Opinion ID: 529953
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Cross Examination of Furst's Character Witnesses

Text: 111 Prior to calling his character witnesses Furst moved the district court to limit the scope of their cross examination. Specifically, Furst sought to ensure that cross examination of witnesses testifying as to their opinions of Furst's character, as opposed to witnesses testifying as to his reputation, would be limited to inquiries relating to the period prior to indictment. The district court refused to limit the scope of the cross examination. As a result Furst limited his direct examination of these witnesses to their opinions of Furst as of the time prior to Furst's indictment. 112 On appeal Furst argues that he was entitled to greater latitude in his direct examination of his character witnesses without expanding the scope for prospective cross examination. As stated above, a district court's rulings on the permissible scope of cross examination may only be reversed for an abuse of discretion. See United States v. Apfelbaum, 621 F.2d at 65. Moreover, in rulings on character evidence the district court has wide discretion. 113 At the outset on this issue we distinguish character witnesses' testimony regarding reputation from testimony of opinions relating to character. Under the Federal Rules of Evidence these remain separate types of character evidence. See United States v. Curtis, 644 F.2d 263, 267-69 (3d Cir.1981), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 1018, 103 S.Ct. 379, 74 L.Ed.2d 512 (1982). This appeal presents an issue only as to the character witnesses' opinion testimony. 27 114 When on direct examination a witness is asked to express his current opinion as to relevant characteristics of the defendant, cross examination may include questions relating to acts up to the time the witness testifies. See United States v. Morgan, 554 F.2d 31, 32-33 (2d Cir.1977), cert. denied, 434 U.S. 965, 98 S.Ct. 504, 54 L.Ed.2d 450 (1977). 115 Furst argues, however, that his motion did not seek to exclude questions relating to all acts after Furst's indictment, but that he sought to preclude the government's use of a hypothetical question which directed the witness to assume Furst's guilt. When Furst initially raised the issue of imposing a limitation on the scope of cross examination he stated: 116 a witness who testifies to his own personal opinion of the defendant, that I think the witness is entitled to have that opinion as of the day he testifies. And the government cannot destroy the opinion by asking the witness to accept as true the allegations and the charges which the government is attempting to prove in this courtroom. 117 Appellant's app. at 596-97. 118 Thus, he was seeking a subject-based limitation on the cross examination rather than a time-based limitation. 119 The government did not respond in terms of a subject-based restriction and the district court did not frame its ruling in such terms. On the basis of the district court's ruling Furst's counsel limited the opinion evidence he solicited to that period preceding the charges against Furst; that is, Furst imposed a time-based restriction on himself to prevent cross examination in the form of the hypothetical question he sought to avoid. 120 On appeal Furst asserts that it would have been improper for the government to have cross examined the character witnesses by asking them to assume his guilt and then to reconsider their opinions in light of this assumption. Brief for appellant at 34-35. Consequently, Furst argues that his direct examination was improperly restricted as a result of the district court's failure to limit cross examination to the proper scope. 121 It should, of course, be noted that even assuming that Furst is correct and that the district court erred by not limiting the scope of the government's cross examination, it is not clear that Furst has preserved this point for appeal. We note that the restriction of which Furst complains was self-imposed as he limited the scope of his direct examination of the character witnesses. He was not compelled to do this. Thus, the government did not cross examine the character witnesses in any fashion that Furst asserts was improper. Had the government posed a hypothetical question on cross examination Furst could have objected at that time and, if the court had overruled the objection, Furst could have raised the issue on appeal. 122 Since Furst's character witnesses were not asked to express their opinions of Furst at any time after the indictment, they were never exposed to the cross examination Furst sought to preclude. Hence, any harm is entirely speculative. Cf. Luce v. United States, 469 U.S. 38, 41, 105 S.Ct. 460, 463, 83 L.Ed.2d 443 (1984) (addressing the assertion of error in a ruling on the scope of impeachment evidence after which the criminal defendant did not testify); United States v. Dunbar, 767 F.2d 72, 74 (3d Cir.1985) (same). Moreover, we have no way of knowing whether the government would have asked the questions and as to whether the district court would have overruled an objection to the specific questions. See Luce, 469 U.S. at 41, 105 S.Ct. at 463 (When the defendant does not testify, the reviewing court also has no way of knowing whether the Government would have sought to impeach with the [evidence sought to be excluded]); see also id. (A reviewing court is handicapped in any effort to rule on subtle evidentiary questions outside a factual context). 123 However, we need not decide whether Furst has preserved this issue for appeal inasmuch as we perceive no prejudice to Furst's defense from the court's ruling. The district court instructed the jury as to the reason Furst's character witnesses were asked to express their opinions only as of the time prior to Furst's indictment. The court had established the date of May, 1988, as the limit for direct examination without opening the door on cross examination of the effect of the August 28, 1988, grand jury indictment on the witness's opinion of Furst. See appellee's app. at 699, 703. After a character witness was asked his opinion of Furst's character as of May, 1988, the court explained to the jury: 124 Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, you have heard two witnesses and you may hear additional witnesses that are being called by the defense in this case.... [Y]ou've heard these individuals testify as to their own opinion about these traits. 125 And counsel with the last witness went into that with a cutoff date of May of 1988. And we have deliberately set up that as a cutoff date because that's the time when the indictment or charges were filed in this case. 126 And we are eliciting the opinion up until that point, without going into the affect of someone's opinion might have simply because charges have been filed against an individual. 127 Appellee's app. at 702-03. 128 In light of this instruction we must conclude that the district court's error, if any, was harmless. Consequently, under Fed.R.Crim.P. 52(a) the error, if any, is not remediable on appeal.