Opinion ID: 1879499
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: the trial court erred in refusing defense instruction a-7, a testimony impeachment instruction.

Text: The proposed instruction at issue which was denied by the lower court judge was basically an impeachment instruction. It reads as follows: JURY INSTRUCTION NO. A-7 The Court instructs the jury that the testimony of a witness may be discredited or impeached by showing that on a prior occasion they have made a statement which is inconsistent [sic] or contradictory statement must involve a matter which is material to the issues in this case. A prior statement of the witness or witnesses can be considered by you only for the purpose of determining the weight or believeability [sic] that you give to the testimony of the witness or witnesses that made them. You may not consider the prior statements as proving the guilt or innocence of the accused. The Ferrills argue that Cuz was a key witness and that his testimony at trial was impeached by his prior inconsistent sworn statement in which he reported that the Ferrills had no involvement with the drug transaction. As such, they assert that an impeachment instruction was warranted and the lower court erred in refusing the proposed instruction. We agree. In a recent case before this Court, McGee v. State, 608 So.2d 1129 (Miss. 1992), we held that the lower court erred in refusing to grant a proposed jury instruction. That instruction contained language concerning the credibility of impeached witnesses which is nearly identical to the language of proposed instruction A-7 in the case sub judice. In McGee, the defense characterized prior statements of a prosecution witness as inconsistent with the trial testimony. Accordingly, on appeal, the defendant/appellant argued that the trial judge should have submitted an impeachment instruction to the jury which he proffered at trial. That proposed instruction stated that: The testimony of a witness or witnesses may be discredited or impeached by showing that on a prior occasion they have made a statement which is consistent with or contradictory to their testimony in this case. In order to have this effect, the inconsistent or contradictory prior statement must involve a matter which is material to the issues in this case. [T]he prior statement of the witness or witnesses can be considered by you only for the purpose of determining the weight or believability that you give to the testimony of the witness or witnesses that made them. You may not consider the prior statement as proving the guilt or innocence of the defendant. Id. at 1134. As is readily apparent, there is little difference between the language of the proposed instruction in the case sub judice, and the language of the instruction which this Court held as error for the lower court to refuse to submit to the jury in McGee. Regardless, even without the precedential authority of McGee, the facts of the case sub judice warrant submission of the impeachment instruction to the jury. The prior inconsistent statement was read to Cuz while he was on the witness stand, and he admitted making the statement under oath. That prior statement was directly contradictory to his testimony at trial, and Cuz's trial testimony was significant to the prosecution's case. Consequently, the jury should have been instructed that Cuz's testimony could be impeached by a prior inconsistent statement and that such a statement could be considered by the jury in determining the credibility or believability of Cuz's testimony. Therefore, the lower court's denial of proposed instruction A-7 had the effect of prejudicing the defense. In McGee, we discussed the standard which the trial court should follow when confronting the issue of the propriety of refusing a proffered jury instruction, stating that: In Hill v. Dunaway, 487 So.2d 807 (Miss. 1986), this Court held: The refusal of a timely requested and correctly phrased jury instruction on a genuine issue of material fact is proper, only if the trial court  and this Court on appeal  can say, taking the evidence in the light most favorable to the party requesting the instruction, and considering all reasonable favorable inferences which may be drawn from the evidence in favor of the requesting party, that no hypothetical, reasonable jury could find the facts in accordance with the theory of the requested instruction. McGee v. State, 608 So.2d 1129, 1134 (Miss. 1992) (emphasis added  citation omitted). Cf. Hall v. State, 250 Miss. 253, 165 So.2d 345 (1964). Other than Cuz's trial testimony, there was little concrete evidence which indicated that Mark or Roxanne asked Cuz to act as a courier and to sell the marijuana to Wall. Therefore, taking the evidence in the light most favorable to Mark and Roxanne, and considering all reasonable favorable inferences which may be drawn in their favor, we cannot say that a hypothetical, reasonable jury could not find the facts as suggested by the defense in the jury instruction at issue  that Cuz's trial testimony was not believable, and his prior sworn statement exculpating Mark and Roxanne was true. If the jury had been properly instructed regarding the discrediting or impeachment of Cuz's testimony at trial, they may have chosen to give little weight to that testimony or disbelieve it altogether. As a consequence, we are compelled to conclude that it was improper for the lower court to refuse proposed impeachment instruction A-7.