Opinion ID: 59493
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Evidence of Foradori's family situation

Text: Captain D's also alleges that the district court erred in preventing it from challenging Foradori's future earning potential, particularly the assumption that he would graduate from college, by excessively restricting the cross-examination of Foradori and Foradori's father. We conclude that the district court did not abuse its discretion and that Captain D's was not unduly limited in its ability to cross-examine. The only limitation that the district court placed on Captain D's cross-examination was that any evidence meant to challenge Foradori's future earning potential must be probative of that issue, and this requirement that evidence be relevant to the issue it purports to establish cannot be an abuse of discretion. In a pre-trial order, the district court expressly stated that it would allow evidence relevant to Foradori's future earning potential but would require that any evidence offered for this purpose have actual probative value. [29] During trial, the district court twice reminded Captain D's of this order but specifically allowed Captain D's to question Foradori about his father's educational background and to question Foradori's father about Foradori's desire to attend college. Nonetheless, Captain D's claims that the district court erred by exclud[ing] any testimony to directly rebut testimony about Foradori's future income. Specifically, Captain D's complains that the district court erred in excluding 1) evidence that Foradori used marijuana, 2) Foradori's father's testimony that he believed Foradori had used alcohol and illegal drugs, and 3) Foradori's father's testimony that Foradori was heading for trouble and not towards the direction of college. We disagree. As for Foradori's father's testimony that he believed Foradori had used drugs and alcohol and that Foradori was not heading towards college, the district court did not exclude this evidence. Rather Captain D's chose not to pursue it, voluntarily limiting its questioning of Foradori's father before the jury and asking these questions only as an offer of proof. Also, contrary to Captain D's assertion, during cross-examination before the jury Captain D's did question Foradori's father about Foradori's desire to attend college, and the district court made no limitation on this cross-examination. Further, we find that the district court did not err in excluding evidence of Foradori's marijuana use. As the district court noted, evidence that Foradori merely used marijuana on unspecified occasions in the past is highly prejudicial, and it has little bearing on Foradori's likelihood to attend college or his future earnings. Thus, the district court did not abuse its discretion in excluding the highly prejudicial and minimally relevant evidence of Foradori's marijuana use.