Opinion ID: 2361208
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Alvin Houston's Testimony at the Moore Trial

Text: [¶ 12] Alvin Houston testified that after the shooting on April 16, Jackson and Moore came to his apartment and Moore said, we smoked him, man, we smoked that bastard, referring to Rodriguez. In late April 1995, Houston and Moore shared a cell at the Androscoggin County jail, and shortly thereafter Houston gave a statement to the police concerning the evening of the shooting. On cross-examination, Moore made an offer of proof that Houston told the police he thought Moore was innocent. The court, however, refused to permit Moore to question Houston in that regard, concluding that the issue of Moore's guilt or innocence was solely a matter for the jury to resolve. Moore objected to the court's ruling. [¶ 13] Moore contends the court erred by excluding Houston's testimony about his statement to the police. The decision to admit or exclude evidence is within the discretion of the trial court. State v. Case, 672 A.2d at 588. We conclude the court exceeded the bounds of its discretion by excluding the proffered testimony. Houston's prior statement that he thought Moore was innocent was relevant to the purpose of impeaching his testimony; the statement tended to show Houston believed Moore did not participate in the killing, which was at odds with Houston's testimony. See State v. Marr, 551 A.2d 456, 458 (Me.1988) (evidence of a prior inconsistent statement is proper impeachment pursuant to M.R.Evid.607). We conclude, however, that the exclusion of Houston's testimony was harmless error because it would have added little to the thorough impeachment to which he was otherwise already exposed. State v. Pelletier, 673 A.2d 1327, 1330 (Me.1996) (we will not vacate a judgment for an error objected to at trial so long as it is highly probable that the jury's determination of guilt was unaffected by the error). Houston conceded he originally did not tell the police about Moore's incriminating statement. He admitted his testimony was motivated, at least in part, by a desire to obtain leniency with regard to outstanding state and federal drug charges. He acknowledged he had been convicted of numerous crimes and had been smoking crack cocaine all day prior to his encounter with Moore. In light of all this evidence, the probative value of Houston's testimony concerning his prior statement to the police was negligible.