Opinion ID: 1119842
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: Impeachment of Jail Trusties

Text: Lord argues that the trial court erred by excluding the testimony of witnesses whom the defense intended to call to impeach Sonny Belgard and Rex Harvey, two prisoner trusties. Belgard and Harvey testified about incriminating statements Lord made to them while he was in the Kitsap County Jail awaiting trial. The defense offered witnesses to testify regarding Belgard's and Harvey's reputations for truthfulness. ER 608(a) provides: The credibility of a witness may be attacked or supported by evidence in the form of reputation, but subject to the limitations: (1) the evidence may refer only to character for truthfulness or untruthfulness, and (2) evidence of truthful character is admissible only after the character of the witness for truthfulness has been attacked by reputation evidence or otherwise. [19] The application of ER 608(a) has been broken down into five elements: The first element is the foundation for the testimony  the knowledge of the reputation of the witness attacked. Second, the impeaching testimony must be limited to the witness's reputation for truth and veracity and may not relate to the witness's general, overall reputation. Third, the questions must be confined to the reputation of the witness in his community ... Fourth, the reputation at issue must not be remote in time from the time of the trial. Finally, the belief of the witness must be based upon the reputation to which he has testified and not upon his individual opinion. (Footnotes omitted.) 5A K. Tegland, Wash. Prac., Evidence § 231, at 202-04 (3d ed. 1989). Lord offered three witnesses to testify regarding Belgard's reputation for truthfulness: Donna Lynch, Gayle Gordon, and Sarah Carlson. All three were community corrections officers. The trial court heard offers of proof regarding these witnesses. Lynch was excluded after she testified that she did not have an opinion as to Belgard's reputation for truth and honesty. Gordon testified that she had had contact with Belgard's family, other correction personnel, judges, attorneys, and law enforcement personnel. Based on these contacts, she testified that Belgard does not have a good reputation for truth and honesty within the criminal justice system. [20] The trial court excluded Gordon's testimony for several reasons. First, as a community corrections officer, the only contacts she had with people who knew Belgard were with those who interacted with him as a result of his criminal convictions and with his family. The court ruled that these contacts were insufficient for her to have knowledge of his reputation in the community for truth and veracity. Moreover, through contacts with Belgard in the criminal justice system, Gordon formed an opinion about his criminal behavior, but not about a particular reputation for veracity. Finally, Gordon's testimony was too remote because she had had no contact with Belgard since he had been released from jail several months earlier. [12] We agree that the criminal justice system does not constitute the community in which Belgard resides. This system is neither neutral enough [n]or generalized enough to be classed as a community and an officer in the criminal justice system is not equipped to provide an unbiased and reliable evaluation of an inmate's general reputation for truth telling. Parker v. State, 458 So.2d 750, 753-54 (Fla. 1984), sentence vacated on writ of habeas corpus, aff'd sub nom. Parker v. Dugger, 876 F.2d 1470 (11th Cir.1989), rev'd and remanded, 111 S.Ct. 731 (1991). In State v. Swenson, 62 Wn.2d 259, 282-83, 382 P.2d 614 (1963), we held that a witness's reputation for truthfulness and veracity among people of her church did not satisfy the requirement that the offered testimony be limited to a general reputation for truth and veracity in the community in which she resided. Gordon's lack of knowledge of Belgard's reputation for truthfulness in the general community, coupled with the remoteness in time, support exclusion of Gordon's testimony. Lord also offered the testimony of Carlson, who had supervised Belgard in a work release program. She testified that her opinion was based on contacts with Belgard's family, people in the court system, and people involved in monitoring his parole. She could not speak to his general reputation for truth and honesty and was aware of his reputation only with his family and herself. The trial court excluded Carlson's testimony under ER 608. First, she was unable to testify to Belgard's general reputation for truthfulness. Second, even if the definition of general reputation could mean reputation among one's own family, Carlson was not competent to offer an opinion that Belgard was dishonest with his family. The trial court's rulings were correct. Lord also sought to have Ronald Heeney testify as to Harvey's reputation for truthfulness. Harvey had several prior convictions for theft by color or aid of deception, all of which had been brought out during Harvey's testimony. Heeney was the victim of one of these crimes and had business dealings with Harvey in 1985. The trial court excluded Heeney's testimony because it was too remote in time and because he was not able to testify that he knew Mr. Harvey's reputation for truth or honesty. The record supports this ruling. In sum, we find no abuse of discretion in the trial court's exclusion of these four witnesses.