Opinion ID: 1985147
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Limitation of Voorhees' Cellmate's Testimony

Text: Voorhees also argues that the district court erred in precluding the testimony of the person who was Voorhees' cellmate from approximately November 15, 1996 until approximately February 19, 1997. Voorhees asserts that the cellmate would have testified about his observations of Voorhees' demeanor and physical characteristics in jail both while Voorhees was taking some medication that was given to him from the jail's medication cart and after Voorhees stopped taking this medication. It is undisputed that the cellmate did not have personal knowledge about what medication Voorhees took from the medication cart, would have relied on hearsay statements to establish what medication Voorhees was taking, and had no medical background on which to base his assessment of Voorhees' demeanor. The court considered arguments from both sides, then ruled that the cellmate's testimony would be precluded, finding the evidence irrelevant because it was too remote in both time and space from the killing and was nonprobative in that the cellmate was not in a position to testify, from a medical standpoint, what drugs Voorhees was taking or what effects and impact there would be on Voorhees from taking the drugs. We conclude that the district court acted well within its discretion when it ruled that the cellmate could not testify and that, thus, reversal on this ground is not warranted.