Sometime after June 1995, the first degree sexual assault charge against Sanders was dismissed, and he pled guilty to fourth degree sexual assault, a misdemeanor. Prior to Sanders' trial testimony, Span advised the court of his desire to cross-examine Sanders regarding the reduction in the sexual assault charge in an attempt to demonstrate that Sanders had a motive to set up Span. The district judge allowed Span to ask Sanders whether, at the time of the controlled drug buy, there was a felony charge pending against him and whether that charge was reduced to a misdemeanor as a result of his cooperation with the authorities. The judge denied Span's request to elicit testimony that Sanders' pending felony charge was for first degree sexual assault of a child. Span argues that the district court erred in refusing to allow him to elicit the nature of Sanders' pending felony charge.
Criminal defendants have a Sixth Amendment right to crossexamine witnesses.
The district court, however, retains broad discretion to impose reasonable limits on the extent and scope of cross-examination. Span contends that telling the jury that Sanders' charge had been reduced from a felony to a misdemeanor did not give the jury any real sense of the magnitude of the benefit Sanders had received or the corresponding extent of Sanders' alleged bias. The mere exclusion of the name of the felony charge that was pending against Sanders did not prevent the jury from making a discriminating appraisal of his testimony. The jury was informed that at the time he decided to cooperate with police, Sanders had a pending felony charge and that later that charge was reduced to a misdemeanor. Span was able to introduce evidence of Sanders' basic reason for bias.