v.
Kent Craig SAWYER
[*103] As defendant was moving from his rental home after his eviction, defendant's former landlords, the Ms, found that their car window had been shot out with a BB gun. Other former neighbors, the Bs, found that their bedroom window had been shot out by a BB gun. Two months later, another of defendant's former neighbors, T, discovered that his car windows had been shot out with a BB gun not long after a chance encounter with defendant. Believing defendant to be the culprit in each instance, the state charged him with three counts of second-degree criminal mischief, ORS 164.354. At trial, over relevance and OEC 403 objections by defendant, the court admitted 15 photographs depicting [*802] the poor condition in which defendant left the rental home when he vacated it. The jury convicted defendant on all counts. On appeal, he assigns error to the trial court's admission of the objected-to photographs, contending that the trial court abused its discretion by admitting the evidence without making the record required by State v. Mayfield ,
As noted, the evidence at issue consists of 15 photographs taken of defendant's former rental home on the date that he moved out. The photographs depict a range of different things. Seven of the photographs fairly can be described as showing that defendant left the house in disarray, and with a fair amount of debris and garbage. Three of the photographs appear to depict faulty electrical wiring. One of the photographs is of defendant's motor home. The other four depict damage to the home's carpet, the garage floor, and a window.
At trial, defendant objected to the admission of the photographs, initially arguing that the fact that he left his rental home a mess was not relevant to anything at issue in the case. The trial court permitted defendant to examine defendant's former landlord about the content of the [*104] photographs to develop the record in support of his objection. Following that examination, defendant renewed his relevance objection. In addition, defendant argued that, even if the trial court determined that the photographs were relevant, they should be excluded as "unfairly prejudic[ial]." The court then asked the prosecutor to "state [his] position again as to why they should be received." The prosecutor responded that the evidence was relevant for three purposes: to show defendant's plan, motive, and identity:
"Your honor, again this goes towards the plan of destruction of property in retaliation. So we have motive as a reason, other than just propensity under 404, and also identity. And also it goes to the Defendant's plan to destroy the property."
Having heard the prosecutor's explanation of why the pictures were relevant, the court overruled defendant's objection: "All right. The exhibits are, the objection's overruled."
On appeal, defendant assigns error to that ruling.[1] He argues that the trial court abused its discretion by admitting the evidence without creating the record required by Mayfield . He further asserts that, if the trial court's record comports with Mayfield , it demonstrates that the court abused its discretion in concluding that the probative value of the evidence was not substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice. The state responds that defendant did not preserve his argument that the trial court failed to develop the record in the manner required by Mayfield because defendant did not specifically alert the court of the need for a more developed record. The state further asserts that the court did not otherwise abuse its [*105] discretion in concluding that the probative value of the photographs was not substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice.
The state's preservation argument is foreclosed by State v. Anderson ,
As to whether the trial court made the record required by Mayfield , we answer that question by considering "the totality of the attendant circumstances." State v. Conrad ,
Here, the record fails to demonstrate either of those things. As was the case in both Anderson and Garcia-Rocio , nothing the trial court said indicates that it engaged in the weighing process required by Mayfield ; the court stated simply that it was overruling the objection. See Anderson ,
Finally, in all events, and perhaps most significantly, the trial court's record is inadequate to allow for meaningful appellate review of the court's assessment of the factors in the Mayfield calculus. The state advanced three theories as to why the 15 photographs were relevant. Yet the trial court offered no indication of which of the theories of relevance that it accepted, and no indication as to its thinking about whether the theories that it accepted called for the admission of all or merely some of the proffered photographs. See Mayfield ,
As another example, the state's theory that the photographs showed "plan" was not particularly well developed, even though the Supreme Court has explained (and had explained by the time of defendant's trial) with some precision the requirements that must be met for evidence of prior bad acts to be deemed relevant to show plan. State v. Turnidge ,
These circumstances give rise to the possibility that the trial court may have rejected defendant's OEC 403 objection for erroneous reasons, such as a mistaken conclusion that some or all of the photographs were relevant for a purpose for which they were not. Without a more explicit explanation from the court as to how it deemed the evidence relevant and why it thought that the strength of the evidence was such that it was not substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice, we cannot meaningfully review the trial court's decision. That means that the court's [*108] record does not satisfy the requirements of Mayfield . Ydrogo ,
The error was not harmless. The state emphasized the evidence in its arguments to the jury, urging it to infer that the fact that defendant damaged the rental house meant that he was the person who committed the damage to the cars. There is some likelihood that the jury drew the inference that the state urged. As a result, we cannot conclude that there is "little likelihood that the particular error[s] affected the verdict." State v. Davis ,
Given that conclusion, we must reverse and remand for the trial court to conduct OEC 403 balancing in a manner that comports with Mayfield , and for such other proceedings that may be required as a result of the outcome of that balancing. See State v. Baughman ,
Reversed and remanded.
Earlier in the case, defendant raised generalized relevance and OEC 403 objections to anticipated evidence of "prior specific bad acts" showing tensions between defendant and his landlords and neighbors, including acts occurring in the context of the eviction process. The prosecutor indicated that the evidence would show motive or plan. The trial court overruled that objection, stating that defendant could raise it with respect to specific evidence that the state sought to introduce at trial, but that the court was "not going to, in a blanket manner, rule that all such evidence is inadmissible." The court explained that it would need to see "what the evidence is" before determining whether or not it was admissible. That preliminary ruling, to the extent that it is challenged on appeal, was not an abuse of discretion. At that point in time, the parties had not yet supplied the court with sufficient information to make a definitive ruling one way or another.