Opinion ID: 1730596
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: Case Law and Analysis

Text: Impeachment is the process of discrediting a witness. See generally Ellis and Williams, Mississippi Evidence, § 4-1 (1984). Miss.R.Evid. 607 provides that any party may attack the credibility of a witness. There are several ways to impeach a witness' credibility including the showing of bias or prejudice of the witness or by attacking the witness' accuracy of recalled events. It does not matter which method is used to discredit a witness as long as the impeaching material is relevant to the issue at hand. Lanham v. Wright, 164 Miss. 1, 142 So. 5 (1932). [1] However, [i]t is a well established rule that it is error to allow a witness to be contradicted on an immaterial (or collateral) matter. This is the rule in civil as well as criminal cases. Price v. Simpson, 205 So.2d 642, 643 (Miss. 1968). [2] Because the right of a party to establish a contradiction does not extend to collateral matters, Price, 205 So.2d at 643, this Court must determine if the facts and circumstances surrounding the booking of Johnson were collateral.