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State v. Dixon6/3/2005
urt concluded that it was harmless error. Under the harmless error rule of K.S.A. 60-261, a trial court's error in the admission of evidence is not grounds for reversal unless failure to set aside the verdict appears inconsistent with substantial justice. State v. Mullins, 267 Kan. 84, Syl. 4, 977 P.2d 931 (1999). In Hobbs, the exclusion of the coroner's report did not prejudice the defendant's substantial rights and was not inconsistent with substantial justice. 276 Kan. at 53.
The State's reference in the present case to K.S.A. 2004 Supp. 22a-232 is to the statute requiring the sort of death report likely involved in Hobbs. K.S.A. 2004 Supp. 22a-232(a) requires a coroner to "make inquiries regarding the cause of death and reduce the findings to a report in writing" to be filed with the clerk of the district court of the county in which the death occurred. The documents that were admitted into evidence in the present case were death certificates, which are required to be filed with the state registrar and are the official death records. See K.S.A. 65-2412. K.S.A. 65-2416(b) provides that "the state registrar shall not certify a death certificate in which the manner of death is marked other than natural unless the death certificate is signed by a district coroner." Mitchell, as the district coroner, was required to sign the death certificates of Dana and Gabriel Hudson, and, as a matter of law, he was qualified to do so. The death certificates, which classify the deaths as homicides, were admitted into evidence. Dixon does not complain of their admission. If admission of Mitchell's testimony as to the manner of death was error for any reason, the error would be harmless because the testimony merely restated the contents of the death certificates. There was no abuse of discretion in permitting Mitchell to testify as to the manner of death.
11. SHOULD THE JURY HAVE BEEN INSTRUCTED, AS DEFENDANT REQUESTED, THAT JERRY HALL'S PLEA AGREEMENT DOES NOT GUARANTEE THAT HIS TESTIMONY IS TRUTHFUL?
The following instruction was included in the package of requested instructions filed by Dixon:
"Witness Jerry Hall has testified pursuant to a plea agreement which provides that he must give truthful testimony in this case. That portion of Mr. Hall's plea agreement does not guarantee that his testimony will be truthful. It is your duty to determine the weight and credibility of Mr. Hall's testimony. The State has no knowledge or information regarding the truthfulness of this testimony beyond that which has been provided to you in the evidence presented during this trial."
The trial court did not give the instruction. On appeal, Dixon contends that the instruction was necessary to counter the plea agreement's implied representation by the State that Hall's testimony would be truthful.
Our standard of review is, if the instructions taken together and as a whole properly and fairly state the law as applied to the facts of the case and a jury could not reasonably have been misled by them, the instructions do not constitute reversible error even if they are in some way erroneous. State v. Peterson, 273 Kan. 217, 221, 42 P.3d 137 (2002).
The State contends that the trial court's instructions on the credibility of witnesses and the testimony of an accomplice sufficiently informed the jurors to exercise caution in assessing Hall's testimony. The jury was instructed: "It is for you to determine the weight and credit to be given the testimony of each witness. You have a right to use common knowledge and experience in regard to the matter about which a witness has testified." It was further instructed: "An accomplice witness is one who testifies that he
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