Opinion ID: 2390340
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: reopening the case to allow cornman's testimony

Text: A motion to reopen a case to introduce additional evidence is addressed to the discretion of the trial justice. A decision made in the exercise of such discretionary power will not be disturbed by this court on appeal absent a showing of an abuse of discretion. State v. Benevides, 420 A.2d 65, 68 (R.I. 1980). In deciding whether to reopen the case, the trial justice was concerned with three issues: first, did Cornman qualify as an expert. Second, was her testimony predicated upon facts legally sufficient to provide a basis for her opinion, Greco v. Mancini, 476 A.2d 522, 525 (R.I. 1984). Lastly, is Cornman's proposed testimony inadmissible under the rules of evidence as an attempt by one witness to express an opinion on the credibility of another witness, in this case, the victim Gloria. After hearing the testimony of Cornman, the trial justice reached the following conclusion on the record as quoted below. This testimony, in essence, strikes at that very issue. I mean, if this witness has been brought into this Courtroom to testify as to whether or not [Gloria] suffered bruises,     this isn't the case. She has been asked, after observing her for five or six days, based on your own experience, education, training, in the field of assisting a child, children who have been sexually abused, did [Gloria] manifest any of those symptoms that you have in your experience observed? The answer is no. Rhode Island law is clear that no witness, expert or otherwise, may testify that another witness is lying or faking. State v. Correra, 430 A.2d 1251, 1255 (R.I. 1981). The defendant says Cornman is being offered to impeach Gloria's credibility and that such testimony does not constitute her calling Gloria a liar. We disagree. Our analysis is aided by a very recent case decided by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. See Commonwealth v. Montanino, 409 Mass. 500, 567 N.E.2d 1212 (1991). In Montanino a male defendant was charged with unnatural sexual intercourse with a fifteen-year-old male. Four years after the alleged incidents, the victim reported the matter to the police. The commanding officer of the sexual-assault unit of the Cambridge police conducted the investigation. At trial the victim made several statements damagingly inconsistent with his original report to the officer. To rehabilitate his case, the prosecutor asked the officer on the stand, And, would you tell us, Sergeant, whether or not you have an opinion as to whether in your initial discussions with victims, [whether you tend] to get more or less than the complete details [as compared to what] you eventually learn [from the victim] regarding the incident? Id. at 502, 567 N.E.2d at 1213. This officer responded that most victims he interviewed eventually provided more details regarding the assault than they initially revealed. Id. at 502-03, 567 N.E.2d at 1213. The Montanino defendant challenged this question because it called for the officer to give his opinion that the victim was a credible witness. That is, by allowing the officer to testify that the irregularities in the victim's statements were consistent with the manner in which truthful sexual-assault victims relate their experiences, the officer would be offering his opinion that the Montanino victim was just as credible as other sexual-assault victims. Id. at 504, 567 N.E.2d at 1214. In striking the officer's testimony, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court held that although the officer was not literally stating his opinion of the victim's credibility, his testimony had the same substantive import. In the court's words, even though the officer's testimony `fell short of rendering an opinion on the credibility of the specific [witness] before the court, we see little difference in the final result. It would be unrealistic to allow this type of ... testimony and then expect the jurors to ignore it when evaluating the credibility of the complaining [witness].' Id. Accordingly the court reversed the conviction because it concluded that the officer's testimony was an improper attempt to bolster the victim's credibility. In the instant case we are faced with an analogous problem. In Montanino the prosecution offered an opinion that the victim's testimony was consistent with that of like victims. Here defendant is offering an opinion that the victim's testimony is inconsistent with that of like victims. Although we recognize defendant's argument that there is a fine line between offering a witness to impeach a second witness' credibility, and offering a witness to opine that a second witness is not credible, we think this case falls into the latter category. As the trial justice properly noted, this witness is not being called to testify about facts that she perceived. Rather, defendant readily admits that the witness is being offered to give her opinion on the question of whether an attack actually took place. If the witness were to give personal observations concerning the crime that contradicted Gloria's testimony, that would be proper evidence to impeach Gloria's credibility. But here we essentially have a witness who proposes to testify that she has looked at the evidence and has formed an opinion that no attack occurred. [1] Whether this opinion is stated directly or clothed in terms of Gloria's mental and physical disposition is inconsistent with like rape victims is irrelevant. As the Montanino court said, any way the matter is phrased, the jury will perceive such testimony as a conclusory opinion about the victim's credibility. Accordingly the trial justice properly ruled that Cornman's testimony was inadmissible and hence the trial justice did not err in refusing to allow defendant to reopen the case.