State v. Steinbach

• Decision Date: 21 January 1998
• Docket Number: 970157,Nos. 970156,s. 970156
• Citation: 575 N.W.2d 193,1998 ND 18
• Parties: STATE of North Dakota, Plaintiff and Appellee, v. Mark STEINBACH, Defendant and Appellant. Criminal
• Court: North Dakota Supreme Court

Page 193

575 N.W.2d 193

1998 ND 18

STATE of North Dakota, Plaintiff and Appellee, v. Mark STEINBACH, Defendant and Appellant.

Criminal Nos. 970156, 970157.

Supreme Court of North Dakota.

Jan. 21, 1998.

Robert E. Manly, State's Attorney, New Rockford, for plaintiff and appellee. Appearance by Robert G. Manly, Assistant State's Attorney.

Michael R. Hoffman, Bismarck, for defendant and appellant.

NEUMANN, Justice.

¶1 Mark Steinbach appealed from a judgment of conviction and commitment, based upon jury verdicts finding him guilty of murder and of physical obstruction of a government function and tampering with physical evidence. Steinbach also appealed from a court order denying his motion for a new trial. We affirm the judgment on all convictions and the order denying Steinbach's motion for a new trial.

I

¶2 Debra Lynn Reinhardt died of a shotgun wound to the neck and upper back in the early morning hours of March 4, 1996. The relevant events occurring prior to Reinhardt's death are not in dispute.

¶3 Steinbach and Reinhardt became acquainted in 1994 while attending alcoholics anonymous and narcotics anonymous meetings in Devils Lake. Steinbach separated from his wife in 1994, and they were subsequently divorced. Sometime in 1995 Reinhardt, who had been living in Kansas, returned to North Dakota. She and Steinbach commenced living together on Steinbach's ranch near New Rockford, together with Reinhardt's two daughters from prior relationships, Kari, age 2, and Amber, age 4, and Steinbach's son, Aaron, age 16.

¶4 During August 1995, both Steinbach and Reinhardt resumed drinking. On Sunday March 3, 1996 Reinhardt drove to a New Rockford bar to purchase beer. When Steinbach awoke from a nap that afternoon, he drove to town to purchase beer at the same bar. He became upset when he saw Reinhardt was drinking there. When she and a male acquaintance invited Steinbach to talk with them, Steinbach responded he had better things to do and he returned to the ranch. When Reinhardt returned to the ranch later that evening she got into a heated dispute with Steinbach. Aaron testified Reinhardt grabbed her sleeping daughters from their beds and barricaded herself and them in Aaron's room to get away from Steinbach. Eventually, Reinhardt and Steinbach calmed down and the children went back to their beds to sleep. Steinbach and Reinhardt went downstairs to the living room and drank some beers together. According to Steinbach, he went to bed around 12:30 a.m. Monday morning and Reinhardt stayed up watching television and drinking.

¶5 Authorities first began investigating the case when Reinhardt's sister telephoned the sheriff's office on March 8, 1996 to report Reinhardt missing. When contacted by officers about Reinhardt's whereabouts, Steinbach said he and Reinhardt had argued the past Sunday evening and the next morning she was gone. Steinbach told a special agent he had not reported Reinhardt missing because he was hoping she would return home.

¶6 On March 21, 1996 Steinbach led investigators to Reinhardt's nude body, located one mile north of Steinbach's ranch in a shelter belt. Steinbach told authorities he awoke early Monday morning, March 4, 1996, to a loud bang and found Reinhardt's body on the living room floor. He later changed his story and testified at trial that he found Reinhardt's body sitting in a living room chair with the shotgun in her lap. He told them he drank some beer after finding Reinhardt dead. He then placed Reinhardt's body in a pickup and drove to the shelter belt where he dragged her body into the trees and left her there, with plans to bury her when the ground thawed. Steinbach told authorities he removed Reinhardt's blouse and shorts because they were catching on things while he was dragging her body to the shelter belt. Steinbach said he then returned to the ranch, scrubbed the chair, and placed a blanket over it. Steinbach also took the officers to a pole barn on the ranch where he had hidden in a plastic bag Reinhardt's jacket, wallet, glasses, and the sawed-off double barrel shotgun which fired the shot that killed her.

¶7 Steinbach was ultimately charged with class AA felony murder for Reinhardt's death and with two class A misdemeanors, physical obstruction of a government function and tampering with physical evidence. The jury found Steinbach guilty of all charges, and the trial judge sentenced Steinbach to one year on each misdemeanor charge, to be served consecutively, and to life imprisonment, without the opportunity of parole, for the murder conviction.

