Opinion ID: 669733
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Impeachment of Kyle Taylor

Text: 15 Similarly, the decision to call Kyle Taylor as a witness did not reflect a bad faith purpose. Taylor was an eyewitness to the events at Comer Cox Park. In statements after the incident he had corroborated every element of Anita Witherspoon's testimony. Shortly prior to the trial, however, Taylor indicated to the prosecution that he had changed his story and would now testify that the defendant did not have a gun. Otherwise his testimony would be consistent with his previous statements. Knowing this the prosecutor nevertheless called Taylor to testify. He testified that: the defendant and James Patterson were present in the park; James Patterson approached Witherspoon's car and removed $80.00; Witherspoon grabbed a machete and went to recover her money; and James Patterson pointed a gun at her. All of this testimony was consistent with and helpful to the government's case. Therefore we cannot conclude that the prosecutor called Taylor knowing he would not provide useful evidence; she called him knowing that he would corroborate vast portions of Witherspoon's testimony. 16 Taylor did testify, as he indicated he would, that the defendant did not have a gun. This was admittedly not useful to the government's case. It does not, however, negate the usefulness of the other testimony Taylor provided. The most that we can say about Taylor as a witness is that he provided testimony that was both helpful and harmful at the same time. In such a case the prosecutor is allowed to call the witness and discredit the harmful testimony with prior inconsistent statements if possible. See United States v. Kane, 944 F.2d 1406, 1412 (7th Cir.1991) (When a government witness provides evidence both helpful and harmful to the prosecution, the government should not be forced to choose between the Scylla of foregoing impeachment and the Charybdis of not calling the witness at all.). 7 17