Williams v. State
| Decision Date | 01 July 1993 |
| Docket Number | No. 79487,79487 |
| Citation | 621 So.2d 413 |
| Parties | , 18 Fla. L. Week. S398 Charles Henry WILLIAMS, Petitioner, v. STATE of Florida, Respondent. |
| Court | Florida Supreme Court |
Bennett H. Brummer, Public Defender, Eleventh Judicial Circuit, Miami, and May L. Cain of Cain & Snihur, Sp. Asst. Public Defender, North Miami Beach, for petitioner.
Robert A. Butterworth, Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, Katherine Fernandez Rundle, State Atty., and Paul Mendelson, Asst. State Atty., Miami, for respondent.
We have for review Williams v. State, 592 So.2d 350 (Fla. 3d DCA 1992), because of apparent conflict with Hodges v. State, 403 So.2d 1375 (Fla. 5th DCA 1981), review denied, 413 So.2d 877 (Fla.1982); and Helton v. State, 365 So.2d 1101 (Fla. 1st DCA), cert. denied, 373 So.2d 461 (Fla.1979), on the issue of whether similar fact evidence is admissible to rebut a defense of consent in a sexual battery case. We have jurisdiction pursuant to article V, section 3(b)(3) of the Florida Constitution.
Charles Henry Williams was convicted of sexual battery, kidnapping, robbery, and possession of cocaine. At trial, the State was allowed to present, over objection, the testimony of two women who testified that they had been sexually assaulted by Williams under circumstances similar to those present in this case. Williams maintains that admission of this other crime evidence was error because the testimony only served to prove bad character or a propensity to assault women and thus is inadmissible under section 90.404(2)(a), Florida Statutes (1989). For the reasons set forth below, we agree with the district court that the challenged testimony was properly admitted in this case.
The attack on the complainant and the attacks on the two witnesses occurred in the same general area of Miami during the early morning hours on a weekend. Prior to the attacks, Williams engaged all three of the women in conversation concerning purchasing cocaine or having sex for drugs. Williams grabbed each of his victims in a tight choke hold from behind and dragged each of the victims to a secluded spot. The complainant testified that after dragging her behind the detached hood of a car, Williams took her cocaine. Then, while holding her by the neck with one hand, Williams masturbated with the other hand prior to penetrating her. After having sexual intercourse with her, Williams told the complainant not to say anything or he would kill her and then calmly walked away. The first witness's testimony was substantially the same as the complainant's. While holding the witness about the neck, Williams masturbated prior to forcing himself on her. He then took the woman's cocaine and walked away. The second witness testified that after Williams grabbed her by the neck, she lost consciousness momentarily and awoke with her pants pulled down. Williams walked away from her when confronted by another man.
Williams was apprehended soon after the attack on the victim in this case. When questioned, Williams told police that he had helped the complainant purchase crack cocaine and had sex with her in exchange for drugs, but she had become angry when he refused to give her the drugs.
Relying on the conflict cases, Williams maintains that consent is unique to the individual and therefore cannot be proved by evidence of other sexual encounters because the lack of consent of one person is not proof of the lack of consent of another. Hodges, 403 So.2d at 1378; Helton, 365 So.2d at 1102. Thus, the only purpose served by the testimony concerning the encounters with the two witnesses was to show bad character or the propensity to commit sexual battery.
