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Silvey v. State

The trial court did not clearly abuse its discretion in admitting other acts evidence in the defendant's burglary trial to show intent, as intent was a material issue at trial, the evidence was relevant to establish intent, there was no clear abuse of the trial court's discretion in determining that the probative value outweighed the prejudicial effect and there was sufficient proof that the defendant committed the prior act.

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After a Morgan County jury convicted Christopher Gerald Silvey on two counts of burglary,1 the trial court denied his motion for new trial. Silvey now appeals the denial of that motion, asserting that the trial court erred in admitting improper evidence of other acts2 and improper bolstering evidence. He also contends that he received ineffective assistance of counsel both during the plea process and at trial.

Viewed in the light most favorable to support the verdict,3 the evidence at trial showed that Silvey participated in two burglaries in Morgan County in October 2011. On October 11, 2011, when Kevin Meeler went to the Morgan County home of his friend, Holly Shaifer, he noticed an unfamiliar car in the driveway, a maroon Toyota Camry, with a man sitting in the passenger seat. Meeler knocked on the door of the house and rang the doorbell, but no one answered. Then as he began to back his car out of the driveway, he saw a man with blondish colored hair he did not recognize walking from behind the Shaifers’ garage. Meeler pulled back into the driveway and asked the man what he was doing. The man first told him that his car was running hot and that he and the other man were looking for water. He then told Meeler that when they stopped the car, their dog, a black and white terrier, jumped out of the car window, and they were looking for it. Meeler wrote down the car’s license tag number, told the men to leave, and then notified the police and the Shaifers.

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