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State v. Botelho6/14/2000
defendant, the contents of the letter suggested that Jill was having a sexual relationship with the older man. That day, defendant and Jill's mother banned the man from their house and took Jill to a gynecologist for a prescription for birth control pills.
At trial, defense counsel cross-examined Jill about the letter. She admitted that she was upset and angry with defendant for banning the man from their residence. She also acknowledged that her mother brought her to a doctor immediately following this incident. At this point in the cross-examination, the jury was excused, and defense counsel argued to the trial justice that he should be allowed to question Jill about the nature and purpose of the doctor's visit. The prosecutor objected to the introduction of this evidence, arguing it was highly prejudicial. The trial justice sustained the objection, finding that the evidence was needlessly prejudicial, could not be used to impeach Jill's credibility, and moreover, it was not relevant to the guilt or innocence of defendant. The trial justice, however, allowed defense counsel to ask Jill who drove her to the doctor's office.
Rule 401 of the Rhode Island Rules of Evidence defines "relevant evidence" as "evidence having any tendency to make the existence of any fact that is of consequence to the determination of the action more probable or less probable than it would be without the evidence." Decisions about the admissibility of evidence on relevancy grounds are left to the sound discretion of the trial justice. State v. Evans, 742 A.2d 715, 719 (R.I. 1999). We shall not disturb such a decision on appeal absent an abuse of discretion. Furthermore, " he trial justice will not have abused his or her discretion as long as some grounds supporting his or her decision appear in the record." Id.
Here, defendant argued that the fact he drove Jill to the gynecologist to obtain a prescription for birth control pills was relevant and supported his assertion that he did not molest the child. It was the defense's theory that defendant would not have driven Jill to the doctor's office if the examination results would support allegations of abuse. With this contention, we must disagree. First, such evidence might also be construed as supporting the state's theory that defendant had abused Jill. Second, it was very common for defendant to act as chauffeur for his girlfriend and her children because the mother neither owned a car nor did she have a driver's license. Thus, by "volunteering" to drive them, defendant did not raise any suspicions. Third, if defendant were molesting Jill, a birth control prescription certainly would serve his malicious purposes.
In any case, defense counsel was allowed some latitude in cross-examining Jill on the subject. The only evidence which was excluded were the specific words "gynecologist" and "birth control pills." Even assuming that this evidence rose above a level of minimal relevance to the charges in this case, its exclusion was not an abuse of discretion. Here, the questionable relevance of the evidence was substantially outweighed by the danger of confusing and misleading the jury. R.I. R. Evid. 403.
In conclusion, therefore, for these reasons, we deny and dismiss the defendant's appeal and affirm the judgment of the Superior Court to which the papers in this case may be returned.
SOURCE OF APPEAL: Superior Kent
JUDGE FROM OTHER COURT: Israel, J.
JUSTICES: Weisberger, C.J., Lederberg, Bourcier, Flanders, Goldberg, JJ. Concurring
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