Opinion ID: 1851305
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Alleged unfair exclusion of evidence.

Text: The specific complaint raised by this third argued issue is based upon assignment of error no. 5. The rulings designated as erroneous by that assignment denied the defendant the opportunity to cross-examine the arresting police officer as to the reasons he had arrested the defendant Tallie (i. e., the information received from a confidential informant that Tallie had committed an armed robbery) and as to the basis of the affidavit by which the search warrant was secured (i. e., information that the weapons and bandannas used in the armed robbery were at the Overby residence). The trial court sustained state objections to cross-examination of a police witness as to these issues. The substance of the complaint is that thereby, the jury was misled into believing that the initial arrest and search warrant were on the basis of the present burglary rather than (merely!) of an armed robbery entirely distinct from the present burglary. The trial court correctly ruled that, at the trial on the merits of innocence or guilt, no issue relevant to this case was raised by the probable-cause reasons for the defendant's initial arrest or for the admission into evidence of physical evidence previously ruled admissible at a hearing on a motion to suppress it. See, e. g., State v. Mitchell, 278 So.2d 48 (La.1973). Despite the accused's complaint, we further find no prejudice caused him by the rulings. To the contrary, the state courted reversible error if it had sought to introduce the affidavit containing allegations that the defendant had committed an unrelated other crime, or hearsay testimony that a confidential informer had so reported. See: La.R.S. 15:445, 446; State v. Meshell, 332 So.2d 767 (La.1976); State v. Thompson, 331 So.2d 848 (La.1976). Even indirect reference by a prosecutor to an unrelated crime alleged to have been committed by the accused, is regarded as so prejudicial to an accused as to mandate mistrial. La.C.Cr.P. art. 770(2); State v. Meshell , cited above. The rulings were therefore also justified as preventing injection into the trial of an essentially irrelevant side-issue to the prejudice of the accused. [2] We find no merit in the contentions raised by this issue.