This case presents a textbook example of the interplay of Florida's rules of evidence concerning the admissibility of evidence of other crimes, wrongs, or acts. As a general rule, such evidence is admissible if it casts light on a material fact in issue other than the defendant's bad character or propensity. Bryan v. State, 533 So.2d 744, 746 (Fla.1988), cert. denied, 490 U.S. 1028, 109 S.Ct. 1765, 104 L.Ed.2d 200 (1989); Williams v. State, 110 So.2d 654 (Fla.), cert. denied, 361 U.S. 847, 80 S.Ct. 102, 4 L.Ed.2d 86 (1959). Evidence of other crimes or acts may be admissible if, because of its similarity to the charged crime, it is relevant to prove a material fact in issue. But it may also be admissible, even if not similar, if it is probative of a material fact in issue. Although similarity is not a requirement for admission of other crime evidence, when the fact to be proven is, for example, identity or common plan or scheme it is generally the similarity between the charged offense and the other crime or act that gives the evidence probative value. Thus, evidence of other crimes, whether factually similar or dissimilar to the charged crime, is admissible if the evidence is relevant to prove a matter of consequence other than bad character or propensity. See Bryan, 533 So.2d at 746; Charles W. Ehrhardt, Florida Evidence Sec. 404.09 (1993).
The broad rule of admissibility based on relevancy, commonly known as the Williams rule, is codified at section 90.404(2)(a), Florida Statutes (1989). That provision provides Similar fact evidence of other crimes, wrongs or acts is admissible when relevant to prove a material fact in issue, such as proof of motive, opportunity, intent, preparation, plan, knowledge, identity, or absence of mistake or accident, but is inadmissible when the evidence is relevant solely to prove bad character or propensity.
Section 90.404(2)(a). It is clear that other crime evidence that is probative of a material fact in issue is not inadmissible simply because it has a tendency to suggest the commission of another crime and thus necessarily is prejudicial to the defendant. Bryan, 533 So.2d at 747; Williams, 110 So.2d at 660. However, evidence of other crimes that is relevant and therefore not barred by section 90.404(2)(a), may be excluded under section 90.403 if its probative value is substantially outweighed by undue prejudice. Bryan, 533 So.2d at 747.
Similar fact evidence has been held admissible in sexual battery cases when the evidence was found to have a logical relationship to some material aspect of the charged crime beyond the character of the defendant or his propensity to force himself on women. For example, in Williams, the victim testified that she returned to her car in a department store parking lot to find Williams hiding in the back seat. Williams commandeered the car and then sexually assaulted her. At trial, Williams testified that he had prior sexual relations with the complainant and that she consented on the day in question. The State offered the testimony of a deputy sheriff who stated that on the day after the incident the defendant advised him that when he saw the victim's automobile he thought it was his brother's and crawled in the back to take a nap. 110 So.2d at 656-57.
The State also offered the testimony of a prior victim and a police officer who testified about an incident that occurred six weeks prior to the attack on the complainant. The prior victim testified that she had parked her car in the same lot and at about the same time as the complainant. When she returned to her car she too discovered Williams hiding on the floor of the back seat. When captured, Williams claimed that he had mistaken the car for his brother's, and had crawled into the back to take a nap. The two vehicles were of different make, color, and year. 110 So.2d at 657-58. This Court concluded that the similar fact evidence was properly admitted because
[i]t definitely had probative value to establish a plan, scheme or design. It was relevant to meet the anticipated defense of consent. At the time when it was offered in the presentation of the State's main case it had a substantial degree of relevance in order to identify the accused. Finally, it was relevant because it demonstrated a plan or pattern followed by the accused in committing the type of crime laid in the indictment.
More recently, in Jackson v. State, 538 So.2d 533 (Fla. 5th DCA 1989), testimony was admitted that, like the complainant in that case, the witness had been tricked into accompanying the defendant to an isolated area where she was raped. In each of the encounters, the defendant drove his victim to a rural area on some pretext and there assaulted her while she stood nude in front of the headlights of the car. Jackson claimed to have paid both the complainant and the witness for having sex with him. The Fifth District Court of Appeal concluded that the testimony concerning the prior incident was admissible because it was relevant to show modus operandi, plan or scheme, and to rebut the defendant's claim of sex for pay. 538 So.2d at 535.
In contrast to the similar fact evidence found to be admissible in Williams and Jackson, the other crime evidence held inadmissible in Hodges and Helton did nothing more than expose the defendant's bad character and...
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