Opinion ID: 1309215
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Exclusion of Evidence Regarding Police Efforts to Find Other Informants

Text: The trial court refused to permit defendant to introduce testimony, elicited at the preliminary examination, regarding attempts by Sergeant Hess to find other informants who would report defendant's incriminating statements. At trial, the prosecutor objected to such testimony as irrelevant and it was excluded. (9) Defendant now contends that such evidence would have helped impeach the incriminating testimony of informants Lee and Hughes, permitting the jury to infer from Hess's intense desire for such testimony that it would be worth their while to create the testimony that Hess wanted. The jury learned from Hess that he absolutely tried every possible way to secure a conviction of defendant for Tina's murder. The fact that Hess attempted to contact other informants before finding Lee and Hughes would have added very little to the defense's attempts to impeach those witnesses. The trial court had discretion to exclude evidence of such doubtful relevance and speculative nature.