State v. Maurer, 860006

• Decision Date: 28 February 1989
• Docket Number: No. 860006,860006
• Parties: STATE of Utah, Plaintiff and Appellee, v. John Henry MAURER, Defendant and Appellant.
• Court: Utah Supreme Court

Page 981

770 P.2d 981

STATE of Utah, Plaintiff and Appellee, v. John Henry MAURER, Defendant and Appellant.

No. 860006.

Supreme Court of Utah.

Feb. 28, 1989.

Rehearing Denied March 17, 1989.

Nancy Bergeson and James Bradshaw, Salt Lake City, for defendant and appellant.

R. Paul Van Dam, Sandra L. Sjogren, Salt Lake City, for plaintiff and appellee.

HOWE, Associate Chief Justice:

Defendant John Henry Maurer was convicted by a jury of second degree murder in violation of Utah Code Ann. § 76-5-203 (1978, Supp.1988). He was sentenced to an indeterminate term of five years to life in the Utah State Prison. He appeals, assailing the trial court's admitting into evidence a letter he wrote to the victim's father over a month after the homicide.

Defendant met the victim, Janet Hannan, in 1984, and they began living together in a condominium in June of that year. In October of 1984, Janet and defendant became engaged to be married. Their relationship apparently was without major problems until January of 1985, when she apparently indicated some affection for Mike Bickley, a close friend of defendant's. On January 30, Janet, upon encouragement from her father, telephoned defendant and told him the engagement was off and not to come home. Defendant nevertheless came home to talk to her, and she told him that their relationship was over and that he should return the following morning to remove his belongings.

Defendant left the condominium in a state of emotional turmoil and called a suicide hotline. He was referred to a hospital, where he spoke with doctors and was diagnosed as suffering from "acute situational anxiety and grief reaction." He telephoned his mother, who lived out of state, and asked her to call Janet at the condominium the next morning and persuade her to reconsider her decision. A doctor gave him some valium, and he left with another friend, Ed Gutierrez.

Defendant and Ed went to Ed's apartment, where they talked for about three hours. Defendant was crying at times and seemed depressed. He slept for two or three hours and then the next morning left Ed to return to the condominium to meet Janet and move his clothing out. On the way, he again stopped at the hospital to get some valium.

Janet and Mike arrived at the condominium soon after defendant. Janet was staunch in her decision to break off their relationship and began to move defendant's clothing out of the bedroom. At one point, defendant's mother telephoned and spoke with Janet. He perceived from Janet's end of the conversation that his mother sided with her. Defendant paced from the kitchen to the living room to the bedroom, alternating between crying and being very calm. He hugged Janet and Mike and told her she deserved someone better than himself. He asked Mike, "Don't you feel guilty about this?" Mike said, "Yes," and that he felt so guilty that he had difficulty having sexual relations with Janet. This comment apparently enraged defendant, and he rushed to the kitchen, grabbed a knife, and went into the bedroom, where Janet was packing his clothes, and stabbed her in the back. Defendant fought with Mike when he tried to summon help. Janet died shortly thereafter.

Defendant was charged with second degree murder, and while in jail awaiting trial, had written a letter to the victim's father on March 10, 1985. This was thirty-eight days after the homicide. The letter reads as follows:

3/10/85

To Mike Hannon,

Just a letter to let you know that I'm glad I killed Janet. "Daddy's Little Girl" is no more. You spoiled her rotten. Thank God you were not there that morning. You might have prevented it. I hope you feel guilt over it.

It was a great feeling to watch her die. She kept crying "It hurts, It hurts". I should hope so, I mean it was a 13 inch kitchen knife. Mike Bickley got to watch her die too. It was great. Your daughter was nothing but a whore, a fucking whore. Drifting from one man to another. She couldn't break the engagement herself. No Daddy had to demand that she make a decision. God she was 29 and couldn't function or live without you doing everything for her.

So you had her buried in the Catholic section of the Salt Lake Cemetary [sic]. After her having an abortion? You fucking cover up artists, I hope her her [sic] death hurt you. Or are you relieved? What a stupid bitch she was. She did everything in the relationship and I sat back and did very little. I love it! She was so emotional and stupid. But basically a real whore. What are you going to do now? Bring her back from the dead. You should have been there that morning to prevent the murder. Hope you enjoyed your skiing that day. The laughs [sic] on you.

