Wynn v. State

• Decision Date: 01 September 1997
• Docket Number: No. 90,90
• Citation: 718 A.2d 588,351 Md. 307
• Parties: James Othel WYNN v. STATE of Maryland. ,
• Court: Maryland Court of Appeals

Page 307

351 Md. 307

718 A.2d 588

James Othel WYNN v. STATE of Maryland.

No. 90, Sept. Term , 1997.

Court of Appeals of Maryland.

Oct. 5, 1998.

Gina M. Serra, Asst. Public Defender (Stephen E. Harris, Public Defender, on brief), Baltimore, for Petitioner.

Emmet Davitt, Asst. Atty. Gen. (J. Joseph Curran, Jr., Atty. Gen., on brief), Baltimore, for Respondent.

Argued before BELL, C.J., and ELDRIDGE, RODOWSKY, CHASANOW, RAKER, WILNER and CATHELL, JJ.

CATHELL, Judge.

As early as 1892, the Supreme Court of the United States, in Boyd v. United States, 142 U.S. 450, 12 S.Ct. 292, 294, 35 L.Ed. 1077 (1892), reversed a criminal conviction because evidence of other crimes had been admitted improperly. The Supreme Court stated:

The principal assignments of error relate to the admission, against the objection of the defendants, of evidence as to several robberies committed prior to the day when Dansby was shot, and which, or some of which at least, had no necessary connection with, and did not in the slightest degree elucidate, the issue before the jury, namely, whether the defendants murdered John Dansby on the occasion of the conflict at the ferry.... In relation to these matters the witnesses went into details as fully as if the defendants had been upon trial for the robberies.... It is said ... that the facts connected with the robbery ... tended not only to identify Standley and Boyd, but to show that they came to the ferry for the same purpose with which they went to Rigsby's house, namely, to rob and plunder for their joint benefit; and, consequently, that each defendant was responsible for Dansby's death, if it resulted from the prosecution of their felonious purpose to rob.

Id. at 454, 12 S.Ct. at 294, 35 L.Ed. 1077. The Supreme Court then quoted the trial court's charge to the jury concerning "other crimes" evidence:

Now, it becomes necessary for the court to remind you of what figure these other crimes that have been proven cut in the case. This crime of the robbery of Rigsby may be taken into consideration by you in passing upon the question of the identity of the defendants. It is a competent fact for that purpose.... You are not to consider these other crimes as make-weight against the defendants alone. That is to say, you are not to convict the defendants because of the commission of these other crimes.... They are not to influence your minds so as to induce you to more readily convict them than you would convict them if the crimes had not been proven against him.

Id. at 456, 12 S.Ct. at 294-95, 35 L.Ed. 1077. The Supreme Court, in recognizing the harm to the defendants from the introduction of other crimes evidence, held:

If the evidence as to [other] crimes ... had been limited to the robberies of Rigsby and Taylor, it may be, in view of the peculiar circumstances ... and the specific directions by the court ... that the judgment would not be disturbed, although that proof ... went beyond the objects for which it was allowed by the court. But we are constrained to hold that the evidence as to the Brinson, Mode, and Hall robberies was inadmissible for the identification of the defendants, or for any other purpose whatever, and that the injury done the defendants ... was not cured by anything contained in the charge. Whether Standley robbed Brinson and Mode, and whether he and Boyd robbed Hall, were matters wholly apart from the inquiry as to the murder of Dansby. They were collateral to the issue to be tried.... Proof of them only tended to prejudice the defendants with the jurors, to draw their minds away from the real issue, and to produce the impression that they were wretches whose lives were of no value to the community, and who were not entitled to the full benefit of the rules prescribed by law for the trial of human beings charged with crime involving the punishment of death.... [W]e are constrained to hold that ... those rules were not observed at the trial below. However depraved in character, and however full of crime their past lives may have been, the defendants were entitled to be tried upon competent evidence, and only for the offense charged.

Id. at 457-58, 12 S.Ct. at 295, 35 L.Ed. 1077.

The early pronouncements of the Supreme Court and other courts have become refined and known as the other crimes evidence rule. In Maryland, it is a rule of exclusion that recognizes the general exclusion of other crimes evidence with a group of stated, but not exhaustive, exceptions. ¹ Over time the other crimes evidence rule has become embodied in the federal rules and the rules of many states and the case law of the respective jurisdictions.

