ALAN EDWARD CRAMER, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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Alan Cramer appeals his conviction for aggravated assault with a firearm and shooting into a building. The Florida Fourth District Court of Appeal reversed his conviction, finding that the trial court erred in admitting inflammatory jail call recordings where Cramer made statements showing disrespect for the judge and jury, as their probative value was substantially outweighed by their prejudicial effect.
The trial court erred in admitting the jail call recordings. The statements did not prove any element of the offenses charged and were similar to statements found improper in Singer v. State. Because the statements' negligible relevance was substantially outweighed by their prejudicial effect, and there is a reasonable possibility they contributed to the verdict, the conviction must be reversed and remanded for a new trial.
[1] Inflammatory jail call recordings are inadmissible when their probative value is substantially outweighed by their prejudicial effect.
[2] A defendant's statements expressing disrespect for the judge and jury, without proving an element of the charged offense, are inadmissible due to their highly prejudicial…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“Any negligible relevance of the statements was substantially outweighed by their prejudicial effect.”
Establishes the court's conclusion that the jail call recordings should not have been admitted under the balancing test of probative value versus prejudicial effect.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAfter an altercation with Jessica Leder, during which Cramer hit her with his car and shot into her house, he was charged with aggravated assault with…
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Alan Cramer appeals his conviction and sentence for aggravated assault with a firearm and shooting into a building. He argues the trial court abused its discretiori iri denying his Motion for Mistrial based on the State’s improper comment during closing argument and in admitting certain jail call recordings. Because we find the trial court erred in admitting the jail call recordings, we reverse.
After an altercation with Jessica Leder, hitting her with his car, and shooting into her house, Cramer was charged with aggravated assault with a firearm, felon in possession of a firearm, and shooting into a building.' At trial, the State introduced eleven statements made by Cramer in jail call recordings. Cramer argues the trial court erred in admitting the following three statements because they were extremely inflammatory and any probative value was substantially outweighed by their highly prejudicial effect.
“I ’ don’t give a f — . ' What are they gonna do? Play it in court? F— the judge; f— all these mother-f — ers. F — ed' up, huh? F— the judge, I don’t even want to — I’m tired of all this sh — •, mari.”
“That whole plan with fíré when I beat this bi— better evacuate — evacuate from this city, that’s on my momma.” “These people are going to have to take my life in this courtroom because if I get out (laughs) people better evacuate.”
In Singer v. State, 647 So.2d 1021 (Fla. 4th DCA 1994), we considered whether the probative value of a statement made by the. defendant was substantially outweighed by the risk of substantial prejudice. After being arrested, on the way to *993the police station, the' defendant said, “When I get out, f— the judge, f— the jury. I’ll just blow your head off.” Id. at 1021. The trial court admitted the statement over the defendant’s objection. -On appeal, the defendant argued the. statement did not prove any element ■ of .the offense. We agreed and reversed, finding the statement was not harmless error because it “constituted not only a threat to the officer but evinced a threat to and disrespect for both the judge and jury.” Id.
Here, like hi Singer, Cramer argues the statements made did not prove any element of the offenses charged. The State argues that Cramer’s Statements in the jail call recordings show that he was attempting to evade prosecution by offering to pay the victims not to testify. However, the statements do not mention paying off the victims at all. These statements are similar to the ones made in Singer in that they “evinced a threat to and disrespect for both the judge and jury.” Any negligible relevance of the statements'was substantially outweighed by their. prejudicial .effect. Therefore, because the offending statements were improperly admitted into evidence and we cannot say there is .no reasonable possibility they did not contribute to the verdict, we reverse and remand for a new trial.1
Reversed and remanded for a new trial.
GERBER and LEVINE, JJ., concur.
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Citator
Cited By
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Fuller v. State, 257 So. 3d 521 (Fla. 5th DCA 2018)…light on Fuller's credibility, as the State argues. Instead, it seems to be another example of the State inappropriately attacking Fuller's character before the jury. This abuse of discretion was unfairly prejudicial to Fuller. See Cramer v. State , 191 So. 3d 991, 993 (Fla. 4th DCA 2016). Although in this case, the erroneous admission of the disparaging jail call does not independently rise to the level of reversible error, it is one more component of the overall cumulative error to be considered in this cas…
Authorities Cited
- State v. DiGUILIO, 491 So. 2d 1129 (Fla. 1986)
- Singer v. State, 647 So. 2d 1021 (Fla. 4th DCA 1994)