State v. Tiliaia

2006 UT App 474, 153 P.3d 757, 566 Utah Adv. Rep. 32, 2006 Utah App. LEXIS 516, 2006 WL 3437544
CourtCourt of Appeals of Utah
DecidedNovember 30, 2006
DocketNo. 200410830-CA
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 2006 UT App 474 (State v. Tiliaia) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Utah primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Tiliaia, 2006 UT App 474, 153 P.3d 757, 566 Utah Adv. Rep. 32, 2006 Utah App. LEXIS 516, 2006 WL 3437544 (Utah Ct. App. 2006).

Opinion

OPINION

ORME, Judge:

T1 Defendant Seruka Tilisia appeals his conviction of one count of murder, two counts of aggravated assault, and one count of obstruction of justice. Tiliaia argues that his trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance, that the prosecutor engaged in misconduct during closing arguments, and that the trial court erred in excluding a witness from testifying and in excluding certain hearsay testimony. We affirm.

BACKGROUND 1

¶ 2 Tiliaia, along with several of his friends, attended a party at a residence in Kearns on the evening of September 29, 2001. At the party, one of Tiliaia's friends, Ezekiel House, became involved in a game of craps in the kitchen. When the winning player decided to leave the game, House became upset, and the two players got into a heated argument, threatening and shoving each other. The two were ordered outside, and some of the partygoers started to push House into the living room and toward the front door. House initiated a scuffle in the living room, assaulting individuals previously uninvolved in the commotion.

¶ 3 As the confrontation escalated, Tiliaia pulled a handgun from his waistband and fired it twice into the living room ceiling. He then pointed the gun at members of the crowd, who backed away. Tiliasia and his friends, including House, made their way toward the front door and exited the house. Some of the partygoers followed onto the front porch and watched as Tiliaia and his friends walked away. When Tiliaia was ten to fifteen feet down the driveway, he stopped, turned around, pointed the gun toward the house, and fired multiple times. His shots killed one partygoer and injured two others. Tiliaia and his friends then fled the area and later dumped the gun into the Jordan River.

¶ 4 Tiliaia was later arrested and charged with murder, obstruction of justice, and several counts of assault. During his jury trial, he attempted to call Marco Etsitty as a witness even though Etsitty, along with several other witnesses, had not been included on the formal witness list. The trial court refused to allow Etsitty to testify, reasoning [760]*760that because he had been subpoenaed by the defense approximately three weeks prior to trial, he should have been included on the formal witness list. The trial court also refused to allow into evidence hearsay statements made by James Storm during a cell phone call, These statements were to the effect that Storm was present when the fight started, was in the front yard when the shootings occurred, and saw House and another of Tiliaia's friends shooting toward the house. The court determined that Tiliaia did not lay adequate foundation to establish that Storm's statements qualified as an excited utterance and that the statements were therefore inadmissible hearsay.

"15 On the final day of trial, during closing arguments, the prosecutor told the jury, "You were selected to be on this jury to act as the voice and the conscience of this community" and argued that "if you say to this man that he is not guilty, it is as true to say that there has been no crime." Tiliaia's counsel objected to these statements. Also in closing argument, the prosecutor summarized testimony by saying that a witness testified that she saw Tiliaia walk out the door with the gun in his hand and that "the black guy" who had asked Tiliaia for the gun remained in the house when Tiliaia ran out the door. Tiliaia's counsel did not object to this characterization of the evidence.

T6 The jury returned a guilty verdict on one count of murder, two counts of aggravated assault, and one count of obstruction of justice. After sentencing, Tiliaia moved for a new trial on the ground that House confessed to a fellow inmate that he was responsible for the shooting. But when this inmate refused to testify, the trial court denied the motion for new trial because there was no evidence to support it. Tiliaia now appeals his convietion and sentence.

ANALYSIS

I. Exclusion of Witness Testimony

17 Tilisia first argues the trial court abused its discretion and violated his Sixth Amendment and Due Process rights by excluding Marco Etsitty's testimony. While it is true that trial courts have great discretion in case management issues, and thus, we do not interfere absent an abuse of discretion, see Berrett v. Denver & Rio Grande W. R.R. Co., 830 P.2d 291, 293 (Utah Ct.App.), cert. denied, 836 P.2d 1383 (Utah 1992), "a trial court may not ignore the fundamental character of the defendant's right to offer the testimony of witnesses in his favor." Taylor v. Illinois, 484 U.S. 400, 414, 108 S.Ct. 646, 98 L.Ed.2d 798 (1988). N onetheless, in certain cases a sanction of exclusion for a discovery violation is "entirely consistent with the purposes of the [Sixth Amendment]." Id. at 415, 108 S.Ct. 646. "Excluding a witness from testifying is, however, 'extreme in nature and ... should be employed only with caution and restraint.'" Berreft, 830 P.2d at 293 (quoting Plonkey v. Superior Court, 106 Ariz. 310, 475 P.2d 492, 494 (1970) (omission in original)).

T8 The trial court here appropriately employed this harsh sanction. After thoroughly questioning why several defense witnesses were not identified on the witness list, the trial court used restraint in applying the sanction to only one witness, Etsitty, who it appeared was deliberately omitted from the witness list given that he was interviewed and subpoenaed three weeks prior to trial. CL. Taylor, 484 U.S. at 414, 108 S.Ct. 646 ("It is ... reasonable to presume that there is something suspect about a defense witness who is not identified until after the 11th hour has passed."). The trial court did not exclude the testimony of any of the other newly-disclosed witnesses, giving the defense the benefit of the doubt that the selection of these witnesses was, indeed, a legitimate last-minute tactical decision.

¶ 9 However, even if there were error in applying this sanction, reversal is required only "if the error was prejudicial to the substantial rights of a party." Berrett, 830 P.2d at 293. "[AJn otherwise valid conviction should not be set aside if the reviewing court may confidently say, on the whole record, that the constitutional error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt." Delaware v. Van Arsdall, 475 U.S. 673, 681, 106 S.Ct. 1431, 89 L.Ed.2d 674 (1986). We determine that any error here was harmless. Et-sitty's testimony was largely cumulative with [761]*761that of Steven Butler, who testified that he, too, saw a black man shooting toward the house. Moreover, because the existence of a second gunman does not appear to have been in dispute, having a second witness testify that a black man was shooting toward the house does not seem a crucial part of Tiliaia's defense-it surely does not lead to the conclusion that Tilisia was not shooting toward the house.2 Tiliaia claims in his brief that Etsitty would also have testified that Tilisia's two friends threatened to kill Etsitty for testifying in Tiliaia's defense. The proffer made at trial, however, was only that Etsitty would have testified that the friends threatened him if he said, anything to the police about the two of them.

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Bluebook (online)
2006 UT App 474, 153 P.3d 757, 566 Utah Adv. Rep. 32, 2006 Utah App. LEXIS 516, 2006 WL 3437544, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-tiliaia-utahctapp-2006.