The killer

John H. Maurer

Prior to trial, defendant filed a motion in limine to preclude the State from introducing the letter into evidence at trial. The trial court denied the motion on the basis that the letter was probative of defendant's state of mind at the time of the homicide and thus would assist the jury in determining whether defendant was guilty of second degree murder or only of the lesser offense of manslaughter.

Subsequently, defendant petitioned the court for a rehearing on his motion, and argument was heard again just prior to trial. His counsel conceded that the letter was not hearsay under rule 801(d)(2), Utah Rules of Evidence, because it was an admission by a party-opponent, but argued that there was no material issue as to who killed the victim. He stated that he was prepared to stipulate that defendant did kill her. He pointed out that the only issue to be addressed by the jury was whether defendant intentionally killed the victim, which would be second degree murder, or whether he killed her while acting under the influence of extreme mental or emotional disturbance for which there was a reasonable explanation or excuse, which would constitute manslaughter. Defense counsel further argued that the letter was not admissible as evidence of defendant's state of mind at the time of the homicide because the letter was written at a time too remote to reflect accurately whether he was under extreme mental or emotional disturbance when he killed the victim. Finally, he argued that even if the letter had some relevance on the issue of state of mind, the prejudicial effect of the letter far exceeded its potential relevance under rule 403, Utah Rules of Evidence, which states:

Although 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.

The State argued that the letter was admissible as an admission and that the letter was relevant to prove the State's theory that defendant intentionally killed the victim without any justification or mitigation. The trial court again denied the motion to exclude the letter from evidence, concluding that "the probative value of the letter goes to the state of mind of defendant ... on the date the offense allegedly occurred." The court further found that "the probative value is not outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice, confusion of the issues, nor is there any chance of misleading the jury...." The entire letter was admitted into evidence at trial over defendant's objection.

Evidence is relevant if it has "any tendency to make the existence of any fact that is of consequence to the determination of the action more probable or less probable than it would be without the evidence." Utah R.Evid. 401. Both the State and defendant are in agreement that the central issue to be determined by the jury was defendant's state of mind at the time he killed the victim. That being so, the first five sentences of the second paragraph of the letter were arguably relevant. They read: "It was a great feeling to watch her die. She kept crying 'It hurts, It hurts'. I should hope so, I mean it was a 13 inch kitchen knife. Mike Bickley got to watch her die too. It was great." These sentences can fairly be interpreted to reflect defendant's recollection of his own mental state and impressions at the time of the killing.

Except for these sentences, the balance of the letter reflects defendant's state of mind at the time the letter was written. It displays his callousness toward the killing which he expresses in profane and vulgar language and manifests his complete insensitivity to this tragedy. The letter taunts the victim's father and was designed to inflict guilt upon him and add to the grief he must have then been feeling. However, because of its shocking display of lack of remorse by defendant and the repulsiveness of his expressions toward the victim and her father, the balance of the letter may well have been highly inflammatory in the eyes of the jury. It would be difficult to draft a letter which would be more repulsive to the notion of the value of human life than was this letter. We are cognizant of the rule that the appraisal of the probative and prejudicial value of evidence under rule 403 is generally entrusted to the sound discretion of the trial judge and will not be upset on appeal absent manifest error. State v. Miller, 709 P.2d 350, 353 (Utah 1985). Notwithstanding the salutariness of that rule, we cannot conclude otherwise than that the balance of the letter contained little or no relevance to the central issue and that any relevance which could be found therein was greatly and clearly outweighed by the danger of "unfair prejudice, confusion of the issues, [and] misleading the jury." Utah R.Evid. 403. The trial court's admission of the entire letter was clearly erroneous. Utah R.Civ.P. 52(a) (applicable in criminal cases by virtue of Utah Code Ann. § 77-35-26(7) (1982, Supp.1988); see State v. Walker, 743 P.2d 191 (Utah 1987)).

Our rule 403 is verbatim to rule 403, Federal Rules of Evidence, to which the Advisory Committee's note reads "that...