EDWARD SAXON, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.
Edward Saxon was convicted of second-degree murder in the death of his two-year-old stepdaughter caused by a head injury. The Fourth District Court of Appeal reversed the conviction because the trial court admitted testimony and inflammatory photographs concerning alleged sexual abuse of the child that were not connected to the defendant, the crime charged, or any trial issue.
The admission of testimony and photographs depicting criminal acts of buggery upon the child that were unconnected to the defendant, the crime charged, or trial issues constituted reversible error. Such evidence was immaterial, inflammatory, and highly prejudicial, depriving the defendant of a fair trial.
“It is clear and undisputed that acts of buggery were not shown to have been committed by the defendant and he was not connected to such acts in any way. Further, the fact of buggery was in nowise associated or connected with the cause of the child's death”
Establishes that the admitted evidence had no connection to either the defendant or the charged crime, making it irrelevant and prejudicial.
Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceSaxon's two-year-old stepdaughter died from a subdural hematoma caused by blunt force trauma or impact. During the murder trial, the medical examiner …
The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.
Explore caselaw by topic → Browse Common Scheme Or Design cases and more on FLexlaw
Defendant was tried by jury, convicted of second degree murder, and duly sentenced. He appeals. We reverse.
The victim was the two year old stepdaughter of the defendant. It is sufficient to say without particular detail that there was circumstantial and direct evidence of cruelty and abuse on the part of defendant, some conflicting, which lead to the victim’s death. It came as a direct result of a head or brain injury, subdural hematoma. It was caused either by a blunt instrument or by the body’s being in motion and striking some flat surface.
We address ourselves to the appellant’s principal grievance. He claims that the trial court erred by allowing into evidence testimony and pictures concerning a crime other than the one with which appellant was charged.
Dr. Joseph C. Rupp, a County Medical Examiner and pathologist, conducted an autopsy. The examiner, using a number *926of 8 x 10 photographs of the brain and head area taken during autopsy, explained and demonstrated the cause of death. He then produced, over objection, two photographs of the dead child’s genitalia and anal area before the jury and testified:
“Now, one of the examinations, of course, involves the genitalia area. In this particular case, the remarkable feature was the size of the anal opening in this child. You will notice my fingers there spreading the folds, and you can judge from the size of my fingers and the size of the opening as to the diameter and, in actual measurements, this was two centimeters which is about that wide just by itself, and could easily be stretched to the diameter of that width.
“Now, you will also notice that at the margin there is a little whitening here, which is suggestive of what we call epithelium, and as the surface is abraised —in common terms we would say a callus form on a mucosal surface which — actually, what this is is the inside part of the skin here at this margin where the bowel joins the skin. If this area is abraded often enough, we get what could be considered to be a small callus type thing forming. Now, the chances, as far as my opinion as a medical expert, this is suggestive that this has happened in this particular case, and as far as the size of this is concerned, it is my opinion as a medical expert that the only way the anas of that size could be produced would be by repeated buggery. By buggery, we mean sexual intercourse per rectum. This simply is a black and white picture showing the legs here, and the anas here, and this is the female genitalia here.”
It is clear and undisputed that acts of buggery were not shown to have been committed by the defendant and he was not connected to such acts in any way. Further, the fact of buggery was in nowise associated or connected with the cause of the child’s death and Dr. Rupp' testified that neither of these two pictures was needed to explain the cause of death. We feel that allowance of these pictures and this testimony deprived the defendant of a fair trial because they were immaterial, inflammatory, and highly prejudicial, s
The state frankly concedes that no link was established between the defendant and such criminal sexual abuse. Thereby, it is the state’s hypothesis that the error was harmless. We disagree and can hardly think of a more damaging error. This testimony, coming on the heels of the other proper testimony concerning the tragic circumstances of the death of this helpless infant, could not help but lead to implications — not legally established — that the defendant was responsible for this reprehensible criminal conduct.
In Norris v. State, Fla.App. 1964, 158 So.2d 803, the defendant was accused of killing a person by poisoning. Evidence was admitted of the death of defendant’s husband and employee by poisoning; however, there was nothing connecting defendant to the crime. In reviewing for a new trial the court said:
“Where the evidence is offered to show a similar plan, scheme or design, the same must be shown in connection with the offense for which the defendant is on trial, and it must also be shown that the same or a substantially similar plan, scheme or design occurs as an incident to the collateral offense with which the defendant is likewise connected.”
This court quotes from a Tennessee case which made the rule clearer:
“Without going so far as to hold, with some of the Courts, that the proof of the independent crime must be ‘beyond a reasonable doubt,’ we approve the rule that, to render evidence of an independent crime admissible, the proof of its commission, and of the connection of the accused on trial therewith, must be not ‘vague and uncertain,’ but clear and convincing. Obviously, an absolute es*927sential is that (1) a former crime has been committed, and (2) committed by the identical person on trial. Only thus can identification, or other proof of guilt, of the accused in the pending case be aided by evidence of the independent crime. And this limitation upon admissibility apples equally to all the exceptions to the general rule excluding evidence of other crimes, whether introduced to prove identity, or for any other purpose.” '
Wrather v. State, 1943, 179 Tenn. 666, 169 S.W.2d 854.
