State v. Millante
| Decision Date | 29 December 1995 |
| Docket Number | No. 33230-9-I,33230-9-I |
| Citation | 80 Wn.App. 237,908 P.2d 374 |
| Parties | The STATE of Washington, Respondent, v. Adlai Charles MILLANTE, Appellant. |
| Court | Washington Court of Appeals |
Robert T. Reischling, King County Pros. Office, Seattle, for Respondent.
Adlai Charles Millante appeals his conviction for first degree murder. We find the evidence sufficient to support both alternative means of committing first degree murder with which Millante was charged. We further find that any error in admitting evidence of Millante's prior convictions under ER 609(a)(1) was harmless and that the prosecuting attorney's closing argument was not improper. Accordingly, we affirm.
On June 6, 1992, the body of Cathleen Caruso was found stabbed to death by the side of a road near Marysville. Millante was identified as the last person to see Caruso alive. He was arrested and charged, by amended information, with one count of first degree murder, committed as follows:
That the defendant, ... while committing and attempting to commit the crime of Robbery in the Second Degree, and in the course of and in furtherance of said crime and in the immediate flight therefrom, and with premeditated intent to cause the death of another person, did cause the death of Cathleen Heye, also known as Cathy Caruso[.]
At trial, Millante admitted killing Caruso but argued that it had been in self-defense. The prosecution's theory of the case was that Millante had asked Caruso to meet him for a drug transaction, all the while intending to rob and kill her.
The State's witnesses testified as to the following events. On June 4, Millante visited the house where his sister Marcella lived to ask her whether he could conduct a drug transaction there later in the day. He directed another Around 9 o'clock that evening, Millante returned to his sister's house and asked everyone to leave for an hour. When Marcella returned, she noticed a pool of blood on the floor and bloody footprints leading from the basement bedroom to the garage. Millante called Marcella and asked her to clean up the mess. He later gave her approximately $100 and told her not to ask any questions. Around 10 p.m., Millante visited Luke Markishtum, the father of his fiancee, Debbie. Millante stated that he had been involved in a hassle and had "to do this person." He said that he needed to dispose of "it," which was in the car, adding, "no body, no evidence." Millante gave Markishtum part of a gold chain and a small gun that had belonged to Caruso, telling him to "pitch" them.
resident of the house to unlock a couple of doors in the basement, including the garage door. That evening, Millante paged Caruso several times. Around 8 P.M., Caruso told the friend she was with that the caller could not wait and that she would have to go meet him.
The next day, Millante gave Markishtum cash to pay for a car that cost $8,000, which Millante wanted to buy but have registered in Markishtum's name. The day after that, Millante married Debbie, and they sold her car to a friend. They asked their friend to say that she bought the car on June 2. The carpet had been removed from the car's hatchback area.
Caruso's body was found two days after her meeting with Millante. Dr. Eric Kiesel performed the autopsy. He testified that Caruso had eight stab wounds to the chest, five of which could have been fatal. Caruso's hands had defensive-type wounds and her knee had been stabbed. The wounds originated from multiple directions, consistent with a struggle, preventing Dr. Kiesel from determining the position of the attacker.
On June 16, Detective Rinta spoke with Millante about Caruso's murder, although Millante was not a suspect at the time. He denied having dealt drugs with Caruso, stating that she had been Debbie's friend and he had not After his arrest, Millante was held in the same area of the jail as John Piggot. Piggot testified that he learned, from speaking to Millante and overhearing his telephone conversations, that Millante was so angry with Caruso, whom Millante referred to as a "no account bitch," for having a relationship with Debbie that he "ended it." According to Piggot, Millante stated that he was pleading self-defense even though he had intended to kill Caruso. He explained to Piggot that the drug sale was a pretense to get Caruso to the house to "rip her off" and then kill her for her lesbian relationship with Debbie. Millante also told Piggot that he found Caruso's gun only after killing her.
known her very well. He also denied any knowledge of Caruso's death. Although he listed his activities on the day Caruso was killed, he omitted having spoken to or met with her.
After the State rested, Millante moved to dismiss the charge of first degree murder on the ground that the evidence did not prove either premeditation or felony murder predicated upon second degree robbery. The court denied the motion, finding premeditation supported by the number of wounds and the manner in which they were inflicted and felony murder supported by the fact that a gun and gold chain had been taken from the scene.
Millante testified that he had participated as a middleman in illegal drug deals with Caruso for several years and often arranged to conduct them in the basement of his sister's house. His role was to find a supplier, negotiate the transaction, and bring the supplier and Caruso together for the purchase. Millante reported that Caruso typically bought anywhere from one pound to one kilogram of cocaine at a time, for prices ranging from $8,000 to $22,000. Caruso carried cash and a scale in a bag to the transactions. Millante received between $2,000 and $5,000 for each completed transaction he facilitated. Millante testified that he also worked part-time at a produce stand and that he usually carried a produce knife with him.
