Opinion ID: 758506
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Cross-Examination of Rock

Text: 45 At trial, the government called Rock as one of its principal witnesses against Hoff. On direct, the prosecutor established that Rock was serving a ten-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to federal drug charges. Rock also testified that he was serving a twenty-year state sentence for murder. Hoff's attorney sought to establish Rock's bias on cross-examination by showing that Rock knew that Hoff had provided the police with information that Rock was involved in drug trafficking and had committed two premeditated murders in furtherance of his drug activity. The district court allowed defense counsel to ask Rock if he was aware that Hoff had given the police information about Rock's involvement in drug dealing and the one murder for which Rock was serving the twenty-year sentence. The district court did not allow defense counsel to probe further into the details of Hoff's accusations against Rock or to explore the fact that the information that Hoff provided to the police exposed Rock to the possibility of two consecutive life sentences or the federal death penalty. 46 Hoff contends that the district court erred by denying him the opportunity to fully cross-examine Rock regarding Hoff's accusations. Hoff asserts that this denial prevented him from exposing the full extent of Rock's bias against him. We review for abuse of discretion. United States v. Torres, 965 F.2d 303, 310 (7th Cir.1992). 47 The Supreme Court has noted that exposing possible bias is a proper and important function of the constitutionally protected right of cross-examination. Delaware v. Van Arsdall, 475 U.S. 673, 678-79, 106 S.Ct. 1431, 89 L.Ed.2d 674 (1986) (citations omitted). However, the Confrontation Clause does not prevent a trial judge from imposing limits on the extent and scope of cross-examination. In fact, trial judges retain wide latitude insofar as the Confrontation Clause is concerned to impose reasonable limits on such cross-examination based on concerns about, among other things, harassment, prejudice, confusion of the issues, the witness' safety, or interrogation that is repetitive or only marginally relevant. Id. at 679, 106 S.Ct. 1431. 48 In his reply brief, Hoff cites Lindh v. Murphy, 124 F.3d 899 (7th Cir.1997), to support his argument. However, Hoff fails to note an important distinction between his case and Van Arsdall and Lindh. In both Van Arsdall and Lindh, the lower court was reversed because it prohibited all inquiry into the possibility of bias. Van Arsdall, 475 U.S. at 679, 106 S.Ct. 1431; Lindh, 124 F.3d at 901. In the present case, Hoff was allowed to explore bias by exposing the fact that Rock was serving a twenty-year prison sentence for murder because of information Hoff provided to the police and that Rock was not happy about the situation. As we have noted, 49 cross-examination has no natural limits, and the trial judge must therefore exercise judgment in deciding when the point of diminishing returns has been reached, or passed--a judgment that will depend on the particulars of each case, and on such unreviewable imponderables as the judge's assessment of the jury's comprehension and attention span. 50 United States v. Akinrinade, 61 F.3d 1279, 1285 (7th Cir.1995) (quoting United States v. Herrera-Medina, 853 F.2d 564, 566 (7th Cir.1988)). In the present case, the district judge allowed the defense to establish, during an extensive cross-examination, that Rock had reason to be biased against his father since Hoff had provided the police with information incriminating Rock. Hoff argues that the more evidence he could present, the greater the bias he would be able to establish. However, it is up to the district judge to determine when the point of diminishing returns has been reached. Having allowed evidence of Rock's basic reason for bias, the district judge reasonably determined that additional evidence would be repetitive. This decision did not constitute an abuse of discretion.