Opinion ID: 2461218
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: presentation of confession

Text: The appellant claims it was error for the court to permit Lieutenant Allan Hicks, of the Greene County Sheriff's Department, to summarize his confession for the jury prior to the playing of the recorded statement. Appellant objects to this as double dipping and maintains that Hicks embellished the statement and created a danger of unfair prejudice which outweighed the probative value of the evidence. It is within the sound, judicial discretion of the trial court to limit the introduction of cumulative testimony and this discretion is not controlled unless it has been manifestly abused. McMillan v. State, 229 Ark. 249, 314 S.W.2d 483 (1958), quoting Sheppard v. State, 120 Ark. 160, 179 S.W. 168 (1915). In Beed v. State, 271 Ark. 526, 609 S.W.2d 898 (1980), we explained the test to be used by the trial judge in deciding whether to exclude cumulative evidence: The first consideration for a trial judge is whether evidence which makes the existence of a fact more probable creates a danger of unfair prejudice. The secondary consideration is whether the danger of the unfair prejudice substantially outweighs the probative value of the evidence. It was unquestionably error on the part of the trial court to permit Hicks to summarize the confession when the actual confession was about to be played for the jury and we strongly caution against such practice. It was inexcusable to permit the officer to paraphrase the statement and embellish the appellant's words. The embellishment complained of occurred when Hicks quoted appellant as saying he beat his wife extremely bad, when no such statement was made. Lt. Hicks also elaborated on the specific blows that were allegedly struck by appellant. Standing alone, such comments could have prejudiced the appellant. However, the jury was apprised of the embellishment by defense counsel in closing argument and heard a recording of the appellant's confession, enabling them to assess the accuracy of Hicks' comments for themselves. For these reasons, we hold that the trial court's error did not substantially affect the fairness of the trial, and was, under the circumstances, harmless. In so holding it should be noted that nothing about Hicks' testimony conflicts with the state medical examiner's findings as to the injuries sustained by the victim. This fact, coupled with appellant's admission that he beat her that night, lessened the likelihood of any unfair prejudice resulting from Hicks' improper comments.