Opinion ID: 1865300
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Impeachment of State's Own Witness

Text: In its case in chief, the State called the defendant's girlfriend, Nancy Pierson, to the stand and asked her several incriminating questions about statements she allegedly made to Officer Duane Dahl. The State knew that she would deny having made any such statements. For the trial court to allow the State to question their own witness in this fashion, knowing full well that she would deny having made these statements to Officer Dahl, was improper and highly prejudicial to the defendant's case. Despite this, the trial court allowed the State to admit the testimony of Duane Dahl who stated that Nancy Pierson told him in 1983, that Rufener was bringing hundreds of pounds of marijuana into South Dakota. The conduct of the State was clearly improper: The device of eliciting a denial of some statement not properly in the case at the time of denial will not serve to inject an issue ... People v. Bennett, 393 Mich. 445, 449, 224 N.W.2d 840, 842 (1975). This evidence should not have been admitted because 1) it was more prejudicial than probative of any facts related to the indictment, and 2) it was improper impeachment of a witness, because it does not satisfy the second requirement set forth in State v. Gage, 302 N.W.2d 793, 798 (S.D. 1981). Neither Gage nor State v. O'Brien, 318 N.W.2d 108 (S.D.1982), involved impeachment of a witness who was called solely to be impeached. In United States v. Morlang, 531 F.2d 183 (4th Cir.1975), the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the defendant's conviction for conspiracy to bribe the director of West Virginia's Federal Housing Administration (FHA), in connection with an FHA housing project. The court held, in part, that the trial court erred by admitting a prosecution witness' prior inconsistent statement which implicated defendant, where the witness was called solely for the purpose of impeaching him. Id. at 189. The court stated: We must be mindful of the fact that prior unsworn statements of a witness are mere hearsay and are, as such, generally inadmissible as affirmative proof. The introduction of such testimony, even where limited to impeachment, necessarily increases the possibility that a defendant may be convicted on the basis of unsworn evidence, for despite proper instructions to the jury, it is often difficult for them to distinguish between impeachment and substantive evidence. Id. at 190. Here, Nancy Pierson's alleged statements to Officer Dahl were also unsworn. As such, Dahl's testimony amounted to unreliable hearsay which was highly prejudicial to Rufener's case. Therefore, the trial court erred in failing to exclude this testimony under SDCL 19-12-3 because its probative value was outweighed by its prejudicial effect. According to Louisell and Mueller, 3 Federal Evidence, § 299 (1979), Rule 403 of the Federal Rules of Evidence, (SDCL 19-12-3), not only empowers, but obligates courts to prevent abuse in connection with attempts by a party to impeach his own witness by use of the latter's prior inconsistent statements. This was improper use of impeachment evidence; it may have been proper had the defense called Nancy Pierson as a witness, and on direct examination asked her the same questions which the prosecutor had asked in the prosecution's case in chief. This was not the case, however, and the so called impeachment testimony by Duane Dahl was obviously anticipated by the prosecution when they called Nancy Pierson as a witness, especially where she was not found to be a hostile witness. Although the common law rule that a party cannot cross-examine or impeach his own witness has been abandoned by Rule 607 of the Federal Rules of Evidence, (SDCL 19-14-8), the overwhelming weight of authority is, however, that impeachment by prior inconsistent statement may not be permitted where employed as a mere subterfuge to get before the jury evidence not otherwise admissible. Morlang, 531 F.2d at 190. See also: United States v. Webster, 734 F.2d 1191, 1192 (7th Cir.1984) (Although Morlang was decided before the Federal Rules of Evidence became effective, the limitation [quoted above] on the prosecutor's rights under Rule 607 has been accepted in all circuits that have considered the issue.). In summary, the State relies upon: 1. the un corroborated testimony of an accomplice, who happens to be a confessed drug dealer, 2. to obtain a conviction from an im properly instructed jury, who has been tainted by: 3. the testimony of prior un proven un related bad acts and events, some of which come from another confessed drug dealer and some from the State's own im properly impeached witness.