Opinion ID: 1246237
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: impeachment of character or credibility on moral grounds

Text: The majority, contrary to the weight of modern authority, however, would allow testimony of former drug usage to impeach the defendant's character where there has been a minimal offer of good character evidence by the defense. This, of course, does not relate to the capacity component, but to the moral component of character impeachment, i.e., the witness' truthfulness or mendacity. See 3A J. Wigmore, supra at §§ 920-30. But the majority, I think, has proven too much. It has conceded that there is no established link between drug addiction and the witness' proclivity for truthtelling. Nor does there exist in established jurisprudence the suggested alternative and more restrictive ground of character impeachment as all impeachment on moral grounds is necessarily directed and limited to whether or not the witness is telling the truth. 3A J. Wigmore, supra at §§ 920-23; C. McCormick, supra at §§ 41-42. In the case at bar, moral character evidence of former drug usage has no relevance upon the question of the witness' credibility, and thus has no function in proper character impeachment. I must conclude, therefore, that evidence of former drug usage with the accompanying correlative social opprobrium it evinces has no proven relationship to a witness' capacity or moral inclination for truthtelling. Unscientifically established admissions of this nature place before the jury evidence of unrelated misconduct which will inevitably tend to prejudice the defendant in the eyes of jurors. I would exclude all such evidence for the purposes of character impeachment, unless: (1) expert testimony establishes a probable effect upon a witness' capacity for truthtelling, accord, Fields v. State, 487 P.2d 831 (Alas. 1971); People v. Ortega, 2 Cal. App.3d 884, 83 Cal. Rptr. 260 (1969), or; (2) some relevance is established involving the witness' credibility in the matter being litigated.