Opinion ID: 1587246
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Impeachment of Jeanette Holden.

Text: Caudill complains that she was precluded from impeaching the credibility of Jeanette Holden and thereby prevented from exercising her constitutional right of confrontation. U.S. Const. amend. VI; Ky. Const. § 11. In fact, Caudill was permitted to elicit from Holden the facts that Holden was a convicted felon, that she was serving a ten-year sentence, and that she would like for the parole board to know that she had cooperated with the prosecution of this case. When asked if she had helped Detective Lyons with any other cases, Holden replied that she had not. Defense counsel then inquired whether Holden had helped any police detective with any other case, specifically a case involving Christina Halvorsen. Upon the prosecutor's objection, the trial judge questioned defense counsel as to whether he had information that Holden had received or been promised any benefit for her cooperation in that case. When defense counsel replied that he did not, the objection was sustained. Thus, Holden did not answer the question and what answer she might have made was not preserved by an avowal. KRE 103(a)(2). Limitations on cross-examination, including cross-examination to expose bias or prejudice, Parsley v. Commonwealth, Ky., 306 S.W.2d 284, 285 (1957), involve a fundamental constitutional right and should be cautiously applied. Davis v. Alaska, 415 U.S. 308, 320, 94 S.Ct. 1105, 1112, 39 L.Ed.2d 347 (1974). Nevertheless, [s]o long as a reasonably complete picture of the witness' veracity, bias and motivation is developed, the judge enjoys power and discretion to set appropriate boundaries. Commonwealth v. Maddox, Ky., 955 S.W.2d 718, 721 (1997) ( quoting United States v. Boylan, 898 F.2d 230, 254 (1st Cir.1990)). [A] connection must be established between the cross-examination proposed to be undertaken and the facts in evidence. A defendant is not at liberty to present unsupported theories in the guise of cross-examination and invite the jury to speculate as to some cause other than one supported by the evidence. Maddox , at 721. Caudill was able to show that Holden was a convicted felon, was serving a prison term, and hoped the parole board would give consideration to her cooperation in this case. The trial judge did not abuse his discretion in sustaining the prosecutor's objection to defense counsel's attempted inquiry as to whether Holden had cooperated with the police in another case absent a good faith belief that she had benefitted from that cooperation. The mere fact that a witness helped the police in an unrelated case is not evidence of bias in this case and is not an adverse reflection on the witness's credibility in general. Finally, absent an avowal, we have no way of knowing what Holden's response would have been or whether it would have been beneficial to Caudill. Commonwealth v. Ferrell, Ky., 17 S.W.3d 520, 525 (2000).