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Capshaw v. State9/29/2000
Appeal from the District Court of Natrona County The Honorable W. Thomas Sullins, Judge
HILL, J., delivers the opinion of the Court; THOMAS, J., files a specially concurring opinion.
Appellant, Gary Capshaw (Capshaw), was convicted by a jury of conspiring to bring large quantities of methamphetamine into Casper, Wyoming, for resale. On appeal he faults the district court for improperly admitting W.R.E. 404(b) evidence, claims a fatal variance between the crime charged and that proven, and charges that admission of his conspirators' guilty pleas to the subject conspiracy prejudiced his defense. We are unable to conclude that the district court abused its discretion in admitting Rule 404(b) evidence, nor can we find that testimony regarding the conspirators' guilty pleas necessitates reversal under the plain error doctrine, in light of the strength of the State's case and the appellant's chosen trial strategy. The conspiracy alleged was that for which Capshaw was convicted. Therefore, we affirm.
ISSUES
Capshaw identifies three issues on appeal:
I. Did the trial court err by allowing unfairly prejudicial other crimes evidence to be introduced at trial, which could permit a reasonable juror improperly to infer that because of an independent incident when methamphetamine was discovered at a motel in Evanston, Gary Capshaw must be guilty of conspiracy to deliver?
II. Did the variance between the single broad-based conspiracy charged in the information, and the more limited conspiracies demonstrated at trial affect Mr. Capshaw's substantial rights and require reversal of his conviction?
III. Did the State's questioning of witnesses about their guilty pleas to offenses which arose out of circumstances leading to Gary Capshaw's trial improperly imply that Gary Capshaw is also guilty and violated his right to have a trial on its own merits?
The State iterates those issues in somewhat different form:
I. The trial court properly admitted evidence of [Capshaw's] possession and transportation of a large quantity of methamphetamine during the [same] time period charged in the conspiracy.
II. There was no variance between the conspiracy charged and the conspiracy proved at trial. In any event, this issue was never raised in the trial court and should not be considered on appeal.
III. Under the circumstances of this case, it was not reversible error for the prosecutor to elicit from a witness that he had pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiring with [Capshaw] to deliver a controlled substance.
FACTS
In the late 1980's, Capshaw and Steve Tisdale (Tisdale) were fellow inmates at the Wyoming State Penitentiary and the Honor Farm, and the two got to know each other well. Upon his release from confinement in 1989, Tisdale returned to his home in Stockton, California. Early in 1993, Capshaw was looking for a supply of methamphetamine and visited Tisdale in California. Capshaw told Tisdale that there was money to be made by transporting the drug from California, where it was plentiful and relatively cheap, to Casper, where Capshaw "said he could get a lot more for it." Tisdale became the source for several pounds of methamphetamine, which Capshaw and others imported to Casper for delivery at a much higher price.
After his initial purchases from Tisdale, Capshaw began to solicit his friends to invest in his scheme, urging Lynette Draper (Draper) to help him buy methamphetamine in California for resale in Casper at great profit. Another willing recruit was Steven Horn (Horn), whom Capshaw introduced to Tisdale. Horn accompanied Capshaw on several
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