State v. Rainey

672 P.2d 188, 137 Ariz. 523, 1983 Ariz. App. LEXIS 567
Court of Appeals of Arizona·Decided June 14, 1983·No. No. 2 CA-CR 2872·Published·Cited by 3 cases

Opinion

OPINION

HOWARD, Chief Judge.

Appellant, convicted by a jury of unlawful possession of an electrical device while riding in a horse race, was placed on two years’ probation.

Appellant rode the winning horse in the sixth race at Rillito Downs on February 6, 1982. Frank Barrios, racing commission investigator, watched appellant walk from the winner’s circle to a jockey room. He was particularly interested in appellant from information he had before the race started and had the authority to conduct an on-the-spot search of appellant. He was accompanied by John Vanover, who was also an investigator for the commission. They followed appellant into the training room area and when appellant spotted Barrios he threw a black object to the ground. Barrios and Vanover retrieved the object which turned out to be an electrical device which gave a “terrific jolt.”

Appellant was asked to accompany Barrios and Vanover to the racing commission office at the track. In the office, before anything was said, Barrios handed the illegal device to the other investigator. As he did so, appellant stated: “It’s a cheap one.”

Appellant took the stand at trial and denied having the device. He also called character witnesses in his favor.

Appellant called as a character witness Charles Sacatello, a jockey, who testified that in his opinion appellant was an honest person. Sacatello was asked on cross-examination by the prosecution whether he knew that appellant had been cited by the racing commission for filing a frivolous foul claim. He said that he did and it wouldn’t change his opinion. He also gave an explanation of the term “frivolous foul claim”:

“Q. Tell me about it; what does it mean?
A. Well, if you have a horse — you are riding a race, you have a horse bump you, you have that right to claim a foul if you choose.
Q. Does it mean it’s not a good-faith claim?
A. Sure, you may claim foul against the wrong one sometimes, but this happens. It’s a normal thing. It happens.
Q. You do it, too.
A. Yes, sir, I have.”

Appellant, on direct examination, explained the meaning of the term:

“A. That’s when two parties disagree when they’re running in a horse race. Like if I was on the rail and another competitor on my right trying to pass me, if he cut over in front of me before he had clearance, that would be a time I could call the stewards after the race and complain that he didn’t give me the right-of-way I should have had. And the stewards would review the films.
After they review the films they would send down their decision either that the man did foul me or he didn’t. And if they say no, he didn’t foul me, they would consider that a frivolous claim of foul.”

Because of the cross-examination of the character witness, appellant offered the following instruction which the court refused to give:

“Where on cross-examination a witness is asked if he has heard of reports of certain conduct of the defendant inconsistent with the traits of good character as to which the witness has testified, such questions and the witness’ answers thereto may be considered only for the purpose of determining the weight to be given to the opinion of the witness or to his testimony as to the good reputation of the defendant.
Such questions and the answers thereto are not evidence that the reports are true [526]*526and you must not speculate from them that the defendant did in fact conduct himself inconsistently with such trait of character.”

Appellant contends that the state, in its cross-examination of Sacatello, asked an improper question when it asked “Do you know” instead of “Have you heard.” He further contends that the trial court erred in refusing his instruction. We do not agree.

Prior to the adoption of the Arizona Rules of Evidence by our supreme court, a reputation witness as to the character trait of honesty could be asked, for example, “Have you heard about the defendant’s arrest for theft?” Because such a witness was reporting only on what he had heard, the same question prefaced with “do you know” was held improper. Now, Rule 405, Arizona Rules of Evidence, 17A A.R.S., allows proof of character either by reputation or opinion. Since the witness can, under the rule, give his opinion on a character trait, the question “Do you know about defendant’s arrest for theft?” is permissible. See Government of Virgin Islands v. Roldan, 612 F.2d 775 (3rd Cir.1979), cert. den., 446 U.S. 920, 100 S.Ct. 1857, 64 L.Ed.2d 275 (1980) and see also, M. Udall and J. Liver-more, Law of Evidence § 83 at 173-74 (1982).

Rule 405(a), Arizona Rules of Evidence, 17A A.R.S., also provides that on cross-examination, inquiry is allowable into relevant specific instances of conduct. We hold that whenever an exception under Rule 405 allows introduction of prior bad acts, the defendant is entitled to a limiting jury instruction in which the jury is told that they are to consider any incidents brought out in cross-examination only for the purposes of assessing the witness’ standard of opinion of the character trait at issue. United States v. Apfelbaum, 621 F.2d 62 (3rd Cir.1980); Government of Virgin Islands v. Roldan, supra; United States v. Tempesta, 587 F.2d 931 (8th Cir.1978), cert. den. 441 U.S. 910, 99 S.Ct. 2005, 60 L.Ed.2d 380 (1979); cf., State v. Canedo, 125 Ariz. 197, 608 P.2d 774 (1980).

The instruction offered, CAUIC 2.42, applies to “have you heard” cross-examination, which was not the case here. Furthermore, the second paragraph of the instruction is inapplicable when the defendant testifies and admits the conduct, as he did in the instant case. Since the instruction was incorrect because of its inapplicability to the factual posture of the case, the trial court did not err in refusing to give it.

In any event, the filing of a frivolous foul claim was, according to the only testimony elicited at trial, clearly irrelevant since it did not bear in any way upon appellant’s honesty. It is not fundamental error to fail to give a limiting instruction in this situation. Government of Virgin Islands v. Roldan, supra. Assuming arguendo that the instruction should have been given, we find any error to be harmless in view of the explanation made by the witnesses and by the fact that the prosecutor never referred to the conduct in his final argument, perhaps recognizing its irrelevancy.

Appellant next contends the court erred in denying his motion for mistrial based upon statements made by the prosecutor during his final argument. We do not agree. Appellant’s counsel argued in his summation to the jury that no witnesses ever saw appellant use the electrical device during the race.

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State v. Rainey, 672 P.2d 188, 137 Ariz. 523, 1983 Ariz. App. LEXIS 567 (Ark. Ct. App. 1983).

672 P.2d 188 (State v. Rainey) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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