Opinion ID: 2184885
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Instruction on Alibi Defense

Text: In their fourth point of appeal, the Robinsons argue that the trial court erred in failing to instruct the jury on their alibi defense. According to testimony at trial for the defense, Rose Robinson, Tony's mother and Terrance's grandmother, claimed that Terrance and Tony were with her on the night of the shooting and, therefore, they could not have been involved. On cross-examination, the prosecutor asked Rose about her son Darrell, who had been charged with murder in a separate matter years earlier, regarding whether Darrell's defense in that case was an alibi defense as well. She indicated that it was not, and that she had not testified in that case. There was no objection from the defense as to this line of questioning. However, at the close of the defense's case, defense counsel asked the court to instruct the jury that the case against Darrell was dismissed prior to trial by the prosecutor so that the jury would not mistakenly believe that Rose used the alibi defense for Darrell in his case. The trial court ultimately instructed the jury that there was no trial in Darrell's case. On appeal, however, the Robinsons argue that the trial court did not go far enough in instructing the jury that Rose never gave an alibi defense in that case because there was no trial. The State responds by arguing that this issue is not preserved for appeal because the defense's objection was not timely, the argument is not supported by legal authority or convincing argument, the requested instruction was not abstracted by the defense, and the judge gave an instruction to the jury that a trial was not held in Darrell's case, thus implying that no alibi defense could have been given anyway. This is an issue on which the contemporaneous-objection rule applies. This court will not consider arguments on appeal in the absence of a specific, contemporaneous objection at trial. See Johnson v. State, 342 Ark. 186, 27 S.W.3d 405 (2000). The purpose of the contemporaneous-objection rule is to give the trial court a fair opportunity to consider an allegation of error and to correct it, if the allegation is meritorious. See Brooks v. State, 256 Ark. 1059, 511 S.W.2d 654 (1974); Western Union Tel. Co. v. Freeman, 121 Ark. 124, 180 S.W. 743 (1915); Jones v. Seymour, 95 Ark. 593, 130 S.W. 560 (1910). In Hill v. State, 337 Ark. 219, 988 S.W.2d 487 (1999), for example, we held that the appellant's failure to make contemporaneous objections to the testimony of witnesses regarding his physically abusive conduct towards them prevented him from asserting error on appeal. Such is the case here in that while Rose's testimony is arguably objectionable due to the prosecutor's questions and implications, the defense failed to object to any of the questions or implications during Rose's testimony. In fact, the defense's request for a clarifying instruction did not arise until the close of the defense's case, after another seven witnesses testified. Furthermore, the trial court did give an instruction to the jury even without a contemporaneous objection, and this instruction cured any possible prejudice. However, even if it had not, it was incumbent upon the defense to proffer an instruction for this court's review. We have been constant in our requirement that counsel object and proffer an instruction in order to later appeal, and we have been hesitant to allow exceptions to this requirement. Willis v. State, 334 Ark. 412, 977 S.W.2d 890 (1998); Brown v. State, 320 Ark. 201, 895 S.W.2d 909 (1995). Therefore, although the defense appears to argue that the trial court's admonishing instruction was not sufficient to cure any error, the defense proffered no alternative at trial for the trial court to consider then or for this court to consider on review.