Opinion ID: 1662097
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Barbecue Joke Evidence

Text: A Post-Dispatch article published in 1983 reported that Judge Corrigan said during a meeting of judges that, We can't have a barbecue because we don't have a black judge to do the cooking. Smulls claims he offered this article not to establish whether there were in fact any black judges in the St. Louis County Circuit, but to establish that Judge Corrigan was biased and that his bias was public knowledge. He claims his counsel knew or should have discovered this alleged evidence of bias, and that that contributed to counsel's ineffectiveness in failing to file a motion to disqualify Judge Corrigan. Judge O'Brien ruled the article was hearsay. A hearsay statement is any out-of-court statement that is used to prove the truth of the matter asserted and that depends on the veracity of the statement for its value. Rodriguez v. Suzuki Motor Corp., 996 S.W.2d 47, 59 (Mo. banc 1999). To the extent that the article was offered to prove bias, it was inadmissible. Contrary to defendant's position, the truth of the matter asserted is not that they could not have a barbecue because there were no black judges available, but that Judge Corrigan said they could not have a barbecue because there were no black judges available. See 3 STEPHEN A. SALTZBURG, ET AL., FEDERAL RULES OF EVIDENCE MANUAL 1466 (7th ed.1998). On the other hand, the article was admissible to show that the allegation that Judge Corrigan was biased was a matter of public knowledge, and, in fact, Judge O'Brien admitted the testimony for that limited purpose. Smulls also offered the deposition testimony of Judge Campbell, who related that he personally overheard Judge Corrigan making the joke. Judge O'Brien disallowed this evidence on hearsay grounds, but the state has made no effort in its brief to defend the ruling. Assuming the testimony should have been admitted, it is much less probative of what Smulls' counsel knew or should have discovered about the matter than the newspaper article. To the extent Judge O'Brien disallowed or discounted this evidence, Smulls was not prejudiced.