State v. Kalex

• Decision Date: 15 February 2002
• Citation: 789 A.2d 1286,2002 ME 26
• Parties: STATE of Maine v. Robert W. KALEX.
• Court: Maine Supreme Court

789 A.2d 1286

2002 ME 26

STATE of Maine v. Robert W. KALEX.

Supreme Judicial Court of Maine.

Argued: November 7, 2001.

Decided: February 15, 2002.

Michael P. Cantara, District Attorney, Tara K. Bates, Assistant Dist. Atty. (orally), Alfred, for State.

Kevin R. Heffernan (orally), Portland, for defendant.

Panel: CLIFFORD, RUDMAN, DANA, ALEXANDER, and CALKINS, JJ.

DANA, J.

[¶ 1] Robert W. Kalex appeals from a conviction for terrorizing, 17-A M.R.S.A. § 210 (1983 & Supp.2000), entered by the Superior Court (York County, Fritzsche, J.) following a jury trial (York County, Cole, J.). Kalex contends that the court erred in refusing to admit evidence of victim Rory Holland's reputation for untruthfulness and in admitting a photograph of Kalex dressed in a Ku Klux Klan outfit. The State contends that the court did not abuse its discretion and that if there was any error, it was harmless. Because we conclude that the court exceeded the bounds of its discretion in refusing to admit certain reputation testimony, and because the error was not harmless, we vacate.

I. BACKGROUND

[¶ 2] On July 25, 2000, Kalex was driving a red pickup truck with a passenger inside. Kalex pulled up beside Holland, who was walking down the street, and said, according to Holland's trial testimony, that Holland "was lucky that [Kalex and the passenger] didn't have a gun right then or they would shoot [Holland]," while Kalex gestured like he was pointing a gun at Holland. According to Holland's testimony, Kalex's passenger told Holland he could "take that to the bank because that's a promise, not a threat." Holland reported the incident to the police, identified Kalex and described the truck and passenger, after which the police went to Kalex's home. When Kalex arrived, the police questioned him. During a heated conversation, Kalex referred to Holland as a "nigger," and stated he would not do anything to Holland, but his family "would take care of" Holland.

[¶ 3] The State charged Kalex with interference with Holland's constitutional and civil rights, 17 M.R.S.A. § 2931 (Supp.2000), and terrorizing, 17-A M.R.S.A. § 210 (Supp.2000).¹ At the trial on the count of terrorizing,² the court admitted testimony that Kalex and others had approached Holland's house on October 31, 1999, wearing KKK outfits and carrying a sign from Holland's mayoral campaign; the sign was altered to display a drawing of a raccoon circled in red with a line through it. The court admitted a photograph of Kalex in a KKK outfit "for the limited purpose of the jury understanding the — the attire that the officer said was similar to what appears in that picture."³

[¶ 4] The court refused to admit evidence presented through voir dire regarding Holland's reputation for truthfulness. Theresa Ordway testified that "a few people had warned [her] that he wasn't a very nice guy," and that "he takes things that don't belong to him, that he lies about — he tells stories, he fabricates stories in order to get things that he wants." She testified that she based her testimony on what she heard from about fifteen people. Brian McLaughlin, a local business owner, stated that Holland "had caused problems or stolen merchandise" from local businesses and that other business owners told him Holland "tr[ied] to con things out of ... store[s], merchandise or anything." McLaughlin stated, however, that apart from hearing about Holland being manipulative and trying to strong-arm or con five to ten business people, McLaughlin "couldn't tell you about his reputation for truthfulness ...."

[¶ 5] Denise Everest, Kalex's girlfriend, stated that she had spoken with at least fifty people in the greater Biddeford area who regarded Holland as untruthful. She also testified that, apart from those approximately fifty people, the Biddeford business community "had dishonest problems with him as far as products, services, and lack of payment." Thomas Kent testified that Holland was "manipulative" of local businesses according to the five to ten people with whom he had conversed about Holland. Kalex himself testified that Holland was "an extortionist," that he "lies and cheats and thieves," and that the newspapers had questioned Holland's honesty about obtaining signatures for "his electoral ballots." Kalex did not say how many people had communicated to him about Holland's reputation for untruthfulness.

