Opinion ID: 2608588
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Cross-Examination of Donna Taggart

Text: The defendant raises three claims of error in connection with the cross-examination of Donna Taggart. We find no error in the rulings of the trial court with respect to that cross-examination. The defendant's initial assertion is that he should have been permitted to cross-examine this witness about whether she had been abused as a child. Defense counsel asked her on cross-examination if she had been beaten by her father and if she suffered a bruise at his hands. The witness responded in the negative to both questions. At that point the trial court sustained the prosecutor's objection to further inquiry into this area. Defense counsel failed to show that relevant and material evidence would have been forthcoming had the trial court permitted further inquiry. Under this state of the record we cannot conclude that the trial court abused its discretion in sustaining the prosecution's objection to this line of questioning. Wafer v. People, 175 Colo. 332, 488 P.2d 73 (1971); see People v. Taylor, 190 Colo. 210, 545 P.2d 703 (1976); People v. Williams, 40 Colo.App. 30, 569 P.2d 339 (1977). The second allegedly improper limitation on the defendant's cross-examination concerns the claimed bias of Donna Taggart toward the defendant. Defense counsel asked Donna Taggart if her mother had criticized her for her poor parental ability and the witness responded affirmatively. Defense counsel then asked Donna Taggart about her mother's criticism for other things and the court sustained the prosecutor's objection on grounds of relevancy. The court advised defense counsel that inquiry on the witness' bias toward the defendant was permissible but the relevancy of the last question to the issue of bias was farfetched. Defense counsel thereafter questioned Donna Taggart in detail about any prejudice she might harbor toward the defendant as a result of her family's attitude towards her. Defense counsel was also permitted to ask the witness if she told the defendant that she was acting hostilely towards him because of familial pressure directed against her. We conclude that the trial judge allowed defense counsel ample latitude in probing the witness' bias toward the defendant and committed no error in that regard. E. g., People v. Taylor, supra ; People v. Simmons, 182 Colo. 350, 513 P.2d 193 (1973); People v. Couch, 179 Colo. 324, 500 P.2d 967 (1972). The defendant's last claim in connection with the cross-examination of Donna Taggart concerns the court's direction to defense counsel not to refer to a juvenile court proceeding as a juvenile court proceeding or a termination of parental rights case. This particular issue came up when defense counsel, over the prosecutor's objection, advised the court that she wanted to question the witness about a statement the witness made to the defendant following a juvenile court proceeding involving custody of the witness' minor daughter. The trial court merely instructed defense counsel to exclude any reference to the character of the proceeding in questioning the witness about her purported statement to the defendant. The trial court's direction to defense counsel did not prohibit inquiry on the statement itself and, under the record here, we find no abuse of discretion in its ruling. E. g., Vigil v. People, 196 Colo. 522, 587 P.2d 1196 (1978); People v. Moreno, 192 Colo. 314, 558 P.2d 440 (1976); People v. Crawford, 191 Colo. 504, 553 P.2d 827 (1976).