Opinion ID: 1994761
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Preservation of Appeal

Text: We are of the opinion that defendant properly preserved this issue for review. Under the raise-or-waive rule, this Court will not consider appeals of issues that were not properly preserved in the lower court. State v. Bido, 941 A.2d 822, 828 (R.I.2008). To satisfy the rule, evidentiary objections (1) must be raised before the trial court and (2) be sufficiently focused so as to call the trial justice's attention to the basis for said objection. State v. Gautier, 950 A.2d 400, 407 (R.I. 2008) (quoting State v. Pacheco, 763 A.2d 971, 976 (R.I.2001)). Under the specific language of Rule 614(C) of the Rhode Island Rules of Evidence, objections to interrogation by the court may be made at the time or at the next available opportunity when the jury is not present.  (Emphasis added). Defense counsel asked to be heard at sidebar promptly after the trial justice's questioning of Dr. Kettelle and before the witness was excused. At the suggestion of the trial justice, defense counsel placed his specific reasons for objection on the record the next day before the jury returned. Rule 614(C) permits the defense counsel's method of objection used here to avoid counsel being put in the position of interrupting the trial justice in front of the jury. In Amaral, decided before the adoption of Rule 614(C), this Court described such a predicament as embarrassing. Amaral, 47 R.I. at 250, 132 A. at 550. This Court noted that counsel was forced to choose between risking the loss of the jury's favor or losing the right to object to the introduction of the evidence. Id. The adoption of Rule 614(C) remedied this dilemma by permitting advocates to defer their objection until the trial justice concludes the interrogation. Here, defense counsel chose to do so and thus under Rule 614(C), the objection interposed at sidebar after the questioning was timely. We caution that a general objection, made at the end of the trial justice's line of questioning of a witness, does not preserve the issue for review. State v. Phommachak, 674 A.2d 382, 389 (R.I. 1996). However, the objection here was sufficiently specific. Counsel promptly notified the trial justice of his objection and put the trial justice on notice that he objected to the line of questioning. Further, defense counsel was given the opportunity to place the reasons for objection on the record the next day before the jury was seated. He informed the trial justice that the questioning of Dr. Kettelle served to reiterat[e] points that were already made by the State and he was concerned that the trial justice's adding in and going on at length at different points    put[] the defendant in harm's way where the jury might interpret your questions as suggesting that she must be guilty based upon the line of questions about the alcohol. Although the defense did not request a cautionary instruction at this time, this failure does not bar review if the request would have been futile or any attempt to palliate the prejudice would have been ineffective.  State v. Briggs, 787 A.2d 479, 484 (R.I.2001) (quoting State v. Lemon, 478 A.2d 175, 181 (R.I.1984)) (Emphasis in original.). In our view, the trial justice's questioning of Dr. Kettelle transgressed the limits of judicial interrogation of witnesses to the extent that a curative instruction would have had an insufficient palliative effect. See State v. Evans, 618 A.2d 1283, 1284 (R.I. 1993) (holding trial justice's curative instruction insufficient as tenor of the trial justice's questioning contained prejudicial influences). Therefore, defense counsel's failure to request a curative instruction does not render the objection too general, and the issue is properly before this Court. Briggs, 787 A.2d at 484. 2