Opinion ID: 1563959
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: Cross-Examination of Dr. Merikangas as Due Process Violation

Text: Appellant next argues that the Commonwealth violated Appellant's due process rights when the Commonwealth posed the following question to Dr. Merikangas on cross-examination: Well, what if [Appellant] on that date would have said that he wasn't hearing voices, I just hate blacks, wouldn't that be important for you to know? N.T. Trial, 5/4/01, at 1500. Appellant contends that this question violates his due process rights because the question lacked a good faith basis in the evidence, citing Commonwealth v. Smith, 580 Pa. 392, 861 A.2d 892, 896 (2004). In Smith, we reversed a death sentence and remanded for a new penalty hearing because the prosecutor, during the penalty phase of trial, referenced the fact that the appellant had been convicted of assaulting a fellow prisoner with a weapon in order to establish that the appellant posed a danger to the prison population. However, no competent evidence had been introduced at trial establishing the fact of this conviction. We determined that an examination of the record revealed that the error was not harmless. [14] Here, Appellant argues that he is entitled to a new trial on guilt because the prosecutor's question assumed a fact not in evidence, to wit, that Appellant had told Dr. Wettstein that he did not have hallucinations but merely hated blacks. At the very most, the Commonwealth's cross-examination of Dr. Merikangas may have suggested, by this one question, that Dr. Wettstein, like Dr. Welner, had determined that Appellant had killed the victims because of his racist views rather than while suffering from a mental disease sufficient to rise to the level of insanity. Thus, the Commonwealth's question arguably assumed a fact not in evidence. However, Appellant never objected to the question, except to the extent that he had previously objected to the Commonwealth's general line of questioning that referenced Dr. Wettstein, which objection was based on the trial court's pre-trial ruling that the Commonwealth could not have access to Dr. Wettstein's report or records. Appellant never lodged an objection specifically to the question at issue, nor did he lodge one on the grounds that the Commonwealth's questions assumed a fact not in evidence or were violative of Appellant's due process rights. Accordingly, we determine that this issue is waived. See May, supra at 761 (holding that the absence of a specific contemporaneous objection renders the appellant's claim waived).