Opinion ID: 1657508
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Whether the trial court erred in failing to allow McBride the opportunity to present rebuttal testimony.

Text: At trial, McBride attempted to present the testimony of Ricky Herndon, one of his co-workers, to rebut the testimony of Mike Herndon that McBride had been standing too close to the operation. Ricky Herndon would presumably have testified, as he did in his deposition, that McBride was not standing too close to the operation. Chevron objected, noting that McBride had known of this testimony prior to trial and could have presented this testimony during his case-in-chief. The trial judge agreed with Chevron and did not allow this testimony, expressing concerns about the length of the trial. An abuse of discretion standard applies to this Court's review of the trial judge's decision not to allow rebuttal testimony. Gilmore v. McGill, Inc., 491 So.2d 863, 866 (Miss. 1986). McBride asks this Court to remand for the presentation of testimony of which he had knowledge prior to trial and could have presented in his case-in-chief. McBride also had knowledge prior to trial of the deposition of Mike Herndon, in which Mike stated that McBride had been standing too close to the operation, and as such, McBride should have had knowledge of the likelihood that this issue would arise at trial. It can not be said that the trial judge abused his discretion in not allowing this rebuttal testimony, and this assignment of error is therefore rejected.