Case Title: Ex Parte Lynn

Citation: 477 So. 2d 1385

Docket Number: 

State: alabama

Court: Alabama Supreme Court

Date: 1985-07-03T00:00:00Z

Document:
477 So. 2d 1385 (1985)
Ex parte Frederick LYNN.
(In re: Frederick LYNN v. State of Alabama).
No. 84-617.

Supreme Court of Alabama.
July 3, 1985.
Rehearing Denied August 23, 1985.
Donald J. McKinnon, Eufaula, for petitioner.
Charles A. Graddick, Atty. Gen., and William D. Little and P. David Bjurberg, Asst. Attys. Gen., for respondent.
JONES, Justice.
Because of our reversal of the judgment of conviction and remand of this cause for a new trial, we address at length only one of the multiple issues presented in this death penalty case. The issue on which our reversal is based is addressed under Part V of the Court of Criminal Appeals' opinion, Lynn v. State, 477 So. 2d 1365 (Ala. Cr.App.1984). We quote the following extract therefrom:
"415 U.S.  at 316, 94 S. Ct.  at 1110.
We disagree with the Court of Criminal Appeals' conclusion that the State's interest in protecting the anonymity of juvenile offenders is paramount to Defendant's right to effectively cross-examine an admitted accomplice to the crime. We hold, on independent State grounds (Ala. Const.1901, Art. I, § 6; Code 1975, § 12-21-137), that Defendant's right to thorough and sifting cross-examination was unduly hampered by the trial court's granting of the State's motion to preclude defense counsel from making any reference to Strong's juvenile record.
It is not an overstatement to assert that Strong's testimony contributed to this Defendant's being sentenced to the electric chair. In exchange for his sworn statement, shifting the bulk of the blame for the homicide away from himself and onto Defendant Lynn, Strong was offered, and he received, a 30-year sentence for the noncapital offense of burglary. Because of their relationship in the joint commission of this horrible crime and the overwhelming weight of Strong's testimony against Lynn, constitutional considerations mandate that Defendant not be restricted in his cross-examination of Strong as to any matters of probative worth.
It is not our purpose to be critical of the State's trial tactics with one accomplice in order to strengthen its case against the other one. When handled in a professional manner (and nothing here indicates otherwise), such a "trade-off" is entirely permissible; but, by the same token, this very fact, with its inherent potential for witness bias, cannot be thrust beyond the Defendant's legitimate reach of cross-examination. The rules of fair play, as contemplated by the constitutional guarantee of witness confrontation and as implemented by statute, place in the defendant's arsenal the concomitant right to subject that witness and his credibility, which necessarily includes his potential bias and self-interest, to cross-examination, including use of his juvenile record.
Although our reversal is based on the sole ground of the trial court's granting of the State's motion in limine, we will comment briefly on one other of Petitioner's allegations of error. The State, acknowledging the trial court's error when charging the jury on the requisite degree of corrobative proof of an accomplice's testimony, claims lack of prejudice in light of the correctness of the full charge. From our review of the totality of his instructions, we are constrained to view the trial judge's "slightest degree" remark as a mere inadvertence which is not apt to recur upon a new trial of this cause.
We have reviewed each of Petitioner's remaining contentions for reversal and find no other error.
REVERSED AND REMANDED.
TORBERT, C.J., and MADDOX, FAULKNER, ALMON, SHORES, BEATTY and ADAMS, JJ., concur.
EMBRY, J., not sitting.