Opinion ID: 1455790
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: admission of calendars

Text: During cross-examination by defense counsel, the complaining witness was asked where she had been the night before the alleged assault by the appellant. She was unable to recall, and mentioned that she had brought with her a calendar which could be checked. At the request of defense counsel, she produced the calendar. It consisted of a large sheet marked in squares for the days of February and March, 1974, within which squares, according to the testimony of the complaining witness and her husband, they had written down their appointments, social engagements and the like. In response to subsequent questions on both direct and cross-examination, the complaining witness and her husband described entries on the calendar. In some instances the testimony was confined to the description of the entry. In other instances, the witness testified that the event described in the entry had occurred. Thus, the calendar entries came before the court both as past recollection recorded and for the purpose of refreshing the memory of the witness in order that he or she might testify from present recollection. Later in the trial, another similar calendar was produced covering the months of October, November and December, 1973. The complaining witness and her husband were questioned with reference to their activities on certain days, with their attention directed to this calendar. Their answer was from present recollection and a description of the calendar entries was given by them. Both calendars were admitted in evidence over the objection of defendant. With respect to the calendar for February and March, the objection was that it's past recollection recorded since the witness, both he and his wife, testified as to the matters which are contained therein. With respect to the calendar for October, November and December, defendant renewed these grounds of objection by referring to his objection to the admission of the first calendar. The appellant now contends that the calendars were used only to refresh the recollection of the witnesses and were inadmissible as evidence. The appellant distinguishes those documents which qualify as past recollection recorded, which the appellant concedes are admissible when the witness cannot directly state the facts from present memory and the authenticity and reliability of the document is satisfactorily established. 3 Wigmore, Evidence § 754 (Chadbourn rev. 1970). A writing which is used to refresh the recollection of a witness, it is said by Wigmore, differs from a record of past recollection in being in no strict sense evidence, so that the offering party has no right to have the jury see it although the opponent may show it to the jury and the jury may demand it. Ibid, § 763. With respect to these rules, Wigmore has this to say: Courts should cease to treat them as anything but provisional and crude aids to truth. The trial court's discretion should be allowed to control. There should be liberal interpretation and liberal exemption. And a ruling of admission should seldom, if ever, be deemed as error worth noting on appeal. Ibid, § 755. While the appellant has argued that, even if some of the calendar entries were admissible, the admission of the calendars in their totality was error, this objection was not raised in the trial court and will not be considered on appeal, Low v. Honolulu Rapid Transit Co., 50 Haw. 582, 445 P.2d 372 (1968). The appellant objected to the admission of the calendars solely upon the ground that they were past recollection recorded and inadmissible because the witnesses had testified as to the matters contained in them. At least as to the calendar for February and March, this objection was factually unsound, since a portion of the complaining witness' testimony consisted merely of describing the calendar entry, without testifying with respect to it from her present recollection. If any part of the calendar was admissible, which this entry would appear to have been even under the appellant's present contentions, it was incumbent on the appellant to identify those portions which should be excluded and the blanket objection to the calendar's admission was properly overruled by the trial court. The calendar for October, November and December, however, was used only to refresh the recollection of the complaining witness and her husband. There are circumstances in which the prior consistent statement of a witness may be offered to bolster the credibility of the witness. (4 Wigmore, Evidence § 1122 (Chadbourn rev. 1970)). Since the witness in such cases is also the declarant and is subject to cross-examination, the prior consistent statement is not hearsay and is not properly excluded on that ground. A prior consistent statement of a witness who has merely testified in direct examination, without impeachment, is ordinarily excluded because it is unnecessary and valueless. Ibid, § 1124. However, a witness who has been impeached may be rehabilitated by showing prior consistent statements. McCormick suggests that even if impeachment of a witness amounts only to an imputation of inaccurate memory, the consistent statement made when the event was recent and the memory fresh should be received in support. McCormick, Evidence § 49 (2d ed. 1972), quoted with approval in Applebaum v. American Export Isbrandtsen Lines, 472 F.2d 56, 61 (2d Cir.1972). Both the Federal Rules of Evidence and the Uniform Rules of Evidence, in Rule 801(d)(1), exclude from the bar of the hearsay rule a prior consistent statement of a witness which is offered to rebut an express or implied charge against him of recent fabrication or improper influence or motive. There is division of opinion throughout this field of law, but we are satisfied that both reason and the modern trend of authority support the admission in evidence of the calendars about which the complaining witness and her husband were examined and cross-examined in this case. Defense counsel made extensive use of the calendars in cross-examination, in an obvious effort to discover a discrepancy between the calendar entries and the testimony given in trial. It was apparent that the purpose of the cross-examination with respect to the calendars was to implant in the minds of the jurors a doubt that the witnesses were correctly relating past events. The fact that the attempt was not particularly successful did not foreclose the prosecution from taking the logical step of supporting the witnesses against these attacks by placing the calendars before the jury. Where the judge construes a line of questioning to be directed towards impugning the memory of a witness, then he will allow a consistent statement made when the event was recent and memory fresh to be received in support. United States v. Keller, 145 F. Supp. 692, 697, (D.N.J. 1956). Having been properly admitted to support the witnesses, the calendars were properly treated as substantive evidence. McCormick, op. cit. § 251.