State v. Trotter

783 P.2d 1271, 245 Kan. 657, 1989 Kan. LEXIS 206
CourtSupreme Court of Kansas
DecidedDecember 8, 1989
Docket62,511
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 783 P.2d 1271 (State v. Trotter) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Trotter, 783 P.2d 1271, 245 Kan. 657, 1989 Kan. LEXIS 206 (kan 1989).

Opinion

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Nicholas W. Klein, District Judge, assigned:

Herman Trotter, Jr., was convicted of the aggravated robbery, K.S.A. 21-3427, and aggravated kidnapping, K.S.A. 21-3421, of William Culbert. Trotter was tried for these offenses along with a codefendant, Toni Jarmon a/k/a Toni Carter.

In addition to the Culbert incident, Trotter and Jarmon were originally both charged with aggravated burglary, kidnapping, and misdemeanor theft in an incident involving an elderly man named Wade Leroy Webster. The evidence in the Webster incident showed that Jarmon and a male person entered the victim’s house while he was sleeping, tied him up and proceeded to take property from the house. At the preliminary hearing, the victim made a very tentative identification of Trotter and later stated that he “couldn’t exactly swear it was him.” The net result was that the district court refused to hold Trotter to answer for the charges arising out of the second incident. The Culbert and Webster cases were nevertheless tried together after Trotter’s motion for separate trials, pursuant to K.S.A. 22-3204, was denied. The transcript of the proceedings of the hearing on that motion was not included in the record on appeal.

Persons may be charged in the same complaint, information, or indictment pursuant to K.S.A. 22-3202(3) “[i]f they are alleged to have participated in the same act or transaction or in the same series of acts or transactions constituting the crime or crimes.” The statute further provides that not all the defendants need be charged in each count.

It is obvious that the State believed that Trotter participated in both transactions with his codefendant. On appeal, Trotter relies on principles governing misjoinder of defendants and cites State v. Hunter, 241 Kan. 629, 633, 740 P.2d 559 (1987). Hunter presupposes that the defendants are jointly charged with the same crime and does not address joinder of charges and defendants.

The failure of Trotter to furnish a transcript of the hearing on the record of the motion for a separate trial is fatal to Trotter’s claim of error. As stated in State v. Bright, 229 Kan. 185, Syl. *659 ¶ 6, 623 P.2d 917 (1981), “An appellant has the burden of furnishing a record which affirmatively shows that prejudicial error occurred in the trial court. In the absence of such a record, we presume that the action of the trial court was proper.” This court cannot determine whether the issue of misjoinder was ever presented to the trial court and, therefore, whether it was preserved for appeal. Trotter cannot argue severance to the trial court and then raise misjoinder for the first time on appeal. If faced with a misjoinder argument, the trial court may have ruled differently or the State may have tried the case differently. See K.S.A. 22-3208(3); State v. Townsley, 217 Kan. 102, 535 P.2d 1 (1975).

Trotter next contends the trial court erred in permitting Webster to testify that Trotter s mother returned to him a television set taken in the Webster burglary. Trotter made no contemporaneous objection to that testimony; in fact, he called his mother to testify to the contrary. K.S.A. 60-404 requires such an objection. Even though Trotter made a motion in limine prior to trial to prohibit evidence concerning the return of the TV set, the motion was denied. When such a motion is denied, the moving party must object again at the time the evidence is presented to preserve the issue on appeal. Douglas v. Lombardino, 236 Kan. 471, Syl. ¶ 2, 693 P.2d 1138 (1985).

Trotter raises numerous complaints of error regarding his convictions in the Culbert incident. The victim, Culbert, testified that he was acquainted with Jarmon and that she came to his apartment with Trotter. Culbert scuffled with Trotter and received a fractured cheekbone and cuts to his hands. Culbert testified that he was tied up and that money, food, women’s shoes, a watch, his keys, and some “knicknacks” were taken from his apartment. He further testified that, when he returned from being treated at the hospital for his injuries, he discovered that his car had been taken. Culbert was then permitted to testify that later the codefendant’s sister called him, after which time he recovered his car. Trotter complains on appeal that the phone call evidence was hearsay. We disagree. No evidence of the out-of-court statement by the third party was offered to prove the truth of the matter stated; only the fact that the victim recognized the voice as that of the codefendant’s sister was admitted into evidence. The probative value of the evidence depended on the *660 credibility of the victim, who was present for cross-examination and was cross-examined at length concerning his recognition of the voice of the codefendant’s sister. At no time did the victim testify to the content of the conversation.

Trotter next complains about the conflicting testimony as to the time of the offenses for which he stands convicted. Reference to records maintained by the apartment complex where Culbert resided differed somewhat from the times stated by Culbert. An officer testified for the defense and corrected, from his records, the time which he had given in the State’s case in chief as to when he had been dispatched to the scene of the crimes. The State then offered the testimony of the police dispatcher in rebuttal, who produced records tending to show that the officer had been dispatched at a different time than the officer’s records showed. Neither the name of the rebuttal witness nor the dispatcher’s records had been previously furnished to the defendant. Under Kansas law, however, the names of rebuttal witnesses are not required to be listed by the State. State v. Hunter, 241 Kan. at 638. Documents used in rebuttal need not be produced pursuant to the discovery procedure unless they are otherwise within the scope of K.S.A. 22-3212 and K.S.A. 22-3213.

Trotter also complains of the failure of the trial court to allow him to discredit the witness by showing prior convictions of Culbert for possession of and sale of drugs. When the police arrived at Culbert’s apartment after the robbery, they found drug paraphernalia on a table in the apartment. Culbert told police that the defendants must have left the paraphernalia.

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Bluebook (online)
783 P.2d 1271, 245 Kan. 657, 1989 Kan. LEXIS 206, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-trotter-kan-1989.