II

¶8 Steinbach argues the trial court abused its discretion in allowing the State to introduce a photograph showing Reinhardt's nude body lying in the shelter belt where Steinbach dragged and left it. Steinbach claims the photograph is of no evidentiary value and was introduced solely to prejudice the jury against him.

¶9 Under N.D.R.Ev. 401-403, a trial court is vested with broad discretion to decide if evidence is relevant and if its probative value substantially outweighs the danger of unfair prejudice. State v. Carlson, 1997 ND 7, p 8, 559 N.W.2d 802. We will reverse the court's decision in admitting evidence only if the court has abused its discretion by acting in an arbitrary, unconscionable, or unreasonable manner. Id.

¶10 In State v. Iverson, 187 N.W.2d 1, 37 (N.D.), cert. denied, 404 U.S. 956, 92 S.Ct. 322, 30 L.Ed.2d 273 (1971), we spoke about the general admissibility of photographs of a victim in a homicide prosecution:

"It appears to be a well-settled rule that photographs of the victim in a prosecution for homicide, duly verified and shown by extrinsic evidence to be faithful representations of the victim at the time in question, are, in the discretion of the trial court, admissible in evidence as an aid to the jury in arriving at a fair understanding of the evidence, condition and identification of the body, even though such photographs may have the additional effect of tending to excite the emotions of the jury."

In addition to giving visual evidence of the body and the crime, the State sought to introduce the photograph:

"[T]o destroy the picture that this woman was loved and cared for by this defendant.... And its not just a graphic showing of the position and location of this woman ... but more than anything, as much as anything, it shows the treatment she received admittedly by the defendant in this case. Therefore, I think it[']s extraordinary [sic] relevant to defeat a probable showing of love and caring on the part of this defendant to show the jury exactly the way this body was treated after the death of this woman. It goes far beyond medical proof, Your Honor. I think it goes to show motive and it goes to show intent. It goes to the very heart of our case here."

The court concluded this photograph's probative value outweighed its potential prejudice. We conclude the trial court did not abuse its discretion in admitting it.

III

¶11 Steinbach argues the testimony of Dr. Daniel Davis, Deputy Coroner with the Hennepin County Coroner's Office, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, was unfairly prejudicial because Davis concluded Reinhardt died from a shotgun wound as a result of a homicide, not suicide, without knowing the length of the shotgun that killed her. At oral argument counsel also argued Davis' testimony was objectionable because it was based, in part, on the fact Steinbach concealed Reinhardt's body.

¶12 Under N.D.R.Ev. 702 an expert may testify to scientific, technical, or other specialized knowledge which will assist the trier of fact. Under N.D.R.Ev. 704 an expert is specifically authorized to give his opinion even though it embraces an ultimate issue of fact to be decided by the trier of fact. N.D.C.C. § 11-19.1-13 requires the coroner to report the cause of death, the manner of death, and the mode in which the death occurred. The determination to admit or not admit expert testimony rests within the sound discretion of the trial court and will not be reversed on appeal unless the court has abused its discretion. State v. Fontaine, 382 N.W.2d 374, 377 (N.D.1986). N.D.R.Ev. 702 envisions generous allowance of the use of expert testimony if a witness is shown to have some degree of expertise in the field of which he testifies. Anderson v. A.P.I. Co. of Minnesota, 1997 ND 6, p 9, 559 N.W.2d 204.

¶13 Davis testified he has conducted more than 1,000 autopsies and has assisted others in conducting at least as many. Davis concluded Reinhardt had been shot with a shotgun at very close range. The shot entered her neck at the left front and exited her body on the right side of her back at a point lower than the entrance wound. He testified Reinhardt's hands showed no evidence of defensive type wounds or of injury related to holding a firearm. When asked what information was provided to him by the investigators, Davis responded he had information Reinhardt was shot while sitting in a chair and that her nude body had been found several days or weeks later in a remote wooded area where her body had been concealed. He concluded Reinhardt died as a result of a homicide shotgun blast to the neck. Davis testified that although he did not know at the time of the autopsy the barrel of the shotgun had been sawed off, his conclusion about the cause and manner of death would not change because the length of the gun would not have a significant impact on his ultimate conclusion.

¶14 Steinbach's counsel did not object to Davis' testimony during the prosecutor's direct examination. During cross-examination Steinbach's counsel questioned Davis about his conclusion on the cause of death relative to the length of the shotgun. He asked Davis if he was "100 percent sure that she died at the hands of someone else?" Davis responded that he was certain "to a reasonable degree of medical certainty." He testified that, although a person Reinhardt's size could hold up a short shotgun and pull the trigger, he had...