Opinion ID: 1172213
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Exclusion of the Written Report

Text: The defendant contends that the trial court erred by excluding the police report detailing the interview of Evans. He argues that the admission of the police report was essential to challenge the credibility of Evans, as well as to provide evidence that another person committed the crime. He argues that the report was admissible pursuant to K.S.A. 60-422(b), as extrinsic evidence of a prior contradictory statement. Further, he argues that the admission of the physical report was not cumulative to the officer's reading the report into the record. He insists that the exclusion of the report substantially hindered his ability to present a complete defense. The defendant called the officer who had the report and the officer who recorded Evans' verbal statement. Both identified the report as the verbal statement taken from Evans 2 days after the incident. The report was marked as Defendant's Exhibit No. 2. Immediately after the exhibit was marked, the judge said, I'll allow the testimony. Defense counsel asked the officer to read the report. The officer then read the report verbatim to the jury. Counsel then asked that the defendant's Exhibit 2 be admitted into evidence. The prosecution objected, stating, [I]t's already been read. No need to send it back. The judge agreed, saying, I'll allow the testimony, but not the physical document. Defense counsel responded, All right. The evidence of Evans' earlier statement to the police was properly admitted under the provisions of K.S.A. 60-422. The defendant acknowledges that the police report was admitted by the verbatim reading of the report to the jury. Nevertheless, the defendant argues that the written report itself should have been admitted. The standard we apply in this case is: The admissibility of the written report was a matter of judicial discretion, and the trial court will not be reversed on appeal absent a showing of an abuse of discretion. [Citations omitted.] Judicial discretion is abused when judicial action is arbitrary, fanciful, or unreasonable, which is another way of saying that discretion is abused only when no reasonable person would take the view adopted by the trial court. If reasonable persons could differ as to the propriety of the action taken by the trial court, then it cannot be said that the trial court abused its discretion. [Citation omitted]. State v. Baker, 255 Kan. 680, 691, 877 P.2d 946 (1994). The defendant cites State v. Humphrey, 252 Kan. 6, 845 P.2d 592 (1992), wherein we reversed a murder conviction on the basis that the trial court erroneously excluded expert testimony on the effect of sleep deprivation. However, the Baker court noted that in Humphrey, no testimony was permitted on the subject as opposed to excluding a written report offered after a witness has exhaustively testified on the subject. 255 Kan. at 691. In Baker, the defendant argued that the trial court's refusal to admit a written report of its medical examiner into evidence denied him his constitutional right to present his defense. The trial court excluded the written report because the jury heard the testimony on direct and cross-examination. The court reasoned that allowing the report into evidence would let a witness testify twice and put undue influence upon that witness' testimony. The evidence the defendant complains was erroneously excluded was, in fact, admitted when the trial court permitted the officer to read the report verbatim to the jury. The exclusion of the written report, under the circumstances in this case, does not establish an abuse of discretion. The defendant's reliance on State v. Murrell, 224 Kan. 689, 585 P.2d 1017 (1978), is misplaced. In Murrell, the defendant sought to impeach a critical prosecution witness by the use of a prior inconsistent written statement the witness had made. Notwithstanding the clearly contradictory nature of the statement, the trial court refused counsel's request to use the statement either during cross-examination or by introduction of the statement into evidence. In the case we now consider, the trial court permitted the use of the prior report during examination of the witness and admitted the statement into evidence.