Opinion ID: 2321640
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Appellants' Request for a Limiting Instruction

Text: Appellants further argue that the trial court erred in refusing their request to give an immediate limiting instruction to the jury regarding the evaluation of impeachment evidence. We have held that [w]here there has been a request for a limiting instruction following the impeachment of a witness or the presentation of impeaching testimony and the use of the impeaching testimony as substantive evidence is potentially prejudicial, it is error for a trial court to refuse to give such an instruction. Brooks v. United States, 448 A.2d 253, 259 (D.C.1982) (citing Towles v. United States, 428 A.2d 836 (D.C.1981); Johnson v. United States, 387 A.2d 1084 (1978) (en banc)); see also Gilliam v. United States, 707 A.2d 784, 785 (D.C.1998). Arguably, the trial court erred in refusing appellants' request for a contemporaneous limiting instruction because Daniel Presley's prior statements during his interview with Poole were introduced for impeachment only, and the use of such statements as substantive evidence was potentially prejudicial to appellants' case because they tended to support CMR's version of events. However, assuming without finding error, we nevertheless conclude that the trial court's refusal to give the limiting instruction immediately was harmless because the court gave the requested instruction at the close of the evidence. We review the failure to give a requested limiting instruction to ascertain whether we can say with fair assurance that the verdict was not substantially swayed by the error. Gordon v. United States, 466 A.2d 1226, 1231 (D.C.1983) (citing Lucas v. United States, 436 A.2d 1282, 1284-85 (D.C.1981)). Appellants point to the jury's request for the interview transcript during deliberations as evidence that the jury thought the substance of Daniel Presley's prior statements was important. However, in light of the proceedings in this case, we can say here that the verdict was not substantially swayed by the error. Although it would have been preferable for the trial court to give the limiting instruction immediately when it was requested during trial, this error was mitigated when the court later gave a final jury instruction before deliberations serving the same purpose: the jury was to consider the prior statements solely to evaluate the credibility of Daniel Presley's testimony. See Byers v. United States, 649 A.2d 279, 285-86 (D.C.1994); cf. Mercer, supra, 864 A.2d at 118 (noting that we generally presume that the jury will follow the trial court's limiting instructions); Weeda v. District of Columbia, 521 A.2d 1156, 1163 (D.C.1987) (same). Moreover, the point was made again when the trial court responded to the jury's request for the transcript, emphasizing that Poole's interview with Daniel Presley was not evidence. Finally, CMR made no reference to Daniel Presley's statements during its closing arguments. Thus, we can say that the trial court's failure to give an immediate limiting instruction was harmless error.