State v. Collins

Decision Date20 August 2014
Docket NumberNo. 27439.,27439.
Citation763 S.E.2d 22,409 S.C. 524
CourtSouth Carolina Supreme Court
PartiesThe STATE, Petitioner, v. Bentley COLLINS, Respondent. Appellate Case No. 2012–211266.

Attorney General Alan McCrory Wilson and Assistant Attorney General William M. Blitch, Jr., both of Columbia, for Petitioner.

Appellate Defender Susan Barber Hackett, of Columbia, for Respondent.

Opinion

Justice BEATTY.

Respondent Bentley Collins was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and three counts of owning a dangerous animal causing injury to a person after a ten-year-old boy was killed and partially eaten by his dogs, most of whom were pitbull mixes. The State appeals from a decision of the Court of Appeals that reversed and remanded the matter for a new trial based solely on the trial court's admission of seven pre-autopsy photos of the victim. State v. Collins, 398 S.C. 197, 727 S.E.2d 751 (Ct.App.2012). We reverse.

I. FACTS

On November 3, 2006, the mother of the victim returned to her home in Dillon County around 7:00 p.m. and discovered that her ten-year-old son had not come home for dinner at 5:30 p.m. as expected. She checked with her aunt, who resided with her, and then began looking around the neighborhood. She called the police when she could not find her son. The police arrived and the mother rode with them as they scoured the neighborhood. Shortly after 10:00 p.m., they discovered the boy's body on the ground in Collins's yard, with a group of dogs nearby. The mother poignantly recalled that her son “was tore to pieces. Pieces.”

The mother and the police tried to get to the boy, but the dogs ran at them each time they approached his body. Agents from SLED arrived, and they could not process the crime scene until animal control employees arrived to capture and remove the dogs from the scene.

Neither Collins nor any of his family members were at home. Collins had six dogs on the premises, all of which were unrestrained. Collins had no fence or dog pens, and neighbors reported that he never kept his dogs on leashes or chains. Most of the dogs appeared to be pitbull mixes. The three largest dogs weighed 47 pounds, 44 pounds, and 36 pounds, respectively, and they ranged in age from about one to two years old. Several of the dogs had bite wounds

on their shoulders, which was indicative of dog fighting. One of the female dogs captured was determined to be in heat.

An autopsy of the victim revealed the boy died of extensive traumatic injury secondary to being severely mauled by dogs.

According to the forensic pathologist, Edward Proctor, the boy suffered a “tremendous number” of bite marks on his legs and had “extensive” loss of skin and soft tissue on his upper body and his face, including his ears and nose, which were “completely eaten away” by the dogs. Areas of the boy's chest and his arm had also been eaten, exposing the bone. The boy's jugular vein on the left side was torn in half, causing significant blood loss leading to his death. The pathologist determined the boy “would have been alive until the injuries to the neck that transected the blood vessel in the neck allowing him to bleed enough until he either became unconscious or expired.”

Two boys who lived in the neighborhood, “J” and “B,” gave statements to the police the day after the incident. They were in J's yard at around sunset on November 3, 2006 when they heard growling and barking nearby. J had been looking for his puppy, so they went to investigate and saw three of Collins's dogs eating something on the ground that appeared to be “a bloody piece of meat.” As J walked to within about ten feet of the “meat,” another dog that they had not seen ran out and jumped on J, knocking him to the ground. J shoved that dog away, but another one then came after him. One of the larger dogs bit J “behind [his] neck,” so the boys left immediately.

Collins was indicted for involuntary manslaughter and three counts of owning a dangerous animal1 and allowing it to be unconfined, resulting in the mauling death of the victim. A jury convicted Collins of all charges. Collins appealed to the Court of Appeals, which reversed and remanded for a new trial based solely on the admission of seven photographs that were taken by the pathologist to document the victim's injuries prior to performing the autopsy. This Court granted the State's petition for a writ of certiorari.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

“In criminal cases, the appellate court sits to review errors of law only.”

State v. Baccus, 367 S.C. 41, 48, 625 S.E.2d 216, 220 (2006). This Court is bound by the trial court's factual findings unless they are clearly erroneous.” Id. “The admission or exclusion of evidence is a matter addressed to the sound discretion of the trial court and its ruling will not be disturbed in the absence of a manifest abuse of discretion accompanied by probable prejudice.” State v. Wise, 359 S.C. 14, 21, 596 S.E.2d 475, 478 (2004). “An abuse of discretion occurs when the conclusions of the trial court either lack evidentiary support or are controlled by an error of law.” Id.

