 IS HEREBY WITHDRAWN
Hector Almaraz appeals from his conviction for first-degree murder. He appeals based on several evidentiary grounds. First, he argues that the district court abused its discretion by admitting impermissible character evidence that gang members commit crimes and other violent acts and by admitting improper testimony from a police officer and an expert witness interpreting the security video from the scene of the crime. Almaraz also argues that the district court erred in failing to suppress an eyewitness identification due to suggestive procedures, and by precluding an expert from opining to the suggestiveness of a specific eyewitness' identification. Finally, he contends that the cumulative effect of the errors deprived him of a fair trial, and that this Court should remand the case to the district court for a new trial. We vacate Almaraz's conviction and remand for a new trial.
Hector Almaraz and Thomas Salazar, both members of the gang Brown Magic Clique ("BMC"), attended the Club 7 bar on April 23, 2006. The bar was equipped with sixteen video surveillance cameras which showed that a fight erupted after Almaraz punched another patron, Gabriel Flores. Just thirty seconds after the brawl began, the video cameras depict Flores flailing his arms in the air and stumbling to the ground. Although the video does not clearly portray the shooting or identify any patron with a gun, it does show Almaraz behind Flores just before he was shot. Flores died in the hospital as a result of a gunshot wound
to his back. Almaraz was subsequently charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of Flores.
Ken Hust was a patron at the Club 7 bar on the night of the shooting. Three days after the shooting, Hust met with police about the events of that evening. Hust was initially apprehensive and reluctant to speak with the police. At first, Hust told police officers that he did not see the shooter. In an effort to calm Hust's fears and encourage him to talk, the officer conducting the interview, Officer Sloan, told Hust "we caught the guy that did the shooting." Hust then explained that he might be able to recognize the shooter if he saw his face. Officer Sloan left the interview room to retrieve a photo to be used as a photographic lineup and turned off the tape recorder. Officer Sloan testified that upon returning with the photograph, Hust's face went blank as if he had seen a ghost and identified Almaraz without hesitation. The photograph obtained by Officer Sloan and presented to Hust was not a typical photo lineup. Instead of several discrete pictures of different individuals, the photo used was a group photograph of Almaraz and seven other Hispanic men. Almaraz is in the center of the photo with a chandelier hanging directly above his head.
Before trial, the defense moved to suppress Ken Hust's eyewitness identification arguing that the overly suggestive procedures the police used to obtain the identification violated Almaraz's due process rights. Specifically, Almaraz argued that Hust's identification was unreliable because of Officer Sloan's interview procedures, the suggestiveness of the group photograph used as the "photographic lineup," and Hust's lack of opportunity to adequately observe the shooter at the time of the incident. The district court denied Almaraz's motion to suppress. The district court allowed the defense to present expert testimony from Dr. Daniel Reisberg, a cognitive psychologist, about the types of suggestive procedures that can render an eyewitness identification unreliable. In his testimony before the jury, Dr. Reisberg identified proper guidelines regarding witness interviews and identified specific types of police conduct that could compromise a witness's memory. The court allowed Dr. Reisberg to testify specifically about the suggestiveness of the group photograph the police showed to Hust, but not about the suggestiveness of Officer Sloan's interview procedures.
Also prior to trial, the State filed a motion in limine seeking to admit evidence at trial of Almaraz's gang affiliation and the criminality of BMC generally under I.R.E. 404(b) to support its theory of motive. The State argued that the shooting was not merely a random killing, but that Almaraz shot Flores because of gang rivalry. The State asserted that Flores was shot because he was wearing a red jersey, which symbolized the color of a rival gang. Almaraz objected to such testimony during the pre-trial hearing and at trial on the ground that its probative value was substantially outweighed by its prejudicial effect. The district court ruled that evidence of Almaraz's gang affiliation was relevant to the issue of motive and, after applying a balancing test, the court found that the probative value was not outweighed by the prejudicial effect.
The district court allowed Tommy Salazar and another former member of BMC, Armando (Milo) Landin, to testify about the criminality of BMC. Landin testified that BMC's criminal purpose was "basically selling drugs and violence." Salazar testified about Almaraz's membership in BMC, general criminal conduct of BMC gang members, and the events that took place with Almaraz on the night that Flores was killed. Specifically, Salazar testified that the colors blue and brown symbolized membership in BMC and that the color of one of the gang's rivals was red. When recalling the details leading up to the fight, Salazar, who was standing near Almaraz in the bar, testified that Almaraz asked Flores why he was wearing a red shirt and inquired about which gang Flores claimed. Flores explained that he was not representing any gang, but simply liked the red Chicago Bulls jersey he was wearing. According to Salazar, Almaraz then asked Flores to remove the jersey. When Flores refused to take off his red jersey, a fight immediately broke out, which ended when Flores was shot in the back.
The State then presented Officer Jason Cantrell to testify as an expert on gangs. Officer Cantrell testified about the criminal and violent crimes generally committed by street gangs. His testimony was not specifically related to BMC or any of its members. Almaraz objected to the State calling Officer Cantrell as an expert on "what gang life is like" in general. After the court allowed Officer Cantrell to give his expert opinion testimony about gangs, the defense moved for a mistrial, or alternatively to have the entire testimony stricken from the record, arguing that the State failed to prove that BMC was in fact a criminal street gang with the primary purpose to commit crimes.
The State called Lieutenant Stephanie Steele, an officer who was called to duty on the night of the shooting, to review the bar's surveillance video tapes. The defense objected to Lieutenant Steele's characterization of the video when she testified, on re-direct examination, that Almaraz appeared to be in what she called a "shooter's crouch" just before Flores was shot. The defense argued that such an interpretation invaded the province of the jury.
The State also called Grant Fredericks to testify as a video expert to assist the jury in accurately interpreting the bar's surveillance videos from the night of the murder. When testifying to his impression of optimized versions of the surveillance videos, the State asked Fredericks if he had formed an opinion about when Flores was shot. The defense objected, arguing that Fredericks' background in analyzing hundreds of videos was not a sufficient foundation to testify about a person's physiological reaction to being shot. The defense further argued that the question went to the ultimate issue of the case and thereby invaded the province of the jury. The district court allowed Fredericks to give his opinion about the particular video frame that depicts the victim's response to being shot.
The jury returned a verdict that Almaraz was guilty of first-degree murder. On September 26, 2008, Almaraz was sentenced to life imprisonment with 40 years fixed. Almaraz filed a motion for a new trial which was subsequently denied by the district court. Almaraz timely filed a notice of appeal against his conviction and sentence on October 31, 2008.
This White v. Mock, 140 Idaho 882, 888, 104 P.3d 356, 362 (2004). "A trial court...
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