State v. McAdoo

330 N.W.2d 104, 1983 Minn. LEXIS 1043
Supreme Court of Minnesota·Decided February 11, 1983·No. C1-81-1295·Published·Cited by 45 cases

Opinions

AMDAHL, Chief Justice.

Defendant was found guilty by a district court jury of a charge of simple robbery, [106] and was sentenced by the trial court to a prison term of 54 months, which is the presumptive sentence for simple robbery (severity level V offense,) when committed by a person with a criminal history score of six or more. On this appeal from judgment of conviction defendant contends that the trial court prejudicially erred in admitting Spreigl evidence and police identification photographs and that the trial court, in determining the presumptive sentence, erroneously computed defendant’s criminal history score. We affirm.

Defendant’s conviction was based on his participation with his brother in the robbery of a neighborhood grocery in Minneapolis on the afternoon of March 27, 1981. Defendant was first identified on March 30, when the cashier selected pictures of defendant and his brother from eight police identification photographs shown her. The cashier also identified defendant at trial.

The Spreigl evidence consisted of testimony linking defendant to the robbery of a cabdriver the night before the charged robbery. The cabdriver positively identified defendant’s picture from the eight police identification photographs shown him on April 14. At trial he was unsure in his identification of defendant because defendant’s hair length had changed but he was still positive in his identification of defendant’s photograph.

1. Defendant’s first contention is that the trial court prejudicially erred in admitting the Spreigl evidence. The various Spreigl requirements, including the notice requirement, are set forth in State v. Billstrom, 276 Minn. 174, 149 N.W.2d 281 (1967), State v. Spreigl, 272 Minn. 488, 139 N.W.2d 167 (1965), and Minn.R.Crim.P. 7.02. In this case defendant contends that two of the various Spreigl requirements were not complied with. Specifically, he argues that the court erred in accepting an offer of proof by the prosecutor rather than requiring a formal evidentiary hearing at which the cabdriver would testify before admitting the evidence. He also contends that the evidence was erroneously admitted because one of the prerequisites of admission, that the evidence connecting the defendant to the other crime be clear and convincing, was not met.

The first contention, that the offer-of-proof procedure was inadequate to protect defendant’s rights, is answered by State v. Lindahl, 309 N.W.2d 763, 766 (Minn.1981), where we upheld the use of the offer-of-proof procedure in such a situation.

Defendant’s argument that the evidence connecting him to the other offense was not clear and convincing is based on the cabdriver’s failure to positively identify him at trial and on the state’s subsequent dismissal of the charges against defendant based on the robbery of the cabdriver. In our opinion, the subsequent dismissal does not in any way signify that the evidence connecting defendant to the robbery of the cabdriver was less than clear and convincing. The cabdriver positively picked defendant’s picture and, although he was less sure in his identification of defendant at trial, he remained positive in his identification of defendant’s picture. His inability to positively identify defendant at trial may well have been the result of defendant’s having let his hair grow out by the time of trial. Bearing in mind that proof by clear and convincing evidence is not as high a standard as proof beyond a reasonable doubt, we hold that the record supports the conclusion that the evidence connecting defendant to the Spreigl offense was clear and convincing.

2. Defendant’s contention that he was prejudiced by the admission of the police identification photographs is based on (a) the trial court’s denial of a motion to cut the marginal police identification numbers off the police identification photos and (b) the victim’s reference to the pictures as “mug shots.” Defendant argues that the effect of the trial court’s refusal and of the victim’s testimony was that the jury learned that defendant had a criminal record.

Recent cases of this court bearing on this issue include State v. Bellcourt, 305 N.W.2d 340 (Minn.1981); State v. Goar, 295 [107] N.W.2d 633 (Minn.1980); State v. Seefeldt, 292 N.W.2d 558 (Minn.1980); State v. Serna, 290 N.W.2d 446 (Minn.1980). As we made clear in those cases, the main reason for generally excluding police photographs is that the jurors might infer from them that the defendant has been involved in prior criminal conduct. The trial court, in determining whether to admit such photographs, must decide whether their probative value is substantially outweighed by the potential of the photographs for unfair prejudice. Minn.R.Evid. 403.

In this case the trial court denied the motion to cut off the marginal numbers but did tape over the numbers. It is questionable whether cutting off the numbers would have been a great improvement over the taping, because, as the prosecutor pointed out, the pictures, cropped or uncropped, were clearly police identification pictures. Thus, the use of the term “mug shots” by the victim in her testimony, while unfortunate, did not tell the jurors anything that they would not have guessed on their own. As in Goar, although the photograph of defendant was taken in connection with a prior arrest, the jury was not told this; therefore, the jury did not necessarily know that the pictures were taken in connection with a prior arrest rather than the present arrest. Further, defendant’s counsel made identification the key issue at trial and there was a great need for the evidence since the Spreigl witness, the cabdriver, was positive only in his identification of defendant’s photograph, not in his identification of defendant at trial. Viewing the police photographs enabled the jury to understand how the cabdriver could positively identify defendant from his photograph but not in person at trial. Under the circumstances, we conclude that the trial court properly decided that the probative value of the evidence was not substantially outweighed by the potential of the evidence for unfair prejudice.

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State v. McAdoo, 330 N.W.2d 104, 1983 Minn. LEXIS 1043 (Mich. 1983).

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