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State v. Gomez10/13/2005
Here, the trial court found that the state's identity evidence was weak. Specifically, the trial court stated:
The State has a weak case here in terms of Spriegl as they've acknowledged in their memo. It's purely circumstantial. They've got a fingerprint with a little DNA from the defendant's car, they got a couple of well-impeached witnesses, and so forth. * * * The case is weak in that sense and the State has a need for this type of evidence * * * [It is] a circumstantial case where the handwriting is a positive identification I think essentially, but can be accounted for in a number of ways, like the DNA, like the fingerprint - all of those things are subject to alternate theories, obviously. What I meant is simply that.
Having reviewed the record, we are satisfied that the trial court's finding is not clearly erroneous.
Gomez also argues that the Spreigl evidence was not relevant because the charged offenses and the Spreigl offenses are dissimilar. Specifically, he asserts that the Hillman murders were not part of a crime spree, that stabbing the victims multiple times is not the same as hitting or shoving the victims, that he knew the Hillmans but not the previous victims, and that the time of the crimes varied. The state contends that the Spreigl evidence was relevant and material because of the similarities of the offenses.
Spreigl evidence is relevant and material when there is a sufficiently close relationship between the charged offense and the Spreigl offense in terms of time, place, or modus operandi. Kennedy, 585 N.W.2d at 390. " he closer the relationship, the greater is the relevance * * *." State v. Frisinger, 484 N.W.2d 27, 31 (Minn. 1992). Spreigl evidence need not be identical in every way to the charged crime. Kennedy, 585 N.W.2d at 391. Here, while the charged offenses and the Spreigl offenses are not identical, their relationship is sufficiently close in terms of time and modus operandi. Although there is an 11-year gap between the charged offenses and Spreigl offenses, Gomez was incarcerated for the Spreigl offenses until approximately six months before the charged offenses. As we noted in State v. Wermerskirchen, 497 N.W.2d 235, 242 n.3 (Minn. 1993), the passage of time may be insignificant when the defendant has spent a substantial part of the time between the offenses in prison. Obviously, that is the case here. Thus, the gap in time between the offenses does not weigh against the Spreigl offenses' relevance and materiality. We also conclude that there is sufficient similarity between the charged offenses and the Spreigl offenses. In three of the Spreigl offenses, elderly couples were burglarized or robbed in their homes. In the fourth case, a 74-year-old woman was burglarized in her home. The similarities between the Spreigl offenses and the charged offenses are striking. In each case, the victims were elderly, the victims were physically assaulted in their homes, and the victims' wallets or purses were taken or money was demanded. Therefore, we conclude that the Spreigl evidence was sufficiently relevant and material.
Gomez further argues that the evidence related to his 1989 offenses should have been excluded because its probative value is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice. In State v. Bolte, we stated:
In determining admissibility, the trial court should engage in a balancing of factors such as the relevance or probative value of the evidence, the need for the evidence, and the danger that the evidence will be used by the jury for an improper purpose, or that the evidence will create unfair prejudice pursuant to Minn. R. Evid. 403.
530 N.W.2d 191, 197 (Minn. 1995) (emphas
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