Opinion ID: 2162655
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Was it error for the trial court to refuse to permit cross-examination of the state's juvenile witness as to his criminal record?

Text: The question was asked of the juvenile witness: How many times have you been arrested and convicted of a crime? Objection was made to the question on the ground the witness was a juvenile. The objection was sustained. Juvenile records are not admissible into evidence in this state. [1] An adjudication of delinquency in the juvenile court is not a criminal conviction that can be used for impeachment of a state juvenile witness in a subsequent trial. [2] At the time of the motion for a new trial, defense counsel argued the question was proper since the seventeen-year-old witness could have an adult record if the juvenile court had ever waived its jurisdiction over him. There was no offer of proof in this regard at the time of the ruling on the objection. It was incumbent upon counsel to make such offer of proof as to the rejected testimony, not only for the purpose of advising the trial court so that it might know exactly what was being offered, but also to preserve the exception to the exclusion of the offered evidence on appeal. [3] Such offer of proof must be so specific as to leave no doubt as to what is intended. [4] Here there was no offer of proof making the point now pressed.