Opinion ID: 782204
Heading Depth: 6
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Whether the Procedural Violation Actually Affected the Trial Court Ruling

Text: 91 In reaching the conclusion that the procedural bar was inadequate in Lee, the Supreme Court relied in part upon the fact that the lack of compliance with the procedural rule at issue was not mentioned in the trial court as a reason to deny Lee's motion for continuance. This rationale — whether the alleged procedural violation was actually relied on in the trial court — is less applicable in this case because the lack of a contemporaneous objection would not, almost by definition, be mentioned by the trial court. Thus this factor does not weigh as heavily in favor of Cotto as it did for Lee. 92 However, as to whether perfect compliance with the state rule would have changed the trial court's decision, there are similarities between the circumstances in this case and Lee. Here, the trial court was certainly aware of defense counsel's desire to cross-examine Echevarria, given counsel's statement that to not allow me to cross-examine Mr. Echevarria on any or all of his background ... is really totally completely unfair at the beginning of the Sirois hearing, and the court's own written and oral ruling precluding such cross-examination at the close of the hearing. Cotto was precluded from cross-examining Echevarria because the trial court determined that cross-examination would serve no truth-seeking purpose, and because the trial court concluded that our prior decision in Aguiar indicated that Cotto had forfeited any opportunity to cross-examine Echevarria through his misconduct. Thus, if defense counsel had repeated her pre-hearing objection, that it would be unfair to not allow cross-examination of Echevarria altogether, after the trial court's ruling, there is no reason to believe that the trial court would have changed its mind. 13 93 On the other hand, the likely impact of a timely objection involves a certain degree of speculation. Indeed, the purpose of the contemporaneous objection rule is to give the trial court a clear opportunity to correct any error. Although requiring an additional objection after the trial court made its waiver ruling may not have changed matters, it is possible that defense counsel, either before the hearing began or during the course of the hearing, could have argued to the trial court that Aguiar did not stand for the proposition that cross-examination of a testifying witness was forfeited through misconduct. Through argument, or perhaps a request for an opportunity to brief the issue, the trial court may well have come to a different conclusion. Therefore, although we agree with petitioner's basic argument that this is not a case where a party failed to apprise the trial court of the ruling sought, we do not think that this factor weighs as heavily in Cotto's favor as it did for the petitioner in Lee.