State v. PittState v. Pitt
Mary H. Williams, Solicitor General, Salem, argued the cause and filed the brief for respondent on review. With her on the brief were John R. Kroger, Attorney General, and Shannon T. Reel, Assistant Attorney General.
Before Balmer, Chief Justice, and Durham, De Muniz, Kistler, Walters, and Linder, Justices.**
DURHAM, J.
** Landau, J., did not participate in the consideration or decision of this case.
DURHAM, J.
A jury convicted defendant of two counts of first-degree unlawful sexual penetration,
Defendant was charged in Clatsop County Circuit Court with sexually abusing A, the four-year-old daughter of defendant‘s girlfriend, Snider. In the summer of 2001, defendant moved into a Lane County residence with Snider and A. Snider‘s sister, Finney, and Finney‘s four-year-old daughter, R, also lived at that residence. In September, defendant, Snider, and A moved to Clatsop County. Shortly after the move, Snider noticed a change in A‘s behavior. A began having nightmares, wetting the bed, and resisting being left alone. In December, A pointed to her genital area and told Snider that defendant “touches me there.” A referred to defendant as “Doug.” Snider then took A to the police station, where officers arranged to have A evaluated at the Lighthouse, a child abuse assessment center.
At the Lighthouse, Dr. Stefanelli conducted an interview and physical examination of A. During the examination, A disclosed that defendant had touched her genital area more than once. Stefanelli also found physical evidence consistent with sexual abuse. Based
The Lighthouse staff subsequently referred A to Dr. Berdine, a clinical psychologist, for further evaluation. When Berdine met with A a few days later, A stated that defendant had touched her genital area when she lived in Clatsop County. A also disclosed that defendant had touched her genital area when she lived in Lane County, and that she had seen defendant touch R‘s genitals there too.
A and R were later interviewed at the Lane County Child Advocacy Center by the center‘s director, Broderick. Both interviews were conducted separately and were videotaped. During Broderick‘s interview with A, A stated that defendant had touched her genital area and that she had observed defendant touch R in a similar manner. When R was interviewed, she too disclosed that defendant had touched her genital area, and that she had observed defendant touch A as well.
Defendant was charged by indictment with two counts of first-degree unlawful sexual penetration and two counts of first-degree sexual abuse, based on conduct involving A that occurred in Clatsop County. Defendant‘s case was initially tried in 2002 and defendant was convicted of all charges. Defendant appealed his convictions, and the Court of Appeals reversed and remanded the matter for retrial. See State v. Pitt, 209 Or App 270, 147 P3d 940 (2006), adh‘d, to on recons, 212 Or App 523, 159 P3d 329 (2007) (reversal based on a violation of defendant‘s constitutional right to confront witnesses against him). This case concerns the proceedings on retrial.
On remand and before trial, defendant moved to exclude all evidence of prior uncharged misconduct involving A and R that took place in Lane County. At a hearing on defendant‘s motion, defendant contended that that evidence was inadmissible character evidence under
Specifically, defendant argued that the evidence was irrelevant to prove “intent” under
In a letter opinion denying defendant‘s motion, the trial court applied the analysis set out in State v. Johns, 301 Or 535, 725 P2d 312 (1986).3 Under that analysis, the court found that: (1) the charges required the state to prove that defendant had acted with intent; (2) the Lane County incidents would have required intent as well; (3) A was the same victim and R was in the same class of victims; (4) defendant faced similar charges in Lane County for his conduct
In accordance with that ruling, the state offered evidence at trial relating to defendant‘s charged conduct as well as his prior uncharged conduct. In particular, A testified that defendant had touched her genital area in Clatsop County (charged conduct) and that defendant had touched her and R in Lane County (uncharged conduct). R also testified that she thought, but was not certain, that defendant had touched her genital area in Lane County (uncharged conduct). Stefanelli further testified about the physical evidence that she had discovered in her examination of A, as well as her diagnosis that A had been sexually abused.
