State v. Frederik H.

Syllabus

Convicted, following a jury trial, of the crimes of unlawful restraint in the first degree, interfering with an emergency call, and criminal mischief in the third degree, the defendant appealed to this court. The defendant's conviction stemmed from an incident in which he argued with the victim, his girlfriend. During the argument, the defendant grabbed the victim by her neck and pushed her down onto the bed, and took her cell phone. He then held the victim by her neck when she tried to exit the house and slammed her onto the coffee table. On appeal, the defendant claimed that there was insufficient evidence to prove he specifically intended to restrain the victim and that the trial court improperly allowed the state to introduce evidence of certain uncharged misconduct. Held: 1. The evidence presented at trial was sufficient to support the defendant's conviction of unlawful restraint in the first degree; the jury could have reasonably found that the defendant, in holding the victim down on the bed by her neck to take her cell phone from her, intended to substantially interfere with her liberty, and this intent was also apparent from the defendant's actions in blocking the victim's access to a door and window and grabbing her by the neck and throwing her onto the coffee table. 2. The trial court did not abuse its discretion in admitting evidence of uncharged misconduct that occurred nine months after the incident underlying his conviction; certain statements made by the defendant to a detective about the victim, following his arrest for a separate incident involving a different complainant who lived in the victim's new apart- ment building, were probative of his motive and intent during the under- lying incident because they revealed the defendant's ongoing hostility toward the victim, they were not irrelevant merely because they occurred nine months after the underlying incident and they were not unduly prejudicial; moreover, evidence as to the contents of a gift b