Opinion ID: 1662010
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: testimony of mary james

Text: During the trial, Ed Vancil, one of three members of the Dallas County Board of Registrars, testified for Lide regarding the computer records of registered voters in Dallas County. Vancil testified that he was the only member of the board trained to operate the computer and that he was, therefore, responsible for maintaining the computer records. Thereafter, Williams, during his case in chief, attempted to call Mary James to testify that as part of her duties as a clerk in the Dallas County probate judge's office she made entries on the computer records of registered voters when instructed to do so by various authorities and ... when the board of registrars [was] not in session. Upon Lide's objection to James's testimony, the trial court determined that the best evidence as to the computer records of registered voters would be a computer-generated, voter registration list. It further determined that Vancil, as a member of the board of registrars, and not James, was the appropriate person to generate the list, and it ordered that he do so. Williams argues on appeal that the trial court erred in concluding that Vancil was the appropriate person to generate the list of registered voters. A trial court has great discretion in determining the admissibility of evidence, and its rulings will not be reversed on appeal absent an abuse of discretion. Williams v. Hughes Moving & Storage Co., 578 So.2d 1281, 1285 (Ala.1991); Roberts v. Public Cemetery of Cullman, Inc., 569 So.2d 369, 373 (Ala.1990). Sections 17-4-129 and 17-4-130 establish the board of registrars as the appropriate entity to prepare a list of all qualified and registered electors. Mary James testified, regarding her involvement in entering names on the computer-generated voter list, that she received instructions from the Dallas County Commission and from the board of registrars. She also acknowledged that the probate judge derives the voting list from the board of registrars. Accordingly, the trial court did not abuse its discretion in ruling that Vancil should generate the computer list of registered voters and that the list he generated should serve as the best evidence of the computer records of registered voters in Dallas County. Williams also argues that the trial court abused its discretion by excluding James's testimony, because, Williams says, it was offered to impeach Vancil and was proper for that purpose. Although Williams may have offered James's testimony to impeach Vancil, he elicited no testimony from James to establish any grounds for impeachment. In Shepherd v. Southern Ry., 288 Ala. 50, at 60-61, 256 So.2d 883, at 892 (1970), this Court stated that impeaching testimony is designed to discredit a witness by showing why faith should not be accorded to his testimony and that it consists of evidence attacking the character, motives, integrity, or veracity of the witness. The trial court did not abuse its discretion in excluding James's testimony, because it did not establish any of the grounds for impeachment.