Opinion ID: 1509822
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The Denial of Recross-Examination

Text: Appellant claims that the trial court erred in refusing to allow his counsel to recross-examine Vanessa Johnson, a government witness who testified about the encounter at the school. The governing legal principles are clear. There is no right to recross-examine a witness, provided the scope of any redirect examination is limited to matters raised on cross-examination. Green v. United States, 718 A.2d 1042, 1061 (D.C.1998) (citation omitted). In addition, [w]hether to allow recross-examination is left to the trial court's `broad discretion.' Id. (citation omitted). Consequently, a decision either to allow or to prohibit recross-examination is reviewed only for abuse of discretion. Id. at 1061-1062. On direct examination the prosecutor asked Ms. Johnson how she felt while the incident was going on. She replied, I felt that I was ready to be involved in some sort of conflict between [appellant and Ms. Hall], and I was thinking of me then. Later, on redirect, the prosecutor asked Ms. Johnson if she felt threatened by appellant, and she said, Yes. Defense counsel then sought permission to ask her on recross whether appellant had actually threatened her, but the court denied the request, saying, I do not allow recross unless something startling has come up in redirect, and nothing startling or new has come out in redirect. . . . The court noted that defense counsel had had an opportunity to ask such a question earlier on cross-examination, but had not done so. On this record we find no abuse of discretion. After the witness, on direct examination, expressed concern for her own safety, defense counsel could have asked her on cross-examination whether appellant had actually threatened her. But he failed to do so. Since he had no right to recross-examination at all, we see no abuse of discretion in the court's refusal to allow this particular question after counsel had let his earlier opportunity slip by. See Hilton v. United States, 435 A.2d 383, 389 (D.C.1981); Singletary v. United States, 383 A.2d 1064, 1073 (D.C.1978).