At trial, Millante characterized his relationship with Caruso as close. He explained that Caruso had supplied Debbie with cocaine, which he wanted Debbie to stop using. Millante admitted that he had suspected an intimate relationship between Caruso and Debbie.
Millante testified as to the following version of events on June 4. He and Caruso arranged to meet at 9 P.M. regarding a drug deal she had requested he set up. Caruso was going to sample the drugs and confirm the price; she was not going to complete the purchase at that meeting. Caruso arrived carrying a large black bag. After they met, Millante decided to confront Caruso about her relationship with Debbie. He told Caruso that he was going to marry Debbie and did not want Caruso to see Debbie or him any more. He told Caruso that the current transaction would be his last drug deal with her. In response, Caruso taunted him about her affair with Debbie. As Millante walked toward the door, Caruso closed it. She pulled out a gun and stated that she would not let him ruin her. Putting the gun to his head, she said that she should kill him. Millante grabbed the gun, held the trigger, and fell to one knee as she kicked him. To prevent her from shooting him, he stabbed her with the knife he was carrying in his boot. This knife was not the produce knife he usually carried. Millante tried to cover up the incident because he thought he could not explain her death. He took Caruso's body from the basement to the garage and placed it in his car. He denied taking any money from her.
To support his theory of self-defense, Millante presented testimony about several occasions on which Caruso was violent. Once, after visiting her lover's apartment, Caruso threw the gun she was carrying at Millante, telling him to "take 'em." Caruso had also asked him to "chop up" a man who had injured her lover in an auto accident, offering him $25,000 for the job. Several witnesses testified that Caruso kept one of the several guns she owned in the glove box of her truck and sometimes carried another on her person.
The State sought to introduce evidence of Millante's five prior convictions for impeachment purposes. One, a 1972 assault, was excluded as too remote. Another, a 1976 attempted robbery, was admitted under ER 609(a)(2) as a crime of dishonesty. The remaining three, first degree assault in 1976 and two second degree burglaries, one in 1983 and another in 1990, were admitted under ER 609(a)(1).
The jury, instructed on first and second degree murder, found Millante guilty of first degree murder as charged. The trial court imposed a standard range sentence of 450 months.
We first address Millante's argument that the trial court erred in permitting the State to introduce evidence of his prior convictions under ER 609. Under that rule, evidence of prior convictions may be admitted in limited circumstances to impeach a witness. Prior convictions involving dishonesty or false statements, which bear directly on the witness's veracity, are per se admissible. ER 609(a)(2). In the present case, the parties agreed that the 1976 attempted robbery qualified as a crime of dishonesty, 1 and Millante does not challenge its admission.
For convictions that do not directly inform the jury of the defendant's ability to tell the truth on the stand, the trial court must determine whether the probative value of admitting the evidence outweighs the prejudice to the party against whom the evidence is offered. ER 609(a)(1). To make this determination, the trial court At a hearing to determine the admissibility of Millante's prior convictions, the trial court recited the Alexis factors and found that age and circumstances were not important in this case. Regarding the remaining factors, the trial court stated:
considers the Alexis 2 factors: (1) the length of the defendant's criminal record; (2) the remoteness of the prior conviction; (3) the nature of the prior crime; (4) the age and circumstances of the defendant; (5) the centrality of the...To continue reading
Request your trial
-
State v. Trout
...(1997). And the prosecutor has wide latitude in drawing and expressing reasonable inferences from the evidence. State v. Millante, 80 Wash.App. 237, 250, 908 P.2d 374 (1995). Adam charges the prosecutor with a variety of improper remarks. The prosecutor commented on the defendant's guilt. H......
-
State v. Hacheney
...at 341, 208 P.2d 863 (using phrase "same transaction" to explain proper application of the felony-murder rule); State v. Millante, 80 Wash.App. 237, 249-50, 908 P.2d 374 (1995) (same), review denied, 129 Wash.2d 1012, 917 P.2d 130 (1996); State v. Temple, 5 Wash.App. 1, 7, 485 P.2d 93 (1971......
-
State Of Washington
...from the evidence, including commenting on the credibility of witnesses based on evidence in the record. State v. Millante, 80 Wash.App. 237, 250, 908 P.2d 374 (1995), review denied, 129 Wash.2d 1012, 917 P.2d 130 (1996). ¶ 61 Here, Pierce fails to show prejudice. Significantly, the record ......
-
State v. Nunez
...been applied as to credibility of a defendant. State v. Copeland, 130 Wash.2d 244, 290–91, 922 P.2d 1304 (1996); State v. Millante, 80 Wash.App. 237, 250, 908 P.2d 374 (1995), review denied, 129 Wash.2d 1012, 917 P.2d 130 (1996). “[P]rejudicial error does not occur until it is clear that th......