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Collman v. State8/23/2000
lman been permitted to present the evidence of Stach's practice and interest in vampirism and the occult.
Finally, the district court's error in refusing to admit evidence to show Stach's vampire practices and beliefs is compounded by the fact that the district court allowed the State to present remote, tenuous evidence of Collman's guilt. Specifically, the district court allowed the State to enter evidence suggesting that Collman was not remorseful over killing Damian because he propositioned Stach for sex around the time of Damian's funeral. I see, at best, an attenuated relationship between sexual desire and lack of remorse. Moreover, my colleagues in the majority point out the inconsistent evidentiary rulings made by the district court in that evidence of Collman's sexual desires were deemed admissible, whereas evidence concerning Stach's sexual desires--mainly propositioning another for sexual relations--was deemed irrelevant, prejudicial, and incredible. Throughout the trial, it appeared that the relevancy of the State's evidence was upheld, but the converse was not true when Collman attempted to present evidence in his own behalf.
In conclusion, I think it is a mistake to apply the harmless error rule to an error so fundamental as the correct statement of the elements of the crime and there is no compelling reason to reverse our prior authority that refused to overlook this type of substantial error. Further, Collman was prevented from presenting evidence that would have had a tendency to show that Stach was the one who had inflicted the bite marks on Damian. In reviewing death penalty cases, we are instructed by the United States Supreme Court that we are to do so with a heightened sense of scrutiny. See, e.g., Green v. Georgia, 442 U.S. 95 (1979); Gardner v. Florida, 430 U.S. 348 (1977); Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238 (1972). It seems to me that the majority has done just the opposite in this case. I would reverse this case and remand it for a new trial.
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