Opinion ID: 1888901
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Sustaining Objections to Cross-Examination Questions Directed to a State's Witness

Text: Wright also argues on appeal that the trial justice violated his constitutional right to present a full and fair defense, to due process of law, and to a fundamentally fair trial by completely excluding the presentation of evidence critical to his defense that a third party was responsible for the murder. According to the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution [4] and to article 1, section 10, of the Rhode Island Constitution, [5] individuals accused of a crime have the right to confront and to cross-examine the witnesses against them and to present evidence on their own behalf during their trials. Due process requires that every defendant have a full opportunity to establish the best and fullest defense available to him [or her]. State v. Patriarca, 112 R.I. 14, 37-38, 308 A.2d 300, 315 (1973). Wright specifically alleges that while his attorney was cross-examining a police detective, the trial justice precluded him from attempting to show that the surveillance tape of the apartment-building's lobby revealed the presence of certain other individuals at the crime scene during the same period when the victim was murdered and that some of these individuals also had criminal records, thereby suggesting that someone besides Wright may have been the killer. Upon cross-examination of the detective, who was testifying as a witness for the prosecution, Wright's counsel began to ask him about the surveillance tape and what it showed vis-à-vis the presence of other individuals in the lobby besides the victim and defendant. He asked these questions despite the fact that the jury had neither heard nor seen these other portions of the tape during the direct examination of this witness or during any other portion of the trial. Defense counsel apparently wanted, through this witness, to establish on cross-examination that other residents of the apartment building included various substance abusers, probationers, and ex-convicts, and that the tape showed that some of them were present in the lobby at or about the time of the murder. He also sought to show that a certain apartment resident, one Mr. Stanley Green, who was on probation at the time, [6] could be observed on the tape while he was entering the building at 11 p.m. and departing at 1:13 a.m., and that this occurred only a mere sixteen minutes after Hill had arrived at the building. In explaining the state's objection, the prosecutor stated that Wright also had a criminal record and, most importantly, the police found the pocketbook in Wright's home  not in Mr. Green's. The trial justice said that he would respond individually to each question and objection during the cross-examination, and indicated that he did not think that the fact that [Green] ha[d] a criminal record ma[de] him necessarily a murderer. Wright's attorney then inquired whether he could ask the detective if Green was a suspect, but the trial justice said that would be an attempt to create a smoke screen. The trial justice also sustained the state's objection to Wright's attorney questioning the detective about other individuals with criminal records who lived in the apartment building, whereupon defense counsel proceeded to take up another line of questioning. No offer of proof was forthcoming concerning the expected answers to this line of questioning, and defendant failed to raise the issue again. Nor did he seek to introduce such evidence as part of his case in chief. It goes without saying that an appropriate defense to a charge of criminal misconduct is that another person was the true perpetrator of the crime. See State v. Wiley, 567 A.2d 802, 806 (R.I.1989). In this case, however, the court's decision to sustain the state's objection to various questions about the alleged presence in the lobby of Mr. Green and other individuals allegedly shown on the surveillance tape occurred when defendant's attorney was cross-examining a prosecution witness. The scope of cross-examination is not unlimited and the questioning is subject to the sound discretion of the trial justice. State v. Brennan, 526 A.2d 483, 488 (R.I.1987). Inquiries that are potentially misleading or irrelevant, that offer little or no probative value, or that exceed the scope of the direct examination are objectionable. Id. When defense counsel seeks in cross-examination to open up new avenues of inquiry concerning the possible [ability and]motive of a third party to commit the crime of which the defendant is accused, the trial justice may properly exclude such evidence as a collateral matter  unless defendant makes an offer of proof showing the third person's opportunity to perpetrate the crime and a proximate connection between that person's presence on the scene and the actual commission of the crime. Brennan, 526 A.2d at 488 (citing State v. Gazerro, 420 A.2d 816, 825 (R.I.1980)). But evidence of a third person's potential motive or opportunity to commit the crime must not lead to jury speculation nor improperly open up collateral matters. Gazerro, 420 A.2d at 825. Because defendant in this case failed to make an offer of proof and failed to introduce any evidence tending to show that, notwithstanding what the tape and the pocketbook's presence in his mother's home revealed about defendant's involvement with the victim, Green still could have committed the murder, the trial justice did not abuse his discretion in sustaining the state's objection to his attorney's attempt to cross-examine the detective on that subject matter. At side bar all defendant did was explain that his questions were intended to elicit from the detective what type of individuals resided in the apartment building. But not only did these questions exceed the scope of the direct examination, but also defense counsel failed to lay a foundation for this line of questioning to show that the detective was aware of this information. Although the trial justice sustained the objections to the questions propounded to the detective about other individuals who were living in the apartment building when the murder occurred, defendant still had the opportunity to fully cross-examine the detective on other points and to introduce evidence on this very subject during his direct case by either recalling this witness or through other witnesses. A trial justice has wide discretion in ordering the proof and in limiting the extent of cross-examinations. State v. Tempest, 651 A.2d 1198, 1212 (R.I.1995) (citing State v. Lamoureux, 623 A.2d 9, 14 (R.I.1993)); see also State v. Botelho, 753 A.2d 343, 345-46 (R.I.2000) (explaining that, in presenting a full and fair defense, an effective cross-examination is an essential element and is a right guaranteed by the State and Federal Constitutions) (citing State v. Veluzat, 578 A.2d 93, 94 (R.I.1990)). This exercise of discretion is not reviewable except for clear abuse, and only if it constitutes prejudicial error. Tempest, 651 A.2d at 1212 (citing State v. Anthony, 422 A.2d 921, 924 (R.I. 1980)). Clear abuse occurs when a defendant is prejudiced because his or her attorney is not allowed to engage in what is otherwise an appropriate line of cross-examination. Id. (citing Delaware v. Van Arsdall, 475 U.S. 673, 680, 106 S.Ct. 1431, 1436, 89 L.Ed.2d 674, 684 (1986)). We are persuaded that the trial justice in this case did not abuse his discretion when he restricted the cross-examination as he did. The defendant's right of confrontation was not violated. The defendant had the opportunity to elicit the information he wanted to obtain from the detective by calling him on his direct case or through some other witness. Thus, the defendant was not precluded from introducing this evidence at the trial. In addition, at the pretrial hearing defense counsel simply explained that he needed more time to investigate Green's alleged criminal activities, but he failed to pursue this matter. [7] Finally, the defendant failed to make an offer of proof concerning what evidence he would have elicited if he were allowed to question the witness on this subject. For these reasons, we hold, the trial justice did not commit reversible error in sustaining the state's objection to this line of questioning during the cross-examination of the detective and that this ruling did not deny the defendant the opportunity to present a full and fair defense.