People v. Barker
People v. Barker
Opinion of the Court
Defendant, Robert Earl Barker, Jr., was convicted by a jury of breaking and entering with intent to commit larceny in violation of MCL 750.110; MSA 28.305. After being sentenced to not less than 10 years nor more than 15 years in prison, he appeals as of right.
Defendant claims that it was prejudicial error to permit the jury to see a videotape of defendant selling the stolen property to an undercover storefront operation conducted by Federal agents of the Treasury Department’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. At the time, the Federal agents were conducting a "sting” operation in Saginaw, a "sting” operation meaning an operation where undercover police pose as fences to buy stolen property.
Defendant also sets up a straw man in the form of the similar acts statute
This is not a case where the admissibility of the videotape of defendant depends on the similar acts statute. On the evening of April 6, 1978, personal property was taken in the breaking and entering of a private home. The videotape shows defendant selling the stolen property to the Federal agents during the morning of April 7, 1978. While defendant denied committing the breaking and entering and claimed to have innocently acquired the stolen property from two acquaintances, possession of the stolen property such a short time after the breaking and entering was admissible evidence from which the jury could draw inferences pointing to defendant’s guilt if they were so persuaded.
The videotape evidence was offered as part of the prosecutor’s case in chief. The option was with the prosecutor whether to offer the videotape itself or testimony of the police officer as to what defendant said. We would agree that, for the prosecutor to offer both the videotape and the testimony of the police informant as to the same matter appearing on the videotape, would be open to an objection that it was cumulative and repetitious. However, the testimony elicited by the prosecutor from the police informants was essentially necessary foundation testimony preliminary to offering the videotape into evidence.
We hold that the testimony taken by the prosecutor from the police informants did not serve to make the videotape so unfairly cumulative as to defeat its admissibility.
Often, it is possible to omit or edit parts of a videotape so that any inadmissible portions are not shown to a jury. This record indicates that
On appeal, defendant appears to argue that he has admitted possession of stolen property and that, therefore, the videotape showing him in possession of the stolen property would be cumulative and inadmissible.
The claim is without merit; any such admission, if made, is made long after the time when it would have had any significance relative to admission into evidence of the videotape. Thus, an additional basis for admissibility is that the prosecution was entitled to offer evidence that defendant was in possession of stolen property also as substantive evidence of that lesser-included offense.
The claim that the videotape was an attack on defendant’s character is specious. Rather, it was evidence from which a strong inference could arise that defendant committed the breaking and entering.
Thus, we hold that, insofar as the videotape showed defendant in possession of and selling to a police informant recently stolen property from the victim, it was relevant, material, and admissible evidence. But, insofar as the videotape showed defendant admitting previous visits and previous sales of stolen property to the sting, it was neither relevant nor admissible.
Review of the videotape reveals two fleeting references on the audio portion to previous visits by defendant to the sting operation. Under these circumstances, we decline to find the probative value substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice or by the other factors specified in MRE 403. We find that the trial court was not clearly erroneous in admitting the videotape into evidence.
Defendant next argues that the trial court’s instruction to the jury was unduly coercive. Defendant interprets the instruction as requiring the jury to unanimously find, beyond a reasonable doubt, that defendant was not guilty of the offense he was charged with committing (breaking and entering with intent to commit larceny) before considering the lesser-included offense of receiving and concealing stolen property. Defendant says:
We find this argument to be without merit. First, defendant made no objection in the trial court, expressly telling the court he had no objection to the instructions. Second, the trial judge’s instruction, when read in its entirety, is not susceptible to quite the interpretation defendant places upon it. He defined breaking and entering an occupied dwelling with intent to commit larceny. He did not tell the jury they must consider that charged offense first. He defined the lesser-included offense of receiving or concealing stolen property and described it as a separate charge. Then he said:
"To establish this charge, the prosecution must prove each of the following elements beyond a reasonable doubt. Now, this is a separate charge. If you find that all of the elements that I read of breaking and entering, including the specific intent instruction, did not exist beyond a reasonable doubt, then you would move to receiving and concealing stolen property to see if these elements exist beyond a reasonable doubt.”
We do not find that this instruction requires the jury to consider the charged offense first or specifies a required order of consideration of possible verdicts. If the jury wished to first consider and decide that their verdict was not guilty, nothing in this charge prevented it. Neither is the jury prohibited from first considering the lesser-included offense of receiving or concealing stolen property if that was their wish.
We distinguish this instruction from that in
Defendant’s other claims of error on appeal are equally without merit.
Affirmed.
MCL 768.27; MSA 28.1050.
People v Fry, 17 Mich App 229, 231; 169 NW2d 168 (1969), People v Helcher, 14 Mich App 386; 165 NW2d 669 (1968).
MRE 403 states:
"Although relevant, evidence may be excluded if its probative value is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice, confusion of the issues, or misleading the jury, or by considerations of undue delay, waste of time, or needless presentation of cumulative evidence.”
Miranda v Arizona, 384 US 436; 86 S Ct 1602; 16 L Ed 2d 694 (1966).
US Const, Am VI.
407 Mich 619, 621; 288 NW2d 207 (1980).
Dissenting Opinion
(dissenting). Respectfully, I dissent.
Jury instructions that require a jury to unanimously acquit a defendant on the principle charge before considering lesser-included charges are coercive and constitute reversible error. See, People v Erwin, 70 Mich App 60; 245 NW2d 173 (1976), and cases cited therein. In People v Mays, 407 Mich 619, 623; 288 NW2d 207 (1980), the Supreme Court held that such a jury instruction "will not be deemed erroneous unless the instruction or manner of giving it conveys the impression that there must be acquittal on one charge before consideration of another”. In that case, the Supreme Court found reversible error in a jury instruction to the effect that, "The first lesser included offense which you may consider, if you ñnd the defendant not guilty of ñrst-degree sexual conduct, you may consider whether the prosecutor has proven beyond a reasonable doubt the elements of * * * [the lesser included offense]”. 407 Mich 619, 621.
Unlike the majority, I am unable to distinguish the erroneous Mays instruction from the present one. In the instant case, the jury was instructed that, "If you ñnd that all of the elements that I read of breaking and entering, including the spe
Reference
- Cited By
- 5 cases
- Status
- Published