Opinion ID: 2049057
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Admission of Witness's Prior Inconsistent Statement

Text: Defendant argues that the trial court erred in admitting into evidence a witness's pre-trial statement to police. The State subpoenaed Tamelia Moore as a witness. On direct examination, she testified that on the night of the murder, she heard five gunshots, saw bursts of sparks or fire coming from the direction of the noise, and saw a group of people in that area run away. She claimed not to know whether defendant was one of those people. The State impeached her on this last point when Moore admitted having previously told police that she had seen the sparks come from in front of defendant and had seen him among the people who ran after the shooting. Moore admitted having given this information to police in a written statement she signed on the night of the shooting. On redirect examination, the pre-trial statement itself was admitted over defendant's objection that the State could not impeach its own witness and that the statement was cumulative as to her testimony. (R. at 311-15.) There was no hearsay objection and no request for a limiting instruction or admonition. The trial court's overruling of these contemporaneous trial objections is not reversible error. First, it was not error for the State to impeach its own witness. Evid. R. 607. Second, even if the statement itself was cumulative of the witness' testimony about the statement, we cannot say that the trial court abused its discretion in concluding that this was not a needless presentation of cumulative evidence. See Evid. R. 403. In any event, admission of the statement was harmless because the incriminating information in it was already before the jury either from the witness or defendant. See Evid. R. 103(a). To the extent that defendant objects to the admission of the statement on different grounds on appeal, those arguments are waived for failing to lodge a contemporaneous and specific objection at trial. Evid. R. 103(a)(1).