People of Michigan v. Diane Melody Dieter

CourtMichigan Court of Appeals
DecidedOctober 15, 2015
Docket321831
StatusUnpublished

This text of People of Michigan v. Diane Melody Dieter (People of Michigan v. Diane Melody Dieter) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People of Michigan v. Diane Melody Dieter, (Mich. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

STATE OF MICHIGAN

COURT OF APPEALS

PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN, UNPUBLISHED October 15, 2015 Plaintiff-Appellee,

v No. 321831 Midland Circuit Court DIANE MELODY DIETER, LC No. 13-005499-FC

Defendant-Appellant.

Before: BOONSTRA, P.J., and SAAD and HOEKSTRA, JJ.

PER CURIAM.

Following a jury trial, defendant appeals as of right her conviction for bank robbery, MCL 750.531. The trial court sentenced defendant, as a fourth-offense habitual offender, MCL 769.12, to 7 to 15 years’ imprisonment. Because the trial court did not abuse its discretion by admitting lay identification testimony, defendant was not denied the effective assistance of counsel, and defendant is not entitled to have a jury find facts related to the imposition of restitution, we affirm.

On the morning of May 1, 2014, defendant left her home in Rose City, Michigan driving a red Toyota Corolla. Cellular telephone records indicate that defendant made several calls while heading south, including most notably a telephone call in Midland, more than 60 miles from her home. This call in Midland began at 9:01 a.m. and lasted until 9:07 a.m. Shortly after 9:00 a.m., a witness, Gala Bank, saw a woman with a ponytail speaking on the telephone while parked in a red car near the Comerica Bank in Midland.1 After the woman completed the telephone call, she put on a green T-shirt. A short time later, a woman with a ponytail walked into the Comerica Bank wearing a surgical mask, sunglasses, and a green T-shirt which read “Pizza Sam.” The woman approached a teller and demanded that the teller give her all of her fifty and hundred dollar bills. The teller complied and the woman left the bank with $2,200. The teller then saw a red car leave the parking lot after the robbery.

1 When shown a photo array containing a photograph of defendant, Banks vacillated between photographs 2 and 4 because “they looked very similar.” Banks ultimately chose number 2, but she remained unsure of her selection. Defendant was number 4.

-1- After viewing surveillance video from the bank and speaking with witnesses, police thought that defendant fit the description of the suspect and they spoke with defendant. Defendant lied to police, claiming that she had not been in Midland and that she had been at home all day. Further, defendant was in the midst of a divorce and she indicated that she was having financial difficulties. Yet, inconsistently, defendant also claimed to have more than $200,000 in trust at a credit union, a claim which proved to be entirely false. Moreover, despite apparent financial difficulties, on the day after the bank robbery, defendant gave her soon-to-be ex-husband, Raymond Dieter, a few hundred dollars in either $50 or $100 bills. Dieter testified that defendant had a “large amount” of cash with her at that time. In addition, at trial, defendant’s daughter, Mary Voss, and Dieter identified defendant as the woman in the surveillance photographs of the bank robber.

As noted, a jury convicted defendant of bank robbery, and the trial court sentenced defendant to 7 to 15 years’ imprisonment. The trial court also ordered defendant to pay restitution to Comerica Bank in the amount of $2,200. Defendant now appeals as of right.

On appeal, defendant first challenges the admission of lay opinion testimony regarding the identity of the woman in the surveillance photographs. In particular, defendant contends that the trial court abused its discretion by allowing Dieter and Voss to testify that the photographs depicted defendant. According to defendant, such testimony impermissibly invaded the province of the jury and any probative value was substantially outweighed by unfair prejudice.

We review a trial court’s decision regarding the admission of evidence for an abuse of discretion. People v Murphy (On Remand), 282 Mich App 571, 578; 766 NW2d 303 (2009). “A trial court abuses its discretion when it selects an outcome that falls outside the range of reasonable and principled outcomes.” Id. A preliminary question of law, including the admissibility of evidence based on construction of a court rule or rule of evidence, is reviewed de novo. People v Jambor, 273 Mich App 477, 481; 729 NW2d 569 (2007).

As a general rule, all relevant evidence is admissible, except as otherwise provided by the court rules or either the state or federal constitution. People v Yost, 278 Mich App 341, 355; 749 NW2d 753 (2008); MRE 402. Under MRE 701, lay opinion testimony in particular is admissible as follows:

If the witness is not testifying as an expert, the witness' testimony in the form of opinions or inferences is limited to those opinions or inferences which are (a) rationally based on the perception of the witness and (b) helpful to a clear understanding of the witness' testimony or the determination of a fact in issue.

Although lay opinion testimony is generally admissible if these criteria are met, it is also true that “a witness cannot express an opinion on the defendant's guilt or innocence of the charged offense.” People v Fomby, 300 Mich App 46, 53; 831 NW2d 887 (2013) (citation omitted). Moreover, “where a jury is as capable as anyone else of reaching a conclusion on certain facts, it is error to permit a witness to give his own opinion or interpretation of the facts because it invades the province of the jury.” People v Drossart, 99 Mich App 66, 80; 297 NW2d 863 (1980). For this reason, if, for example, a jury is equally capable of identifying an individual in a photograph or video, typically a lay witness who has viewed a video or photograph may not

-2- identify a defendant as the individual depicted because such testimony would invade the province of the jury. See Fomby, 300 Mich App at 52-53.

Conversely, however, if a witness is better situated than the jury to correctly identify the individual shown in the video or photograph, such testimony is not considered an invasion of the province of the jury. See id., citing United States v LaPierre, 998 F2d 1460, 1465 (CA 9 1993). See also 3 Wharton's Criminal Evidence § 12:9 (15th ed.); 74 A.L.R.5th 643 (1999). For example, while not an exhaustive list, a witness might be better situated than the jury to identify an individual in a photograph (1) if the witness is substantially familiar with the defendant, (2) if the depiction of the individual is obscured or not of the best quality, or (3) if the defendant wore a disguise or otherwise altered his or her appearance in the photograph. See Young v United States, 111 A3d 13, 15 (DC 2015); United States v White, 639 F3d 331, 336 (CA 7 2011); United States v Dixon, 413 F3d 540, 545 (CA 6 2005); LaPierre, 998 F2d at 1465. The “common thread” binding these types of cases is that “there is reason to believe that the witness is more likely to identify correctly the person than is the jury.” LaPierre, 998 F2d at 1465.

Turning to the present facts, we conclude that the trial court did not abuse its discretion by concluding that Voss and Dieter could testify to their identification of defendant in the bank surveillance photographs. First, their testimony was admissible under MRE 701 because it was (1) rationally based on their own perceptions and (2) helpful to the jury’s determination of a fact at issue in the case. That is, both Dieter and Voss saw the photographs and they were personally familiar with defendant’s appearance, meaning that their opinions regarding defendant’s identity as the robber depicted in the photographs was rationally based on their own perceptions.2 Cf. Fomby, 300 Mich App at 51. Further, the opinion testimony offered by Dieter and Voss was helpful to the jury’s determination of a fact in issue, namely defendant’s identity as the bank robber. The photographs in question were of a “grainy” quality and the robber wore a mask, hat, and sunglasses.

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People of Michigan v. Diane Melody Dieter, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-of-michigan-v-diane-melody-dieter-michctapp-2015.