[¶ 6] The court concluded that the above testimony, based on the witnesses' own observations or the observations of a number of business people regarding Holland's reputation for being a con man who strong-arms people or fails to pay them did not constitute evidence of his reputation in the community for truthfulness. The court stated:

And to the extent that if five or 10 business people on Main Street have issues in regard to truthfulness, which I didn't even hear, but to the extent that wouldn't be a big enough community, clearly the defense has failed to meet its required standing to proceed with the — on the issue of character, and I am not going to permit the proposed inquiry about the defendant's reputation for truthfulness or veracity in the community on the basis of what has been presented by way of the voir dire here and these six witnesses.

[¶ 7] The jury convicted Kalex of terrorizing before the Superior Court (York County, Fritzsche, J.). Kalex filed his notice of appeal from the conviction, after which the court (York County, Cole, J.) entered its judgment and commitment, sentencing Kalex to 364 days in jail with all but 120 days suspended, plus a year of probation.

II. DISCUSSION

A. KKK Photograph

[¶ 8] Kalex contends that the court abused its discretion when it admitted a photograph of him in a KKK outfit because the photograph's prejudicial nature substantially outweighed its probative value. He contends that the jurors did not need a photograph to know what a KKK uniform looks like, and that the image was inflammatory. He contends the admission of the photograph was not harmless error.

[¶ 9] The State contends that the photograph was probative of whether Kalex placed Holland "in reasonable fear that the crime w[ould] be committed." 17-A M.R.S.A. § 210(1)(A). The State also contends that, if the court erred in admitting the photograph, the error was harmless because the record contains other evidence of Kalex's racism.

[¶ 10] We review a court's determination of the admissibility of a photograph pursuant to Rule 403 for an abuse of discretion. State v. Francis, 539 A.2d 213, 215 (Me.1988).

[¶ 11] Rule 403 of the Maine Rules of Evidence provides that, "[a]lthough relevant, evidence may be excluded if its probative value is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice, confusion of the issues, or misleading the jury, or by considerations of undue delay, waste of time, or needless presentation of cumulative evidence." A photograph is admissible if it truly and accurately depicts what it purports to represent, is relevant to some issue involved in the litigation, and its probative value is not outweighed by any tendency it may have toward unfair prejudice. State v. Plante, 623 A.2d 166, 167 (Me.1993).

[¶ 12] We stated that an array of "mug shots" including a photograph of the defendant was inadmissible pursuant to Rule 403 because it had "an undue tendency to move the jury to convict [the defendant] on the improper basis of his criminal record." State v. Almurshidy, 1999 ME 97, ¶ 17, 732 A.2d 280, 285; see also State v. Robbins, 666 A.2d 85, 87-88 (Me.1995)

(holding that the court erred in admitting a photographic array because there were no identification issues relating to the array and the "mug shot" of the defendant unfairly besmirched his character). We also held that a court erred in admitting a gruesome photograph of a victim when the "essential evidentiary value in the photograph [was] tenuous in the extreme" because it did not advance any material facts beyond the trial testimony and there was no dispute concerning identification. State v. Conner, 434 A.2d 509, 512-13 (Me.1981). By contrast, when a photograph of a victim had "slight evidentiary value," but was not gruesome, we held that it was within the court's discretion to admit the photograph early in the trial before it was clear the defendant would not dispute the cause of death. State v. Joy, 452 A.2d 408, 412-13 (Me.1982).

[¶ 13] We conclude that in the circumstances of this case the admission of the photograph was not so unfairly prejudicial that it was beyond the scope of the court's discretion to admit it for its probative value in determining whether Kalex's behavior in 1999 contributed to a reasonable fear on Holland's part that Kalex would act on his July 25, 2000, threat. The photograph was not gruesome and did not suggest any convictions or other acts unsupported by testimony.

B. Reputation Testimony

[¶ 14] Kalex contends that the court should have admitted the testimony of five witnesses that Holland had a reputation for untruthfulness. According to Kalex, the error is not harmless because, as a result, the jury was not permitted to hear any testimony to undermine Holland's credibility.

[¶ 15] The State contends that the court did not abuse its discretion in refusing to admit the evidence of untruthfulness because only one person spoke of Holland being untruthful, "as opposed to being manipulative, dishonest, or just generally disliked." The State further contends that any error was harmless because other witnesses corroborated Holland's testimony.

[¶ 16] Rule 608(a) of the Maine Rules of Evidence provides, in pertinent part, that "[t]he credibility of a witness may be attacked or supported by evidence of reputation, but subject to these limitations: (1) the evidence may refer only to character for truthfulness or untruthfulness ...." The Maine rule, unlike the federal rule, "does not permit character evidence in the form of the witness' own opinion." State v. Cyr, 2001 ME 35, ¶ 8, ...