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Brown v. State6/9/2000
ewart's mother, Jill Sullivan, informed Detective Barlow that Ms. Stewart had been having an affair with a married man named Keith, that her daughter told her two days before the murder that she (Ms. Stewart) was pregnant with Keith's baby and that she was going to confront Keith about the pregnancy. A friend of Ms. Stewart, Cassandra Green, testified at trial that she overheard Ms. Stewart telling petitioner that she might be pregnant and that petitioner told the victim that he knew she was pregnant and that she had a decision to make. Genetic tests confirmed that, at the time of her death, Ms. Stewart was pregnant with petitioner's child.
The State's theory was that petitioner, from the very inception of his marriage to Ms. Brown, was romantically involved with Ms. Stewart, that Ms. Stewart became pregnant as a result of the affair, that petitioner insisted that she abort the pregnancy, that she refused, and that he killed her because he feared that the pregnancy would wreck his marriage. Petitioner made clear, both at the outset and throughout the trial, that his defense was based on the proposition that his wife, who was aware of his affair with the victim and had threatened both him and the victim in the past, killed the victim out of jealousy. He asserted that position to the court in arguing a pre-trial motion, he asserted it to the jury in his opening statement, he implied it in his own testimony and in the cross-examination of some of the State's witnesses, and he again asserted it more directly in closing argument.
In its case-in-chief, the State called Ms. Brown, who recounted that she and petitioner were married on August 20, 1994, and that on September 9, 1994 - the day they signed a lease on their new apartment -she discovered a picture of Ms. Stewart in petitioner's car and thus learned that he had a girlfriend. The problem was exacerbated by the fact that Ms. Stewart continued to call petitioner, which led to arguments between him and Ms. Brown. Ms. Brown had a number of conversations with Ms. Stewart, complaining about her calls to petitioner. They were all "heated discussions," she said. At one point, when petitioner said that he had a doctor's appointment and would be late, Ms. Brown discovered him and Ms. Stewart together at a bowling alley, which led to another argument and to Ms. Brown throwing a bottle at the victim. All of this testimony was admitted without objection.
Ms. Brown then testified that on September 9, 1995 - the night of the murder - petitioner returned home at around 4:00 a.m., that she asked him where he had been and that he refused to tell her. Ms. Brown then got into an argument with petitioner about his talking with the victim. In response to the question, "What happened then," Ms. Brown said, apparently to everyone's surprise, "He told me he killed her and I didn't believe him."
Counsel immediately claimed surprise and complained that the State had failed to disclose this inculpatory statement. The court reserved on counsel's implicit objection but noted that it was "not persuaded that it's excludable at this point," apparently because the admission, which was not included in the written statement Ms. Brown had given to the police, was not one made to a State agent. The focus was solely on the alleged non-disclosure, the court stating that it had "heard nothing to indicate that it's something that the State was mandated to warn you about in advance, basically." Petitioner requested "a continuing objection to the entire line of questioning," without specifying any other basis for the objection. Ms. Brown then repeated that petitioner told her that he had killed the victim. She added:
"I didn't believe him so I asked
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