III. LAW/ANALYSIS

On appeal, the State contends the challenged photos, taken before the autopsy was commenced, accurately documented the injuries sustained by the victim in this case and, while graphic, were properly admitted in accordance with the trial court's broad discretion over evidentiary matters. The State argues the Court of Appeals (1) failed to give due deference to the trial court's decision, (2) erred in finding the photos were more prejudicial than probative, (3) erred in finding the photos were not material to the elements of the offenses charged and corroborative of other evidence, and (4) erred in making a purely emotional decision to reverse and remand for a new trial. We agree.

A. Admissibility of Photos

In this case, Collins faced three charges under section 47–3–760 for being the owner of a “dangerous animal”2 that attacked and injured a human being in violation of section 47–3–710(A)(2)(a) of the South Carolina Code. See S.C.Code Ann. § 47–3–760(B) (Supp.2013) (penalty for dangerous animals). As noted by the Court of Appeals, under section 47–3–760 (B) and its associated statutes, the State was required to prove (1) the defendant owned or had custody or control of a canine or feline; (2) he knew or reasonably should have known the animal had a propensity, tendency, or disposition to attack unprovoked, cause injury, or otherwise endanger the safety of human beings; (3) the animal made an unprovoked attack; (4) the attack caused bodily injury to a human being; and (5) the attack occurred while the animal was unconfined on the defendant's premises. State v. Collins, 398 S.C. 197, 203, 727 S.E.2d 751, 754 (Ct.App.2012).

Collins was also charged with involuntary manslaughter. See S.C.Code Ann. § 16–3–60 (2003) (providing [a] person charged with the crime of involuntary manslaughter may be convicted only upon a showing of criminal negligence,” which “is defined as the reckless disregard of the safety of others”). To establish this offense, the State must show the defendant killed another person without malice and unintentionally while the defendant was engaged in either (1) an unlawful activity not amounting to a felony and not naturally tending to cause death or great bodily harm, or (2) a lawful activity with a reckless disregard of the safety of others. State v. Crosby, 355 S.C. 47, 584 S.E.2d 110 (2003) ; State v. Tyler, 348 S.C. 526, 560 S.E.2d 888 (2002).

In this case, the ten-year-old victim's body was discovered in the defendant's yard, having suffered numerous bite marks and being partially eaten by the dogs. There were no eyewitnesses to the attack. At trial, the State attempted to piece together a theory of what transpired with the best evidence available, the victim's body, and its expert witnesses, which included a forensic pathologist and a dog behaviorist. They theorized that it was an unprovoked attack in which the victim was taken down by his legs first based on the wounds

observed on the body, and then the boy suffered additional harm to his jugular vein and other areas, leading to his death. According to the State's dog behavior expert, the dogs, who were not restrained in any way, acted as a pack and could have been malnourished or mistreated based on the dogs' gaunt appearance, the absence of any food at the scene, and the appearance of the victim's body, which appeared to have been eaten by more than one dog due to the significant tissue loss. The dog expert noted that in over ten years of working for the Sheriff's Office analyzing dog bites, dog attacks, and deaths caused by dogs, this was the worst case he had ever seen.

The State also presented evidence of the dogs' prior acts of aggression towards people in the neighborhood, several occurring while Collins stood by and watched without taking any action to restrain his dogs. For example, B, one of the two boys who came upon the victim's body after the attack, testified he had numerous encounters with the dogs, as they were “never” restrained. B recounted that on at least two occasions, Collins stood by and watched as the dogs ran out into the road after him and his friend J as they drove four-wheelers. Collins did not attempt to intervene. In addition, when B and his mother tried to walk in the neighborhood for exercise, the dogs would “frequently” come out and try to bite their legs, so they wound

up having to change their route just to avoid Collins's aggressive dogs.

In order to support its assertions about the dangerous propensities of the dogs, the manner and extent of the attack, and Collins's criminal negligence, the State also offered a group of photos taken of the victim by Proctor, the forensic pathologist, before he began the autopsy. The trial court engaged in an extended colloquy in camera with the State and defense counsel in which the trial court allowed both sides to make arguments, and then...

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