Opinion ID: 1906701
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: lynette brooks

Text: The prosecution opened its questioning of Lynette Brooks by eliciting the fact that Ms. Brooks had been arrested that morning for her failure to appear in court while under subpoena. Ms. Brooks claimed that she did not appear because she could not find a baby-sitter. Ms. Brooks admitted, however, that she was hiding under a pile of laundry when the marshals arrived at her house to arrest her. The prosecution then established that Mercer had fathered a child with Ms. Brooks. Further, Ms. Brooks testified that Jason Brooks, the man who had accompanied Yappy earlier in the day on June 1, 1995, and was later found shot to death, was her younger brother. Here, despite the claim that this line of questioning intimated a scheme to intimidate witnesses, the questions were proper. From the record, it is apparent that the prosecution had been experiencing difficulty with its witnesses. In fact, several bench warrants were issued when witnesses ignored subpoenas. Ms. Brooks was one witness who was arrested for ignoring a subpoena. The fact that Ms. Brooks had to be arrested was relevant, as it showed her motivation not to testify. The fact that she and Mercer had an intimate relationship that produced a child was relevant, as it tended to show bias. Thus, the questioning only tended to show that Ms. Brooks did not want to testify against a man with whom she had a prior romantic relationship. Such testimony is relevant, and does not intimate a scheme to intimidate witnesses, as Mercer and Terrell argue.