Opinion ID: 1910611
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Other Constitutional and Common Law Evidentiary Considerations

Text: The Sixth Amendment question is narrowed by the fact that there are other constitutional considerations, as well as common law rules of evidence, which  for the sake of reliability  impose limitations on such impeachment. It is appropriate, therefore, to discuss these other limitations first. The Supreme Court has held, for example, that a defendant's statement on a subject introduced for the first time on cross-examination cannot constitutionally be impeached with illegally obtained evidence. Agnello v. United States, 269 U.S. 20, 35, 46 S.Ct. 4, 70 L.Ed. 145 (1925) (evidence from illegal search and seizure could not be used to impeach defendant's statement on cross-examination that he had never seen cocaine); compare Walder v. United States, 347 U.S. 62, 66, 74 S.Ct. 354, 98 L.Ed. 503 (1954) (evidence of illegal search and seizure could be used to impeach defendant's denial, on direct examination, that he had never possessed narcotics). [36] Agnello and Walder considered a Fifth Amendment bar to impeachment, based on seizures unlawful under the Fourth Amendment; thus, they do not automatically shape Sixth Amendment analysis any more than Harris and Hass do. But given the Supreme Court's special concern for Sixth Amendment rights, see note 34 supra, Agnello casts a dark constitutional cloud on impeachment of a defendant's statement on cross-examination (on a subject raised for the first time) with testimony from an earlier mistrial based on ineffective assistance of counsel. There is another important variable. The circuit court in Harrison, supra, barred impeachment with prior testimony having a direct bearing on the events of the crime charged. In so ruling, however, the court distinguished with approval its line of cases, apropos of Walder, supra, upholding the constitutionality of impeachment with prior, inadmissible statements on collateral matters, i. e., matters unrelated to the crime charged. Id. 128 U.S.App.D.C. at 256, 387 F.2d at 214. [37] The common law rules of evidence project still another, somewhat different pattern. They generally permit impeachment with prior incriminating statements (or other evidence), whether the impeached testimony occurred on direct or cross-examination. E. g., Dane v. MacGregor, 94 N.H. 294, 52 A.2d 290 (1947); 3A Wigmore, Evidence § 1023 (Chadbourn rev. 1970). If the testimony pertains to a collateral matter, however, the questioner must accept the answer; no extrinsic, contrary proof ( e. g., prior trial testimony) is admissible. Kelly v. United States, D.C.Mun.App., 73 A.2d 232, 234 (1950), rev'd on other grounds, 90 U.S.App.D.C. 125, 194 F.2d 150 (1952); Lee v. United States, 125 U.S.App.D.C. 126, 128-29, 368 F.2d 834, 836-37 (1966); Ewing v. United States, 77 U.S.App.D.C. 14, 21, 135 F.2d 633, 640 (1942), cert. denied, 318 U.S. 776, 63 S.Ct. 829, 87 L.Ed. 1145 (1943). See 3A Wigmore, supra at §§ 1001, 1002, 1019. When we put these constitutional and evidentiary rules together, and consider impeachment at a second trial with a defendant's testimony from a previous trial where he or she lacked effective assistance of counsel, we conclude that: (1) if the subject of the statement to be impeached is elicited for the first time on cross-examination and is not a collateral issue, such impeachment is constitutionally suspect; (2) when statements on direct or cross-examination pertain to collateral issues, they can only be impeached through questioning, never with extrinsic evidence (such as the transcript from the prior trial); (3) there is a significant open question: whether, consistent with the Sixth Amendment, a prosecutor can use a defendant's testimony at a prior trial conducted without effective assistance of counsel to impeach that defendant's statement at a second trial, made on direct examination, that bears directly on the issue of guilt  Harrison analysis versus Harris and Hass.