State v. Black

732 S.E.2d 880, 400 S.C. 10, 2012 WL 4711858, 2012 S.C. LEXIS 200
CourtSupreme Court of South Carolina
DecidedOctober 3, 2012
DocketAppellate Case No.2010-173048; No. 27176
StatusPublished
Cited by108 cases

This text of 732 S.E.2d 880 (State v. Black) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of South Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Black, 732 S.E.2d 880, 400 S.C. 10, 2012 WL 4711858, 2012 S.C. LEXIS 200 (S.C. 2012).

Opinions

Justice BEATTY.

Jason Ervin Black (Petitioner) appeals his convictions for criminal sexual conduct (CSC) with a minor in the first degree and committing a lewd act upon a minor. Petitioner contends the trial court committed reversible error in allowing the State to impeach his defense witness with two manslaughter convictions that were more than ten years old because their introduction violated Rules 404 and 609 of the South Carolina Rules of Evidence (SCRE), and the error was not harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. We affirm.

I. FACTS

Petitioner was charged with the above offenses as the result of an alleged encounter that occurred with A.T. (the Minor) at the home of Petitioner’s friend and neighbor, Richard Bush, on May 6, 2006. Petitioner was then 26 and the Minor was 15.

At trial in June 2007, the Minor asserted that she went to Bush’s one-bedroom trailer on the evening of May 6, 2006 and that she and Petitioner had consensual sex in the bedroom while Bush remained in the living room watching TV. Petitioner acknowledged that he and the Minor were at Bush’s home on May 6, 2006, but he denied the Minor’s allegations of sexual misconduct and maintained they had just watched TV together until she left later that evening with a friend. Bush corroborated Petitioner’s version of events, stating all three of them had remained in the living room watching TV until the Minor left with a friend who came by and picked her up. Bush was the only witness for the defense other than Petitioner.

Prior to the State’s cross examination of Bush, a bench conference was held regarding the State’s request to use Bush’s prior convictions for impeachment purposes. Bush was sentenced in Florida on March 12, 1987 to a total of twenty-two years in prison for two counts of manslaughter and one count of “shooting/throwing a deadly missile.”1 Bush was [16]*16given concurrent prison sentences of fifteen years on each count of manslaughter and a consecutive seven years on shooting/throwing a deadly missile. He was released from confinement by Florida authorities on March 1, 1993, after serving approximately six years of his twenty-two year sentence.

The trial court ruled Bush’s 1987 Florida convictions could be used for impeachment purposes. Thereafter, the State impeached Bush by asking about his prior convictions, which Bush acknowledged.

Petitioner was convicted of CSC with a minor in the first degree and committing a lewd act upon a minor, and he was given concurrent prison sentences of twenty years and fifteen years, respectively. The Court of Appeals affirmed pursuant to Rule 220, SCACR. State v. Black, Op. No.2010-UP-370 (S.C. Ct.App. filed July 19, 2010). This Court granted a petition for a writ of certiorari.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

In criminal cases, an appellate court sits to review only errors of law, and it is bound by the trial court’s factual findings unless they are clearly erroneous. State v. Baccus, 367 S.C. 41, 625 S.E.2d 216 (2006); State v. Wilson, 345 S.C. 1, 545 S.E.2d 827 (2001).

“The admission or exclusion of evidence is left to the sound discretion of the trial judge, whose decision will not be reversed on appeal absent an abuse of discretion.” State v. Saltz, 346 S.C. 114, 121, 551 S.E.2d 240, 244 (2001); see also State v. Dunlap, 346 S.C. 312, 324, 550 S.E.2d 889, 896 (Ct.App.2001) (“The admission of evidence concerning past convictions for impeachment purposes remains within the trial judge’s discretion, provided the judge conducts the analysis mandated by the evidence rules and case law.”).

“An abuse of discretion occurs when the trial court’s ruling is based on an error of law or, when grounded in factual conclusions, is without evidentiary support.” State v. Jennings, 394 S.C. 473, 477-78, 716 S.E.2d 91, 93 (2011) (citation omitted). To warrant reversal, an error must result in preju[17]*17dice to the appealing party. State v. Commander, 396 S.C. 254, 721 S.E.2d 413 (2011).

III. LAW/ANALYSIS

On appeal, Petitioner contends the trial court erred in allowing the State to use the two Florida manslaughter convictions to impeach Bush, his only corroborating defense witness, because their admission violated Rules 404 and 609, SCRE. Petitioner asserts the convictions were presumptively inadmissible because they were more than ten years old and, thus, remote, and the State bore the burden of establishing facts and circumstances to substantially overcome that presumption, citing State v. Colf, 337 S.C. 622, 525 S.E.2d 246 (2000). Petitioner asserts the evidence that his corroborating witness had been convicted of manslaughter two decades earlier was not probative of truthfulness and, under Rule 609(b), the convictions were not properly admitted to impeach his witness’s credibility. Petitioner further contends the error was not harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.2 We agree that the admission of the manslaughter convictions was improper; however, for reasons to be discussed, we believe the error was harmless.

A. Impeachment of Witness with Prior Convictions

“Evidence of other crimes, wrongs, or acts is not admissible to prove the character of a person in order to show action in conformity therewith.” Rule 404(b), SCRE. In contrast, the general rule on impeaching a witness’s credibility is that a witness, other than the accused, may be impeached with a prior conviction that carries a sentence of more than one year.3 See Rule 609(a)(1), SCRE (stating “evidence that a witness other than an accused has been convicted of a crime shall be admitted, subject to Rule 403,4 if the crime was [18]*18punishable by death or imprisonment in excess of one year under the law under which the witness was convicted”).

Rule 609(b), however, contains a time limit that establishes a presumption against the admissibility of remote convictions, i.e., those more than ten years old, for impeachment unless the trial court expressly finds the probative value of the conviction “substantially outweighs” its prejudicial effect. State v. Johnson, 363 S.C. 53, 609 S.E.2d 520 (2005). The rule provides in relevant part:

(b) Time Limit. Evidence of a conviction under this rule is not admissible if a period of more than ten years has elapsed since the date of the conviction or of the release of the witness from the confinement imposed for that conviction, whichever is the later date, unless the court determines, in the interests of justice, that the probative value of the conviction supported by specific facts and circumstances substantially outweighs its prejudicial effect.

Rule 609(b), SCRE (emphasis added). The State bears the burden of establishing sufficient facts and circumstances to overcome the presumption against the admissibility of remote convictions. State v. Bryant, 369 S.C. 511, 633 S.E.2d 152 (2006); State v. Colf 337 S.C. 622, 525 S.E.2d 246 (2000).

The standard in Rule 609(b) pertaining to remote

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
732 S.E.2d 880, 400 S.C. 10, 2012 WL 4711858, 2012 S.C. LEXIS 200, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-black-sc-2012.