Opinion ID: 2296202
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Cross-Examination of Edgardo Madrid

Text: The defendant's second claim of error is that the trial justice impermissibly restricted his right to cross-examine Edgardo, the victim, about his past marijuana use. Although the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution and article 1, section 10, of the Rhode Island Constitution guarantees a defendant the right to cross-examination, Davis v. Alaska, 415 U.S. 308, 94 S.Ct. 1105, 39 L.Ed.2d 347 (1974), that right is not unlimited. State v. Brennan, 526 A.2d 483, 488 (R.I.1987). Irrelevant questions and lines of questioning that offer to produce no probative evidence need not be permitted by the trial justice and may be properly limited. Id. Additionally, [l]imiting the extent and scope of cross-examination is within the sound discretion of the trial justice, and any such ruling by a trial justice will be left undisturbed by this court absent a showing of clear abuse of that discretion. State v. Veluzat, 578 A.2d 93, 95 (R.I.1990). On cross-examination, defense counsel asked Edgardo, the victim, whether Frank Chacon (Chacon), one of the other passengers in the car with Edgardo on July 9, 1993, had been drinking on the day in question. Edgardo responded that he did not recall. Defense counsel then introduced Edgardo's prior testimony that had been given at Dume's earlier Family Court hearing in an attempt to refresh his memory. That prior testimony indicated that Chacon had not been drinking on July 9, 1993. Part of that prior testimony, however, included a statement by Edgardo that [a]ll the ones that with me I'm the only one has used marijuana. The prosecution promptly objected to the reference to Edgardo's past marijuana use because it was irrelevant. The trial justice sustained that objection. Later, on recross-examination, Edgardo was asked, [D]o you take drugs? and Edgardo responded, [N]o. Defense counsel then attempted to impeach him by introducing evidence that when he was admitted to the hospital on July 9, 1993, Edgardo, in providing his medical history, had told a nurse or doctor that he had used drugs in the past. The prosecutor objected, and the trial justice sustained that objection. The trial justice determined and concluded that Edgardo's medical history would not provide him with any relevant evidence because it did not suggest that Edgardo had used drugs on July 9, 1993, [2] and was not inconsistent with his trial testimony. [T]he findings of fact of a trial justice sitting without a jury are accorded great deference. Rowland Family Trust v. Pelletier, 673 A.2d 1081, 1083 (R.I.1996)(quoting State v. Shatney, 572 A.2d 872, 876 (R.I.1990)). See also State v. McKone, 673 A.2d 1068, 1075 (R.I.1996). Accordingly, since the purported drug use referenced in the medical history and sought to be introduced by the defense was not inconsistent with Edgardo's prior trial testimony and because there was no evidence whatsoever that Edgardo had taken drugs on July 9, 1993, or at any other time thereabouts, such that the drug use would have affected his ability to observe and recall accurately the events on the day when he was shot, we find no error in the trial justice's ruling precluding the introduction of Edgardo's medical history.