Opinion ID: 1940768
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Failure of the Court to Prohibit the Witness, Harold Meyers, Jr., from Testifying.

Text: Defendant urges that the trial court committed reversible error in permitting the witness, Harold Meyers, Jr., to testify for the State. The basis of this claim is that Meyers admitted that he had committed perjury during an earlier proceeding which ended in a mistrial. The basis of the perjury at the earlier trial was a written statement which Meyers had given to defendant's counsel disclaiming knowledge of certain events. After Meyers testified concerning those events at the prior trial, he was confronted with the statement and denied that he had given it. He later admitted that such denial was deliberately false. At the second trial, Meyers testified to the same events, admitted that he had given the statement in question to defendant's counsel, but denied that statement was correct. The facts surrounding Meyers' perjury at the former trial were fully developed before the jury. Based on the facts stated, the court of appeals concluded there was no basis for the district court to prohibit Meyers from testifying. He purported to have knowledge of the facts and his credibility was an issue for the jury. We agree. The district court did not err in permitting him to testify. As a corollary to his challenge to Meyers' testimony, defendant argues that counsel for the State should have been disqualified from participating in the second trial. The basis for that claim at the time it was advanced in the district court was that defendant intended to call counsel for the State as witnesses at the second trial in order to develop the nature of Meyers' perjury at the first trial. As we have noted, Meyers' perjury at the first trial was completely unfolded before the jury without the necessity of involving counsel for the State. Defendant made no effort to call the State's counsel as witnesses at the second trial. Consequently, the factual basis for defendant's motion to disqualify their participation never developed.