NOT PRECEDENTIAL UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEAL FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT No. 06-1038… v. Morris Huggins

NOT PRECEDENTIAL
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEAL
FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT
No. 06-1038
GOVERNMENT OF THE VIRGIN ISLANDS
v.
MORRIS HUGGINS,
Appellant
On Appeal from the District Court
of the Virgin Islands
(D.C. Criminal No. 04-cr-00112)
District Judge: Hon. Raymond L. Finch, Chief Judge
District Judge: Hon. Curtis V. Gomez
Hon. Brenda J. Hollar, Judge of the Superior Court, Sitting by Designation
Submitted Pursuant to Third Circuit LAR 34.1(a)
May 12, 2006
BEFORE: FISHER, COWEN and ROTH,* Circuit Judges
(Filed: September 7, 2006)
OPINION
*The Honorable Jane R. Roth assumed senior status on May 31, 2006.

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1 The photograph in question was one of three photographs that the government
offered into evidence to show the nature of the victim’s injury. One photograph (2-F)
showed the victim at the hospital, while the other photographs (2-D, 2-E), showed the
victim in the ambulance at the scene of the crime. The defense objected to the admission
of all three photographs on the grounds that the photographs were inflammatory and
irrelevant. The trial court excluded the hospital photograph (2-F), and permitted the
government to admit into evidence only one of the two photographs of the victim in the
ambulance. The government chose to introduce photograph 2-D into evidence.
2
COWEN, Circuit Judge.
Morris Huggins appeals from a final order of the District Court of the Virgin
Islands, Appellate Division of St. Croix, affirming a Judgment and Order of Commitment
entered by the Territorial Court following a jury trial. Huggins’ sole contention on appeal
is that the trial court abused its discretion in admitting into evidence a photograph of the
victim’s injury. For the reasons given below, we will affirm.
I.
During Huggins’ jury trial on charges of assault in the third degree and possession
of a dangerous weapon during the commission of a violent crime, the government offered
into evidence a photograph (Exhibit 2-D) of the victim of Huggins’ assault. The
photograph was taken of the victim while she was in an ambulance at the scene of the
crime. It depicts a laceration on the victim’s bloody nose. The government offered the
photograph to show evidence of the victim’s injury as a result of Huggins’ assault with an
iron pipe. The defense objected to the admission of the photograph on the ground that the
photograph is inflammatory and irrelevant. The trial court admitted the photograph into
evidence over the objection.1

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3
Huggins was convicted by a jury of assault in the third degree, in violation of 14
V.I.C. § 297(2), and possession of a dangerous weapon during the commission of a crime
of violence, in violation of 14 V.I.C. § 2251(a)(2)(B). He was sentenced by the
Territorial Court to six months of imprisonment for the third degree assault and seven and
a half years of imprisonment for the possession of a dangerous weapon.
II.
Huggins argues that the trial court abused its discretion in admitting into evidence
the photograph of the victim’s injury. He contends that the photograph in question is
gruesome and bloody, and, as such, that its probative value is outweighed by its
propensity to cause prejudice. He posits that the victim’s injury could have been
presented through less prejudicial means, and suggests that the photograph was
cumulative of the victim’s testimony, the testimony and the records of the emergency
medical technician, the testimony of the law enforcement officer, and the testimony of the
shop owner Samuel Vierra. We review the trial court’s admission of the photograph
under an abuse of discretion standard. Government of Virgin Islands v. Albert, 241 F.3d
344, 347 & n.3 (3d Cir. 2001).
Federal Rule 403 provides that “[a]lthough relevant, evidence may be excluded if
its probative value is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice,
confusion of the issues, or misleading the jury, or by considerations of undue delay, waste
of time, or needless presentation of cumulative evidence.” Fed. R. Evid. 403. “We have
previously held that a district court has broad discretion to determine the admissibility of

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4
relevant evidence in response to an objection under Rule 403.” United States v. Lopez,
271 F.3d 472, 482 (3d Cir. 2001) (citation and internal quotation marks and brackets
omitted). We have stated that if judicial restraint is ever desirable, it is when an appellate
tribunal reviews a trial court’s Federal Rule 403 analysis. Id.
In this case, the trial court did not abuse its broad discretion in admitting the
photograph in question over Huggins’ objection. The photograph of the victim’s injury
was relevant to whether Huggins committed the assault and possession charges, and was
highly probative evidence because it corroborated the victim’s testimony that she was
assaulted with an iron pipe. Although other defense witnesses testified to observing
blood on the victim’s face, the photograph was the only evidence, other than the victim’s
testimony, showing the nature and extent of the victim’s injury. Moreover, although the
photograph shows some blood on the victim’s face, it is not so gruesome that its
prejudicial impact outweighs its probative value. For these reasons, we will affirm the
final order of the District Court of the Virgin Islands, Appellate Division of St. Croix,
which affirmed the Judgment and Order of Commitment entered by the trial court.

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