Opinion ID: 2279957
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Purported Evidence of Bias

Text: The defendant also contends that the trial justice's decision to exclude testimony concerning the value of his home prevented him from disclosing to the jury Mary's bias in providing false testimony at trial. He asserts that the exclusion of this testimony denied him his Sixth and Fourteenth Amendment rights to present an effective defense. We disagree. Mary admitted on cross-examination that she did not believe her daughter's allegations until after she had read her witness statement. Yet defendant asserts that Mary came to believe Jane's allegations only after she filed for a divorce from him and acquired a financial interest in his conviction. He contends that Mary and her divorce attorneys endeavored to use the pending criminal charges against him to pressure him into selling the marital domicile for $10,000, the amount of the remaining mortgage on the property. At trial defense counsel cross-examined Mary on the issue of bias. He established that Mary had agreed to stay the divorce proceeding at the request of defendant until the conclusion of his criminal trial. Defense counsel also established that Mary and defendant were residing apart from each other and that Mary was living in the marital domicile. The marital domicile was first owned by defendant's father, but at the time of defendant's criminal trial title to the property was held by Mary and defendant as joint tenants. Mary denied, however, any knowledge that her divorce attorney had attempted to purchase the marital home from defendant for $10,000. In response to Mary's denials, defendant took the stand and testified that Mary herself had offered him $10,000 for the home. However, the trial justice precluded defendant from testifying that the house had a market value greater than $10,000 or that the parties had agreed upon a divorce settlement regarding the property. The defendant contends that the trial justice's exclusion of this testimony was error because once Mary denied making the $10,000 offer, he had a right to introduce extrinsic evidence of the home's value to impeach her testimony. Important to an accused's right to confrontation under both the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution and article 1, section 10, of the Rhode Island Constitution is the right to show that an adverse witness is biased. See Davis v. Alaska, 415 U.S. 308, 94 S.Ct. 1105, 39 L.Ed.2d 347 (1974); State v. Texter, 594 A.2d 376, 377 (R.I.1991); State v. Beaumier, 480 A.2d 1367, 1372 (R.I.1984); State v. DeBarros, 441 A.2d 549, 552 (R.I. 1982). Hence this court held in Texter that it was error to bar defense counsel from cross-examining the victim of the alleged assault concerning her motive to fabricate the charges against the defendant. 594 A.2d at 378. Defense counsel in that case sought to introduce evidence that the victim had a vendetta against the defendant because he had threatened to report her husband for thievery. Id. Similarly in DeBarros this court vacated the convictions because the trial justice excluded testimony that the victim of the assault for which the defendants were convicted was going to sue the State of Rhode Island for injuries arising out of the assault. 441 A.2d at 551-52. In DeBarros we held that the error was of constitutional magnitude because defense counsel was not permitted to raise the issue of bias during cross-examination and was cut off at the threshold of inquiry. Id. at 552. In this instance defense counsel had an opportunity to cross-examine Mary on the issue of bias. The only evidence that defense counsel was precluded from presenting to the jury was defendant's testimony concerning the market value of the marital domicile. The trial justice excluded this testimony on the basis that the value and the division of defendant's marital assets were not relevant to the issue of bias in his criminal proceeding. We hold that the decision of the trial justice to exclude this testimony was proper. A defendant's right to explore the issue of bias does not strip the trial justice of his or her obligation to determine whether the evidence is competent and relevant for the purpose for which it is offered. State v. Tutt, 622 A.2d 459, 463 (R.I.1993); State v. Edwards, 478 A.2d 972, 975 (R.I.1984); State v. Cianci, 430 A.2d 756, 762-63 (R.I.1981). It is well settled that questions pertaining to the relevancy of evidence are left to the sound discretion of the trial justice. State v. Tempest, 651 A.2d 1198, 1215 (R.I.1995). This court will not reverse a trial justice's determination of relevancy absent a showing that the trial justice has clearly abused his or her discretion. Id. at 1216. In this instance the defendant was not competent to testify to the market value of the marital domicile. See Greene v. State Board of Public Roads, 50 R.I. 489, 492, 149 A. 596, 598 (1930); see also R.I. R. Evid. 702. [5] Only an expert may testify to an opinion of market value concerning real property. Greene, 50 R.I. at 492, 149 A. at 598. There was no attempt at trial to show that the defendant had expertise in the area of real estate valuation; consequently, his testimony on the matter was properly excluded. We also agree with the trial justice that the relevance of this evidence was tenuous at best, likely to confuse the jurors, and of little help to them in deciding the issue of bias. See R.I. R. Evid. 403. For the reasons stated, the defendant's appeal is denied and dismissed. The judgment of conviction entered in the Superior Court is affirmed. The papers in the case may be remanded to the Superior Court. BOURCIER, J., did not participate.