On cross-examination of the witnesses, defendant elicited testimony that young children are highly suggestible; that A and R lived in a chaotic environment during the time of the alleged abuse; that both defendant and R‘s father were named Doug and therefore the reference to “Doug” was potentially ambiguous; and that A‘s father David was accused of sexually abusing A in 1999 and had had ongoing contact with A since that time. Stefanelli also stated on cross-examination that she could not identify a particular individual as A‘s abuser based on the physical evidence present. Defendant did not otherwise raise an
After closing arguments, the trial court instructed the jury to consider the evidence of defendant‘s prior uncharged conduct “for two limited purposes“:
“first, as to whether defendant acted with knowledge as to the alleged criminal conduct in this case, or second, as to the identity of the person who committed the allegations in this case, i.e., whether the defendant or someone else committed the alleged criminal conduct. Specifically you are not to draw the inference that the evidence of the other conduct makes defendant guilty of the charges in this case.”
The jury found defendant guilty of all charges.
Defendant appealed and assigned error to the trial court‘s order denying his motion in limine. Defendant reprised his pretrial arguments that the uncharged misconduct evidence was inadmissible.4
The Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court‘s decision to deny defendant‘s motion in limine, but it did so on narrower grounds than those relied on by the trial court. The Court of Appeals reasoned that the uncharged misconduct evidence was relevant and admissible under
“The credibility of the victim‘s identification of defendant *** was plainly a contested issue.
“The uncharged misconduct evidence was relevant to bolster the victim‘s credibility on that issue. A jury could conclude that [A] would be less likely to misidentify her abuser if she had been abused by the same person on other occasions and had seen the same person abuse [R] as well. Likewise, evidence that R had reported being abused by defendant bolstered the credibility of [A‘s] identification of defendant.”
Id. at 663-64 (internal citations omitted.). The court concluded that “[t]he relevance of that evidence does not rely on an impermissible inference about defendant‘s character,” and it affirmed the trial court‘s ruling denying defendant‘s motion in limine. Id. at 664.
At the outset, we recognize that the form of the challenged ruling—here, an order denying a motion in limine—constrains our analysis of this case. A motion in limine is a motion made by a party, commonly prior to trial, seeking an order, as relevant here, to exclude certain evidence from the trial. See Black‘s Law Dictionary 1038 (8th ed 2004) (stating definition). It is not uncommon for a party to file a motion in limine to keep damaging evidence, particularly evidence of a criminal defendant‘s prior bad acts, from the eyes and ears of the jury. As this court previously has explained, a motion in limine is preferred because, “[i]f counsel must wait to make an objection and receive a ruling in front of the jury, the client could be prejudiced even though the ruling was in the client‘s favor.” State v. Foster, 296 Or 174, 183, 674 P2d 587 (1983). Stated differently, “[a]n objection to evidence, with a motion to tell the jury to disregard it, is a poor alternative. The old cliché, ‘you can‘t unring a bell,’ still applies.” Id. at 182.
Yet relying on a motion in limine to limit evidence before trial presents its own obstacles. A challenge during trial to an offer of evidence provides greater context for the trial judge to assess issues concerning the admissibility of the proffered evidence in light of what has occurred in the course of the trial. In contrast, a trial judge ruling on a motion in limine must rely on the parties’ representations and arguments about what they expect the evidence, including the challenged evidence, will demonstrate during trial. Those representations and arguments can be hypothetical and abstract. Moreover, as trial progresses, new circumstances may arise that directly or indirectly alter the admissibility or evidentiary value of certain pieces of evidence. A trial judge has discretion either to deny or to postpone ruling on a pretrial motion until more information is available. See id. at 183 (so stating). Unless a trial judge rules otherwise, a trial judge‘s decision to deny a pretrial motion to exclude evidence does not preclude a party from later objecting to the admission of the evidence during trial, nor does it prevent the trial judge from later revisiting the issue before or during trial. Accordingly, even if a trial judge has denied a pretrial motion to exclude evidence, the moving party (and other parties) are well advised to consider making the same or other objections, if warranted, when a party offers the evidence during trial. An objection during trial allows a judge to reevaluate the issue of admissibility in light of what has occurred at trial, including whether the anticipated evidence or the parties’ arguments have changed since the court denied the motion in limine. An objection at trial to the admission of certain evidence also may help refine the evidentiary issues for appellate review.
