State v. Verive

627 P.2d 721, 128 Ariz. 570, 1981 Ariz. App. LEXIS 386
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arizona
DecidedMarch 17, 1981
Docket1 CA-CR 4549
StatusPublished
Cited by40 cases

This text of 627 P.2d 721 (State v. Verive) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arizona primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Verive, 627 P.2d 721, 128 Ariz. 570, 1981 Ariz. App. LEXIS 386 (Ark. Ct. App. 1981).

Opinion

*574 OPINION

HAIRE, Presiding Judge.

This is an appeal by Charles Anthony (“Carl”) Verive (hereinafter “defendant”) from his convictions on charges of attempting to dissuade a witness and conspiracy to dissuade a witness. The convictions were based on jury verdicts rendered after a six day trial.

The underlying facts may be stated simply. Howard Woodall had filed a false affidavit with a trial court in relation to civil litigation. Lee Galvin filed an affidavit exposing Woodall’s perjury. Upon learning of Galvin’s cooperation with authorities in regard to exposing the perjury, Woodall and defendant agreed that defendant would go to Galvin’s home and beat Galvin in an effort to dissuade him from becoming a witness against Woodall. In return for this beating, defendant would receive from Woodall $900 and a motorcycle. On December 3, 1973, defendant drove to Galvin’s home accompanied by one Mr. Baugh with whom defendant had been drinking. Defendant confronted Galvin in the doorway of the house, saying: “Do you know Howard Woodall? Well, he sent us.” Defendant then proceeded to beat Galvin. In response to the scuffle, Galvin’s wife started screaming and his son intervened to rescue him.

A few days after this incident defendant. and Woodall were arrested by federal authorities on federal charges of witness tampering. Woodall posted bail and was released within a day. Then, Woodall provided defendant with bail money with which defendant secured his release. In 1974, the federal charges were dismissed.

In 1978, Woodall became willing to testify against defendant, after having secured his own immunity from prosecution. The prosecution witnesses were, among others, Mr. Baugh, Galvin’s son, Galvin’s wife, Woodall’s wife, and John Harvey Adamson. Defendant presented no evidence, relying almost exclusively on impeaching the state’s witnesses, Howard Woodall and John Harvey Adamson.

THE GRAND JURY PROCEEDINGS

Defendant first contends that the trial court erred in denying his timely filed 1 motion for a new finding of probable cause made pursuant to Rule 12.9, Rules of Criminal Procedure, 17 A.R.S. Defendant asserts that his substantive due process rights were violated during the grand jury proceedings.

Before indicting defendant, the grand jury heard testimony of Galvin and Alonzo McCracken, an investigative officer. Woodall did not testify before the grand jury; however, his testimony was communicated through McCracken. Defendant argues that the prosecutor did not reveal several exculpatory matters to the grand jury. First, he objects to the prosecution’s failure to disclose Woodall’s past history of perjury. Second, he contends that the prosecution knowingly withheld statements, made prior to those presented to the grand jury, in which Woodall denied knowing anything about the alleged witness tampering. Third, defendant protests the prosecution’s failure to disclose the 1974 dismissal of federal witness tampering charges.

The propriety of withholding exculpatory material from a grand jury has been discussed in opinions at both state and federal levels. 2 However, we will not deter *575 mine the propriety of withholding evidence from a grand jury on an appeal from a subsequent conviction. See State v. Neese, 126 Ariz. 499, 616 P.2d 959 (App.1980). The trial jury, after a full trial and complete presentation of the purportedly exculpatory matters, found the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. We held in Neese that to obtain review of the denial of a motion for a new finding of probable cause, the defendant must seek relief via special action, prior to trial. With one exception, 3 none of the cases 4 cited by appellant involve an appeal from a conviction; rather, the procedural posture of each decision was a pretrial challenge seeking essentially an extraordinary writ to quash the grand jury indictment. We hold that defendant cannot, by appeal from a conviction, obtain review of matters relevant only to the grand jury proceedings that had no effect on the subsequent trial.

THE PRESENCE OF JOHN HARVEY ADAMSON

Defendant next argues that the trial court abused its discretion under Rule 403, Arizona Rules of Evidence, 17A A.R.S., by permitting the state to call John Harvey Adamson as a witness and by allowing him to testify in his own name. Adamson testified in regard to a conversation with defendant, describing defendant’s admission as follows:

“[H]e told me that he had been hired by a fellow by the name of Howard Woodall to beat a fellow by the name of Larry, 5 who lived in either Mesa or Tempe; that this fellow, Larry, was going to testify against Howard Woodall, and that Carl was hired to go out there and beat him up.
“He said that he was happy with the way that Howard Woodall handled the bail procedures for posting the bail money; that he got right out and that there wasn’t any problem. And he said he was impressed with the way Howard handled it.” (Footnote added).

This admission was clearly relevant. Defendant does not dispute this. He argues, however, that several factors, taken in combination, precluded allowing John Harvey Adamson to appear as a witness to give this testimony. His arguments are premised on the assumption that Adamson was significantly more infamous than the other witnesses at the trial. 6 In consequence of Adamson’s presence, the media’s coverage of the defendant’s trial was presumably greater than it otherwise would have been, with this increased coverage allegedly creating a “carnival atmosphere” and an increased probability of jury speculation with respect to defendant’s background. Moreover, although several of the witnesses had been heavily involved in crime and had received significant publicity, appellant argues that Adamson had greater name recognition and the jury was more likely to associate defendant with organized crime and a criminal history because of his acquaintance with Adamson. Finally, defendant contends that the admission to which Adamson testified was cumulative because several other witnesses had testified as to other admissions made by defendant.

*576 We reject defendant’s arguments and defer to the trial court’s evaluation of the relative merits of permitting John Harvey Adamson to testify. To reject relevant evidence on the basis of unfair prejudice and cumulativeness is within the discretion of the trial court. We will only review, for abuse. State v. Carriger, 123 Ariz. 335, 599 P.2d 788 (1979), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 1049, 100 S.Ct. 741, 62 L.Ed.2d 736 (1980).

We first address the defendant’s contention that Adamson’s testimony was cumulative. Since no one other than Adamson was present during the conversation, this evidence would not have been presented by any other witness.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
627 P.2d 721, 128 Ariz. 570, 1981 Ariz. App. LEXIS 386, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-verive-arizctapp-1981.