Opinion ID: 1943879
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Simpson's Cellular Telephone Conversations with Appellant

Text: Appellant argues that the trial court abused its discretion by foreclosing defense counsel's cross-examination of Simpson as to the conversations that she may have had with appellant on his cellular telephone. Upon the government's objection, the trial court ruled that the questions were outside the scope of direct examination. Because the direct examination of Simpson had not gone into her communication with appellant via his cellular telephone, the trial court did not err in limiting the scope of cross-examination to those areas actually covered by the direct examination. See Guzman v. United States, 769 A.2d 785, 790 (D.C.2001); Chambers v. United States, 564 A.2d 26, 30 (D.C.1989), overruled in part on other grounds by Berroa v. United States, 763 A.2d 93, 96 & n. 6 (D.C.2000). Further, we note that defense counsel's stated goal of this line of questioning was to establish how frequently [Simpson] talked to [appellant], and that the trial court explicitly permitted the defense to cross-examine Simpson about the frequency of her communications with appellant.