In our jurisdiction, it is found in Maryland Rule 5-404(b), which excludes from introduction at trial evidence of other crimes, wrongs, or bad acts to prove the character of the defendant in order to show that he or she acted in conformity with that character with regard to the offense with which he or she is charged. There are, however, exceptions to this general rule of exclusion. Evidence of other crimes or bad acts may be admitted for other purposes, "such as proof of motive, opportunity, intent, preparation, common scheme or plan, knowledge, identity, or absence of mistake or accident." Md. Rule 5-404(b). In this opinion, we shall address whether during a housebreaking and theft trial, the introduction of evidence that the defendant committed another housebreaking and theft came within the absence of mistake exception to the general rule prohibiting the introduction of "other crimes" evidence.

I.

James Othel Wynn, petitioner, was charged in the Circuit Court for Montgomery County with two counts of first degree burglary, nine counts of daytime housebreaking, and twelve counts of theft. The State declined to prosecute a number of these charges. The charges and counts that went to trial were as follows: (1) Count I, first degree burglary as to the dwelling of Donovan Picard; (2) Count II, theft of property belonging to Donovan Picard; (3) Count III, first degree burglary as to the dwelling of James Smith; (4) Count IV, theft of property belonging to James Smith; (5) Count V, daytime housebreaking as to the dwelling of Michael Quigley; (6) Count VI, theft of property belonging to Michael Quigley (7) Count VII, daytime housebreaking as to the dwelling of Houston Maples; (8) Count VIII, theft of property belonging to Houston Maples; (9) Count IX, daytime housebreaking as to the dwelling of Charles Garrison; and (10) Count X, theft of property belonging to Charles Garrison.

Petitioner was tried on counts one through four, the Picard and Smith charges, on April 29-30, 1996, and May 1, 1996. The State did not present "other crimes" evidence in this trial under the "absence of mistake" exception, and petitioner was acquitted of these charges. Petitioner was tried on counts seven through ten, the Maples and Garrison charges, on May 29-31, 1996. According to statements made by the trial judge in the instant case, but not otherwise supported by the record before us, the State was permitted to present "other crimes" evidence in this second trial under the "absence of mistake" exception. The State apparently presented evidence that petitioner committed a housebreaking of the Quigley home in order to counter testimony or other evidence that petitioner had been seen at a flea market, the same reason the State later proffered for the admission of similar other crimes evidence in the instant case. Petitioner was convicted of the Maples and Garrison charges, although these convictions later were reversed by the Court of Special Appeals.

On September 23-26, 1996, petitioner was tried on counts five and six, the Quigley charges. Consistent with its actions in the second trial, the trial court permitted the State, over objection, to present "other crimes" evidence in this third trial. Again, petitioner was convicted of these charges. In other words, when "other crimes" evidence was not introduced, petitioner was acquitted. When it was admitted, he was convicted. Only the trial on the Quigley charges is relevant to this appeal.

Prior to trial on the Quigley charges, petitioner moved in limine to exclude evidence concerning the housebreakings of the Maples and Garrison residences. Before petitioner was afforded an opportunity to present argument in support of his motion, the trial court called upon the State to present its reasons for admissibility of the other crimes evidence. The State proffered only that this evidence was admissible because it came within an exception to the general rule of exclusion of evidence of other crimes because it was "relevant to the issue of the absence of mistake." The State asserted that the evidence was admissible under the absence of mistake exception because "the issue of innocent possession of these items ... has been generated." Petitioner argued that the evidence of the housebreakings of the Maples and Garrison residences was not admissible because it did not come within the absence of mistake exception.

The trial court, commenting that "absence of mistake really is a key issue in this case," ruled that the State could admit the evidence of housebreaking of the Garrison residence, but not the Maples residence. In clarifying its ruling, the court stated: "I think what the other crimes evidence is that ... there was a break-in, these things were taken, they were found at his place. That I will allow." ²

At the Quigley trial, Charles Garrison was called to testify for the State regarding the housebreaking and theft that took place at his home. At this point, no defense had yet been presented by Wynn and thus there was nothing to rebut. Before Mr. Garrison described that housebreaking and theft, petitioner's counsel objected. The court, overruling the objection, again noted that the evidence concerning the housebreaking and theft was admissible because it showed, in the trial court's view, an absence of mistake. It...