Opinion ID: 1793829
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The Trial Court's Exclusion o f Defense Evidence

Text: The erroneous exclusion of evidence is grounds for reversal unless the reviewing court [is] satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that if the [excluded] evidence had been admitted and the damaging potential of the evidence fully realized, an average jury (i.e., a reasonable jury), would have reached the same verdict. State v. Post, 512 N.W.2d 99, 102 (Minn.1994) (footnote omitted). Appellant asserts that the trial court's exclusion of two pieces of defense evidence was prejudicial error.
At trial, the state introduced several incriminating statements by appellant through the testimony of police officers who had interviewed appellant during the course of their investigation. Minnesota Rule of Evidence 801(d)(2) permits the admission of statements by a party opponent when offered against that party opponent. While testifying, the officers referred to, and at times read from, transcripts of appellant's interviews. The defense made a motion to introduce the full recordings of appellant's interviews. In opposition to that motion, the state argued that the defense could not introduce the full recordings because the statements therein were self-serving hearsay with respect to appellant, and, in any event, the full recordings were unnecessarily repetitive and time consuming. The trial court denied defense's motion. On appeal, appellant contends that the exclusion of the full recordings was prejudicial error because the recordings were the best evidence of his statements. See Minn. R. Evid. 1002. Despite appellant's assertions, a witness with first-hand knowledge of what was said in a conversation may permissibly testify as to what he heard. See Minn. R. Evid. 602. In so testifying, a witness may legitimately rely on a writing to refresh his or her memory. Minn. R. Evid. 612. A trial court has wide discretion in permitting use of memoranda [to refresh a witness's memory] and in the references that may be made thereto. Ostrowski v. Mockridge, 242 Minn. 265, 274, 65 N.W.2d 185, 191 (1954). At trial, appellant did not raise any objection to the officers' ability to remember what was said during the recorded interviews. Defense counsel had access to the interview recordings and transcripts thereof and the trial court permitted defense counsel to cross-examine the officers about any of the statements they made concerning the interviews. On appeal, appellant has not pointed to any inaccuracies in the officers' testimony or provided evidence that the testimony was in any way misleading. Accordingly, we find no error with the manner in which appellant's statements were received. Appellant also asserts that Minn. R. Evid. 106 required the trial court to admit the recordings of the interviews into evidence. This rule provides, when a    recorded statement or part thereof is introduced by a party, an adverse party may require the introduction at that time of any other part    which ought in fairness to be considered. Minn. R. Evid. 106. In Mills, however, we recognized that Minn. R. Evid. 106 is not applicable unless portions of the actual recording have been introduced into evidence. Id. at 286 n. 8, 65 N.W.2d 185; see also State v. Taylor, 258 N.W.2d 615, 622 (Minn.1977). Here, the state did not introduce any part of the actual recordings into evidence. In Mills, we also recognized that the `rule of completeness' applies only when it is necessary to give the jury a full understanding of the facts and it may not be used to introduce otherwise irrelevant statements. 562 N.W.2d at 286-87. We thus held that a trial court may properly exclude self-serving portions of a recorded interview of a criminal defendant, even though it had allowed police to testify as to certain admissions the defendant made in that interview. Id. at 286. Likewise, in the present case, we hold that Rule 106 did not require the trial court to admit the entire recordings of appellant's interviews.
Appellant also asserts that it was prejudicial error for the trial court to limit Dr. Plunkett's testimony by refusing to admit certain photographs into evidence and by prohibiting Dr. Plunkett from testifying as to certain aspects of appellant's physical abilities. On redirect examination of Dr. Plunkett, the defense sought to introduce several photographs of sofa bed hinges in an attempt to show that the L-shaped abrasion on Ms. Bauer's left calf was caused by the hinges from the sofa bed on which she was found rather than by the hinge on appellant's leg brace. The disputed photographs, however, did not depict the hinges from Ms. Bauer's sofa bed and the defense made no offer of proof that the hinges in the photographs were the same type as or even similar to those hinges. Thus, the defense failed to establish that the disputed photographs were relevant. Moreover, in testifying about the cause of the L-shaped abrasion, Dr. Plunkett did refer to photographs of the actual hinges from Ms. Bauer's sofa bed, and those photographs were admitted into evidence. Therefore, the exclusion of the disputed photographs had at most a minimal impact on Dr. Plunkett's testimony and did not prevent him from testifying that the hinges from Ms. Bauer's sofa bed could have caused the L-shaped abrasion. Accordingly, we hold that the court did not err in excluding the disputed photographs. The trial court also limited the scope of Dr. Plunkett's testimony regarding appellant's physical abilities. Appellant claims these limits prevented Plunkett from testifying that appellant was physically incapable of killing Ms. Bauer in the manner alleged by the state. A trial court has wide discretion in determining the sufficiency of the foundation for admitting opinion testimony. Holweger v. Great Northern Ry., 269 Minn. 83, 95, 130 N.W.2d 354, 362 (1964). In the present case, Dr. Plunkett's knowledge of appellant's physical abilities was gained from a 10-minute examination of appellant's lower extremities and from reviewing medical records of a cursory physical examination of appellant. At trial, the defense conceded that Dr. Plunkett's area of expertise was pathology and that he had no special expertise in the areas of physical or occupational therapy. In light of this foundation, the court limited Dr. Plunkett's testimony as follows: He can testify about whether or not Mr. Bauer can move his lower extremities in whatever manner he thinks is appropriate. I'm not going to let him testify about any general comments about Mr. Bauer's agility, upper body strength or any of that kind of stuff   . The court then clarified that Dr. Plunkett could testify about anything he observed during his examination of appellant and as to any conclusions he reached as a forensic pathologist. Under these restrictions, Dr. Plunkett still testified as to appellant's inability to move his right leg in the manner necessary to inflict the L-shaped abrasion. Because the limits on Dr. Plunkett's testimony corresponded to the limits of his expertise and did not prejudice appellant, we hold that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in imposing the limits. See id.