Opinion ID: 1228511
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: police witnesses as defendants in pending civil lawsuit

Text: Within the third issue raised on appeal, defendant Pack asserts it was reversible error for the trial court to exclude relevant testimony, to show motive and interest for purposes of impeachment, that certain police witnesses offered by the prosecution were defendants in a pending civil false-arrest lawsuit. In our view, the prohibition by the trial court of this mode of cross-examination and impeachment was proper. Defendant Pack did not show, as is usually required, that the pending civil action involved either the same parties, the same facts, or the same acts constituting the offense at Bar. 98 C.J.S. Witnesses § 560m. Further, the scope of extended cross-examination tending to show bias or interest rests largely in the sound discretion of the trial court, and we can see no abuse of that discretion here. People v. Taylor, Colo., 545 P.2d 703 (1976); People v. Simmons, 182 Colo. 350, 513 P.2d 193 (1973); and State v. Wills, 3 Wash. App. 643, 476 P.2d 711 (1970). The pendency of the civil lawsuit was too remote a factor to show any bias or prejudice on the part of the testifying officers.