Certiorari was discharged in State v. Norris, Fla. 1964, 168 So.2d 541. In Williams v. State, Fla.1962, 143 So.2d 484, it was held that where a crime was not sufficiently connected by relevant evidence to the defendent its admission would require a reversal.
Evidence of the commission of other crimes may be admissible if relevant in a criminal prosecution. Williams v. State, Fla. 1959, 110 So.2d 654. Illustrative instances of admissibility of evidence of similar crimes would be when such evidence proves identity, Licht v. State, Fla.App. 1963, 148 So.2d 295; when such evidence proves motive, pattern or intent, Mackiewicz v. State, Fla. 1959, 114 So.2d 684; when such evidence shows a common scheme or design, Talley v. State, 1948, 160 Fla. 593, 36 So.2d 201; when such evidence shows knowledge of guilt, Reddish v. State, Fla. 1964, 167 So.2d 858; when evidence of similar crimes contradicts a defense of accident, mistake or inadvertence, Andrews v. State, Fla.App. 1965, 172 So.2d 505. Even if it be assumed that it was established that defendant was responsible for criminal acts of buggery upon the victim, such evidence is not admissible because it does not meet the test of relevancy. Futhermore, the photographs showing the child’s anus and genitalia region were not relevant to show the cause of death or to help explain the injuries causing death or clarify any issue. Blake v. State, Fla. 1963, 156 So.2d 511; Lindberg v. State, 1938, 134 Fla. 786, 184 So. 662. Where photographs are irrelevant and their only purpose for admission would be to influence and prejudice the jury, it is error to admit them. Dyken v. State, Fla. 1956, 89 So.2d 866.
We hold in sum that the allowance of testimony and photographs depicting criminal acts of buggery upon a child of tender years which were in nowise connected to the defendant, the crime charged or the trial issues constituted reversible error. We feel that such testimony by its nature and propensity could not help but prejudice the defendant’s case and inflame the jury.
The conviction is reversed and the case remanded for a new trial.
Reversed.
McCAIN and OWEN, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
-
Wright v. State, 250 So. 2d 333 (Fla. 2d DCA 1971)…cases the Courts have held the introduction of such photographs to be reversible error. Dyken v. State, Fla.1956, 89 So. 2d 866; Reddish v. State, Fla.1964, 167 So. 2d 858; Young v. State, Fla.1970, 234 So. 2d 341, and Saxon v. State, Fla.App.1969, 225 So. 2d 925. Relating the rationale of Albritton and the other cited cases to the admitted facts in the instant case, we are of the view that while the photographic Exhibits 26, 27 and 28 may have been technically relevant they were so inflammatory and gruesom…
-
Headrick v. State, 240 So. 2d 203 (Fla. 2d DCA 1970)…that the defendant was following and reflected a pattern of operation corresponding to that employed in the case then at bar”. See Hawkins v. State, Fla.1968, 206 So. 2d 5; Bogan v. State, Fla.App.1969, 226 So. 2d 110; Saxon v. State, Fla.App.1969, 225 So. 2d 925; Reed v. State, Fla.App.1969, 224 So. 2d 364; Tafero v. State, Fla.App.1969, 223 So. 2d 564. This is not to say that by our holding here we mean to lay down an abstract concept that in all cases similar fact evidence is admissible, merely because i…
-
Farias v. State, 31 So. 3d 909 (Fla. 4th DCA 2010)…ident. We conclude that the trial court erred in admitting the photograph. The photograph had minimal probative value, and its potential for offending the jury’s sensibilities and evoking sympathy for the victim was substantial. See Saxon v. State, 225 So. 2d 925, 927 (Fla. 4th DCA 1969) (holding that where photographs are irrelevant, and their only purpose for admission is to influence and prejudice the jury, it is eiror to admit them). Because we cannot say beyond a reasonable doubt that the improperly adm…
Authorities Cited (13 total)
- Williams v. State, 110 So. 2d 654 (Fla. 1959)
- Talley v. State, 160 Fla. 593 (Fla. 1948)
- Williams v. State, 143 So. 2d 484 (Fla. 1962)
- Reddish v. State, 167 So. 2d 858 (Fla. 1964)
- Ethorn Buie v. L. D. Johnson & Sons, Inc., 168 So. 2d 541 (Fla. 1964)
- Lindberg v. State, 134 Fla. 786 (Fla. 1938)
- Andrews v. State, 172 So. 2d 505 (Fla. 1st DCA 1965)
- Blackburn v. Cochran, 114 So. 2d 684 (Fla. 1959)
- MacKiewicz v. State, 114 So. 2d 684 (Fla. 1959)
- Effie L. Norris v. State, 158 So. 2d 803 (Fla. 1st DCA 1963)