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Williams v. State2/7/2003
ant Rice and Lucille, this does not mean that the statements are not inherently reliable. Because the statements were made while Townsend was still under the stress of excitement of being shot, they are excited utterances, and the trial court did not abuse its discretion when it admitted them.
B. Medical Examiner's Statements
Relevant evidence is "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." Ind. Evid. R. 401. Generally, all relevant evidence is admissible, except as provided by law. Ind. Evid. R. 402. Evidence that is not relevant is not admissible. Id. However, relevant evidence may be excluded if its probative value is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice. Ind. Evid. R. 403.
Williams argues that the trial court abused its discretion when it allowed statements by the medical examiner as to why some of Townsend's organs could not be harvested. He claims that the reasons why some of Townsend's organs could not be harvested are not relevant because cause of death is not an element of the offense of murder.
The cause of death is not an element of the offense of murder itself, but becomes a relevant matter when an intervening cause of death is suggested. See Wilson v. State, 432 N.E.2d 30, 33 (Ind. 1982). Although cause of death may not be an element of the offense of murder, Williams claimed at trial that the cause of Townsend's death was not due to the shooting by Williams, but was instead, due to an intervening cause. The State used the statements of the medical examiner to show the extent of damage that the bullets caused to Townsend's organs. Because Williams suggested that Townsend's death was due to an intervening cause, the cause of death became a relevant matter in the trial, and the statements by the medical examiner as to why some of Townsend's organs were not able to be harvested was relevant.
Williams also contends that the trial court abused its discretion because the probative value of the statements by the medical examiner was outweighed by unfair prejudice. The balancing test of Indiana Evidence Rule 403 requires the opponent of evidence to show that the risk of unfair prejudice substantially outweighs the probative value of the evidence. Ind. Evid. R. 403. "The evaluation of whether the probative value of a particular item of evidence is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice is a discretionary task best performed by the trial court." Bostick v. State, 773 N.E.2d 266, 271 (Ind. 2002). Because Williams suggested there was an intervening cause of death, the extent of damage that the bullets had done to Townsend's organs and body was extremely relevant to prove the offense of murder, and the risk that the jury would be inflamed by testimony of the damage to the organs was low. The trial court therefore did not abuse its discretion by allowing the medical examiner's statements.
Although the trial court did not abuse its discretion, even if it had, the admission of the medical examiner's statements would have been harmless error. "An error in the admission of evidence is not prejudicial if the evidence is merely cumulative of other evidence in the record." Pavey v. State, 764 N.E.2d 692, 703 (Ind. Ct. App. 2002), trans. denied. In this case, prior to the medical examiner's testimony, Lucille had also testified as to why some of Townsend's organs were not harvested. Because the medical examiner's statements were merely cumulative to Lucille's testimony, they were not prejudicial, and their admission was harmless.
II. Jury Instruction
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