Opinion ID: 1953021
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Testimony of Mario Manigan

Text: Manigan, the fourth defense witness, testified that he and Butler were in the vicinity of 14th Street and Wallach Place on the night of the shooting looking for his cousin when he noticed appellant on the phone at a phone booth and waved to him. As Manigan waved, an individual came from Wallach Place and began shooting at Johnson. Manigan claimed the shooter was not appellant and stated that he turned to run but was shot. On cross-examination, Manigan was impeached with a prior conviction for assault with a dangerous weapon, a handgun. The prosecutor then asked the following questions: Q: Now you indicated that as you were coming up the street that you waved to the defendant. Isn't it a fact that where you were standing is right next to that phone booth? A: No. Q: Isn't it a fact that you stood there next to that phone booth while the decedent was on the phone, and when she went into Yum's for the last time you got on that phone and used it? A: No. Q: Isn't it a fact that after you got off the phone and she came back you continued to stay there looking up the street, looking up ... Wallach Place, for this man, because you were expecting him; isn't that true? A: No. Q: Well, isn't it a fact that just as he came running down the street to shoot the victim that you high tailed across the street to the other side cause you knew that was going to happen? A: No, I wasI was Q: You were what? A: As I spoke to him, like I said, as I spoke to him that's when the person came from around the corner shooting. How could I do all of that, run across the street and I'm shot? After questioning Manigan about a photograph taken of his injury at the crime scene, the prosecutor turned to the subject of his knowledge of Tonya Johnson, the murder victim, and asked him if he knew Lennie Harris. Defense counsel objected to the question and a bench conference ensued, at which the trial court asked the prosecutor the relevance of Manigan's knowledge of Harris. The prosecutor replied that Lennie Harris was this person's very good friend, and Lennie Harris was killed in front of Tonya Johnson's place. Establishes his bias against the victim as well as a potential bias for the defendant who killed her. The trial court then excused the jury for more discussion of the issue. Providing further explanation, the prosecutor proffered that Manigan had testified in front of the grand jury that Harris, his lifelong friend, was shot right in front of the decedent's home, and that he intended to introduce this evidence through cross-examination of Manigan to show bias. Characterizing the evidence as highly prejudicial and highly speculative as no one had ever been charged with the shooting of Harris, defense counsel objected, suggesting that the mere fact that Harris was killed in front of Johnson's residence did not show any knowledge of how, or by whom, Harris was killed. Although the trial court was not persuaded by defense counsel's objections based on the inadmissibility of other crimes evidence, the trial court probed the government's bias theory, asking further details concerning the location of Harris' death. The prosecutor proffered that Harris and Johnson had been lovers, that Harris had gone to visit Johnson at her house, and that Harris was killed [l]iterally right on the steps on the house as someone drove by and shot him. As a result of this proffer, the trial court agreed with the prosecutor that the very fact that [Harris] was at [Johnson's] house coinciding with his being shot could cause someone rationally or irrationally to conclude Johnson might somehow be involved, and it overruled defense counsel's objections as the questioning was not to implicate the defendant in the murder of Harris, but just to show bias of this witness. Cross-examination then continued as follows: Q: You know Lennie Harris, don't you? A: I know him. ... Q: In fact you've known Lennie Harris since you were in elementary school, haven't you? A: Yeah. Q: You also knew that Lennie Harris got shot that very summer, didn't you? A: What very summer? Q: I'm sorry? A: I say what very summer? Q: The summer just before Tonya Johnson got gunned down. A: I can't remember. Q: The summer of 1992, July. A: I don't remember, I cannot remember. Q: You know he got shot, don't you? A: Yeah. Q: In fact, you know he got shot right on the very steps in front of Tonya Johnson's house, don't you? A: No, I don't know. Q: You don't know that? A: No. . . . Q: But you hadn't heard that your one of your lifelong friends got shot and was shot, just happened by coincidence to be right on the very sidewalk in front of Tonya Johnson's house. . . . Q: It's your testimony that you had not heard that your lifelong friend Lennie Harris had been shot right on the very steps in front of Tonya Johnson's house? A: I think I said I ain't know.