In this case, defendant challenges the trial court‘s pretrial order denying his motion in limine and does not assign error to the admission of the prior bad act evidence during trial proceedings. As noted, defendant made no objections at trial to the introduction of the evidence of defendant‘s prior bad acts. Defendant‘s motion in limine preserved the issue that he now raises for appellate review. This court previously has recognized that a defendant properly may assign as error the denial of a pretrial motion in
Finally, we note that defendant‘s reliance on the trial court‘s pretrial ruling for his assignment of error does affect the scope of the record that an appellate court may consider. If a party rests his or her argument on appeal on a trial court‘s pretrial order declining to exclude certain evidence, we ordinarily will evaluate that argument in light of the record made before the trial court when it issued the order, not the trial record as it may have developed at some later point. We do not rule out the possibility that that conclusion may change due to unique circumstances in another case, such as an agreement of the parties or other developments during trial. But in the usual case, we will evaluate a claim of pretrial error on the basis of the same record that the trial court relied on in making the challenged ruling. See State v. Perry, 347 Or 110, 116-17, 218 P3d 95 (2009) (noting the focused inquiry on appeal when the defendant did not object to discrete pieces of evidence during trial or assign error to any ruling occurring after the jury was empanelled, but instead rested his argument on the trial court‘s ruling following a pretrial
We turn to defendant‘s evidentiary arguments on review.
Nonetheless,
In examining evidence to be admitted under the categories or exceptions to
As noted, the trial court reasoned that defendant‘s uncharged Lane County misconduct was relevant to prove intent, absence of mistake or accident, and identity, and the Court of Appeals affirmed based on identity alone. Turning to the Court of Appeals opinion first, we agree with that court‘s conclusion that the evidence was not properly admitted under the traditional identity exception recognized by this court. That exception permits the admission of evidence proving that a defendant operated in a novel or distinctive manner that identifies that defendant as the perpetrator. See State v. Johnson, 313 Or 189, 196, 832 P2d 443 (1992) (prior bad acts offered to prove identity by modus operandi requires “a very high degree of similarity between the charged and uncharged crimes” as well as a distinctive methodology “so as to earmark the acts as the handiwork of the accused“); Johns, 301 Or at 551 (“[T]o prove identity the prior acts must be a ‘signature’ crime.“). Mere repetition of crimes of a similar class, such as repeated assaults or robberies, without more, is not sufficient. Pinnell, 311 Or at 109-10. Rather, there must be some unique and repeated feature that makes the act stand out. Id. The acts at issue here fail to meet that requirement.
However, as noted, the Court of Appeals went beyond the stated modus operandi exception to recognize that evidence can be admitted to prove identity if it is relevant to bolster a witness‘s identification. More specifically, the court found that A‘s ability to recognize and identify defendant as the party who had abused her on this occasion could be supported by evidence that, on a past occasion, (1) defendant had abused A; (2) A had seen defendant abuse R; and (3) defendant had abused R. The Court of Appeals erred in applying that rationale. In our view, bolstering A‘s identification of defendant with defendant‘s prior uncharged conduct against A and R constituted an impermissible propensity purpose under these circumstances, because the reasoning relies on an impermissible character inference about defendant. See Charles Alan Wright & Kenneth W. Graham, Jr., 22 Federal Practice and Procedure: Evidence § 5246, 515 (1978) (use of prior bad acts evidence to bolster witness‘s identification is not a legitimate use of other crimes evidence under
Taking the evidence of defendant‘s uncharged misconduct against A first, the Court of Appeals reasoned that evidence that defendant sexually abused A on a prior occasion tends to show that A‘s identification of defendant as her abuser on the occasion charged was accurate. Although that reasoning may be properly applied in some circumstances, in this case, defendant and A had continuous, ongoing contact with one another. Thus, given A‘s familiarity with defendant, the force of the “bolstering” evidence rests primarily on an inference that, on the occasion charged, defendant acted consistently with his character to sexually abuse A. That inference constitutes an impermissible propensity purpose that goes beyond proving that A could recognize and relay information about who had abused her. Evidence that A previously had witnessed defendant abuse R and that R had reported being abused, offered to bolster A‘s ability to identify defendant on the occasion charged, similarly relies on an impermissible inference that defendant acted consistently with his asserted character to abuse young girls.
