Supreme Court of Kansas
State v. Showalter
February 23, 2024543 P.3d 508
Summary
The court affirmed Showalter's convictions, holding that the district court properly admitted one challenged autopsy photograph, properly admitted the forensic pathologist's deposition after finding him unavailable, and could not review the relevance challenge to the co-conspirator statements because it was not preserved. The court also rejected cumulative-error relief because Showalter established no individual errors. No separate opinions were filed.
Holding
- Admission of autopsy photographs. Showalter failed to preserve his challenge to Exhibits 127 through 135 because he did not specifically object to them before or during trial. His challenge to Exhibit 126 was preserved, but the district court did not abuse its discretion in admitting it because the photograph was relevant to the cause and manner of death, the violent and intentional nature of the crime, and the medical testimony, and its probative value was not substantially outweighed by undue prejudice.
- Admission of the forensic pathologist's deposition. The district court properly admitted Dr. Glenn's deposition testimony. The deposition qualified for the statutory exception governing testimony taken for use at trial in the same action, and the State satisfied the constitutional unavailability requirement by making sufficient and reasonable efforts to establish that Dr. Glenn could not attend trial from New Zealand.
- Admission of co-conspirator statements and cumulative error. Showalter failed to preserve his relevance challenge to testimony about Sportsman's claimed MS-13 membership and alleged orders from Penny. He objected at trial on hearsay grounds rather than relevance grounds, and he did not object to one witness's testimony. Because no individual errors were established, the cumulative-error claim necessarily failed.
Docket 124535
Cited authorities
- U.S. Const. amend. VI