Lowery v. State

762 P.2d 457, 1988 Alas. App. LEXIS 97, 1988 WL 108362
CourtCourt of Appeals of Alaska
DecidedOctober 14, 1988
DocketA-1477
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 762 P.2d 457 (Lowery v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Alaska primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lowery v. State, 762 P.2d 457, 1988 Alas. App. LEXIS 97, 1988 WL 108362 (Ala. Ct. App. 1988).

Opinions

OPINION

COATS, Judge.

Todd J. Lowery was convicted, following a jury trial, of murder in the first degree. AS 11.41.100(a)(1). Judge Walter Carpene-ti sentenced Lowery to fifty years’ imprisonment with twenty years suspended.

Lowery was charged with murder for the killing of Ronald Ritter on March 14, 1984. At trial, Lowery defended on the ground that he had killed Ritter in self-defense.

THE HONEY BUCKET INCIDENT

Lowery first argues that Judge Carpene-ti erred in allowing evidence of an argument between Lowery and Dale Allen over Allen’s failure to empty a “honey bucket.” The state made the following offer of proof at a hearing which was held to determine the admissibility of the incident: at Bullwinkle’s, approximately six hours before Ritter was shot, Lowery got into an argument with Dale Allen, who rented the cabin located on the same parcel of land as the Lowery house, over the emptying of the cabin’s “honey bucket.” According to the prosecutor, Allen would testify that Lowery wanted to step outside and settle the matter by engaging in a fist fight. Allen did not accept the challenge, telling Lowery that he, Allen, would prevail in a fight. Allen would also testify that when Lowery left, he had a chip on his shoulder.

The state asserted that the “honey bucket” incident was relevant to show that, on the night he shot Ritter, Lowery was filled with hostility. Judge Carpeneti accepted the state’s argument and denied Lowery’s motion for a protective order.

At trial, however, the state’s evidence did not conform to its offer of proof. The evidence that came in at trial differed in the respect that Lowery did not challenge Allen to a fight. Instead, Allen testified that he was tired of hearing Lowery talk about the “honey bucket” and said that he would “stomp on him” if they “were to get in a hassle.” After Allen said this, Lowery quieted down. Allen testified that Lowery still had a “radical attitude,” meaning that he still wanted to fight.

Under Alaska Rule of Evidence 404(b), character evidence is generally inadmissible to prove that someone acted in conformity with that character trait. Prior bad acts, however, may be admissible if they are relevant to a material fact other than propensity and if the court decides that the evidence is more probative than prejudicial. Lerchenstein v. State, 697 P.2d 312, 315 (Alaska App.1985), aff'd, 726 P.2d 546 (Alaska 1986).

We conclude that if Judge Carpeneti erred in admitting the testimony concerning the “honey bucket” incident, then admission of this testimony was harmless error. The testimony regarding the “honey bucket” did not show that Lowery challenged Allen to engage in a physical confrontation. When asked whether anyone suggested settling the matter outside, Dale Allen responded, “No, not really.” The evidence therefore did not show that Lowery was angered to the point where he would suggest engaging in physical violence. When Allen told Lowery to shut up or he would stomp on him, Lowery backed off and quieted down. The danger of unfair prejudice, therefore, seems to be minimal. There were several witnesses to the [459]*459circumstances directly surrounding the confrontation between Lowery and Ritter. It seems clear to us that the jury decided this case based on the testimony of those witnesses, rather than on this relatively innocuous incident which occurred several hours before the critical confrontation.1

PRODUCTION OF DEFENSE INVESTIGATORS’ REPORTS

Lowery next argues that Judge Carpene-ti erred in requiring him to provide defense investigators’ reports of interviews with witnesses. Lowery argues that the disclosure violated the work-product privilege.

A. McKinney testimony

Michael McKinney was an eyewitness to the shooting. On direct examination, he essentially testified that when Lowery shot Ritter, Lowery was not acting in self-defense. On cross-examination, defense sought to impeach McKinney’s trial testimony with prior inconsistent statements which McKinney made to Thomas Edge-worth, an investigator hired by the defense. Through his questioning, Lowery’s defense counsel suggested that McKinney had recently acquired a new perspective on the case after speaking with the Assistant District Attorney a week prior to trial.

Following this line of questioning, the prosecutor asked to see any written notes of McKinney’s prior statements, citing Alaska Evidence Rule 613(b)(2). Lowery objected to disclosing his counsel’s investigator’s notes arguing that they were protected by the work-product privilege. Judge Carpeneti ruled that the work-product privilege had been waived with respect to the substance of McKinney’s statements to Edgeworth when defense counsel questioned McKinney about those statements on cross-examination. Judge Carpeneti further ruled that if Lowery was concerned that something in the documents revealed his counsel’s mental processes or strategy, the court would review the documents in camera and excise anything that would disclose defense strategy.

Defense counsel provided the documents to the court. After an in camera examination, Judge Carpeneti ordered all of the material to be turned over to the prosecutor, except for a cover page entitled, “Investigative Report By Thomas Edgeworth to Client [Defense Counsel] Ray Brown.”

B. GAINES’ TESTIMONY

Daniel Gaines heard a gunshot and went to the Lowery house. On cross examination, defense counsel used a summary of Gaines’ interview with Joseph Veres, an investigator hired by the defense, to refresh Gaines’ recollection. Defense counsel also impeached’ Gaines with prior inconsistent statements he made to Veres.

At the end of Gaines’ testimony, the prosecutor requested production of Veres’ summary of the interview. As with Edge-worth’s documents, defense counsel claimed that Veres’ summary was protected from disclosure under the work-product privilege. Judge Carpeneti ruled that the situation was covered by Alaska Evidence Rule 612 because the summary was used to refresh Gaines’ recollection. Judge Car-peneti examined the document in camera and excised a paragraph on the last page of the summary which was entitled “Comments.”

The work-product privilege was recognized by the United States Supreme Court in Hickman v. Taylor, 329 U.S. 495, 67 S.Ct. 385, 91 L.Ed. 451 (1947). It applies to both civil and criminal litigation.

At its core, the work-product doctrine shelters the mental processes of the attorney, providing a privileged area within which he can analyze and prepare his client’s case. But the doctrine is an intensely practical one, grounded in the [460]*460realities of litigation in our adversary system. One of those realities is that attorneys often must rely on the assistance of investigators and other agents in the compilation of materials in preparation for trial. It is therefore necessary that the doctrine protect material prepared by agents for the attorney as well as those prepared by the attorney himself.

United States v. Nobles, 422 U.S. 225, 238-39, 95 S.Ct.

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Lowery v. State
762 P.2d 457 (Court of Appeals of Alaska, 1988)

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Bluebook (online)
762 P.2d 457, 1988 Alas. App. LEXIS 97, 1988 WL 108362, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lowery-v-state-alaskactapp-1988.