In State v. Leistiko, 352 Or 172, 202 P3d 857 (2012), this court held that other crimes evidence is relevant to prove that a defendant acted intentionally when the record establishes, in fact, that the defendant committed the charged act. See also State v. Gailey, 301 Or 563, 568, 725 P2d 328 (1986) (holding that evidence that the defendant possessed stolen property from a separate burglary was not admissible to prove that the defendant intended to burglarize the victim‘s home when the defendant had not admitted the act—i.e., that he was in the victim‘s home). More specifically, when this court decided Johns, the court based its reasoning on the “doctrine of chances,” as distilled from the work of John Henry Wigmore and Edward J. Imwrinkelried. Under that doctrine, a jury may infer that multiple acts of repeated conduct make it unlikely that the person who performed those acts acted inadvertently. Johns, 301 Or at 552-55. As this court explained in Leistiko, application of the doctrine of chances assumes that the act has occurred “either because (as usually) it is conceded, or because the jury [is] instructed not to consider the evidence from this point of view until they find the act to have been done.” 352 Or at 184 (quoting John Henry Wigmore, 2 Evidence § 302, 245 (Chadbourn rev 1979)). When the act is so established by the defendant‘s stipulation, or when the trial court instructs the jury that it first must find from the evidence that the alleged act occurred before it may consider the evidence of other crimes to determine intent, uncharged misconduct evidence that is sufficiently similar to the charged acts can be admitted to prove that the defendant acted with a culpable state of mind. Id. at 184-85. In the absence of a stipulation by the defendant, unless the state first introduces evidence sufficient to allow the jury to find that the charged act occurred, a court cannot properly admit the uncharged misconduct evidence as relevant to prove intent.7
When the trial court ruled on defendant‘s motion in limine, it applied the doctrine of chances, as construed in Johns, and determined that the uncharged acts were sufficiently similar to the charged acts to be relevant to prove intent. However, at the time of the ruling, the trial had not occurred and, consequently, the record contained no evidence sufficient to support a finding that the charged acts had occurred. Defendant had not stipulated that he had touched A‘s genital area in Clatsop County. Before trial, and in the absence of a stipulation by defendant that he had touched A‘s genital area in Clatsop County, evidence of defendant‘s uncharged misconduct involving A and R in Lane County was only conditionally relevant. That is, the uncharged misconduct evidence might have become relevant if certain conditions had occurred concerning the trial court record. First, in the absence of defendant‘s stipulation, the state would have to introduce evidence at trial sufficient to permit the factfinder to find beyond a reasonable doubt that, in fact, defendant had touched A‘s genital area in Clatsop County, as charged.8 Second, the court would have to instruct the jury that it could not consider the evidence of defendant‘s uncharged misconduct for any purpose unless it first found as a fact that defendant had touched A‘s genital area in Clatsop County, as charged. If the record demonstrated that those conditions were satisfied, then the court could allow the state to offer and the jury to consider the evidence of defendant‘s uncharged conduct for the purpose of deciding whether defendant had committed the charged acts intentionally.
The trial court, however, did not decide that the evidence of defendant‘s uncharged misconduct was conditionally admissible in the manner that we have described above. It ruled instead, without conditions, that the uncharged misconduct evidence was relevant and admissible. In light of the record that existed when the trial court addressed the motion in limine, the court‘s ruling was erroneous.
The state also cites State v. McKay, 309 Or 305, 787 P2d 479 (1990), for the proposition that prior bad acts may be admitted to demonstrate a defendant‘s sexual predisposition for a particular victim. In McKay, this court indicated that a trial court could properly admit evidence of the defendant‘s past
The final question for this court is whether the trial court‘s error was harmless. Defendant argues that it was not harmless because the state introduced and relied on the prior bad acts evidence throughout the trial. The state, for its part, asserts that any evidentiary error was harmless, but the state fails to explain that argument. We agree with defendant. The main issue in this case was whether the charged abuse occurred. The court‘s evidentiary ruling permitted the jury to consider the uncharged misconduct evidence before it decided whether defendant had committed the charged acts. That created a risk that the jury would use the uncharged misconduct evidence for an impermissible propensity purpose—i.e., to decide that, because defendant had committed the uncharged acts, his character was such that he again would act in the same manner and commit the charged acts. Thus, this is not an occasion where there was little likelihood that the error affected the verdict. See, e.g., State v. Naylor, 291 Or 191, 196-98, 629 P2d 1308 (1981) (applying Or Const, Art VII (Amended), § 3); State v. Davis, 336 Or 19, 34-35, 77 P3d 1111 (2003) (same).
The decision of the Court of Appeals is reversed. The judgment of the circuit court is reversed, and the case is remanded to the circuit court for further proceedings.