Opinion ID: 2382224
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: witnesses' history with drugs and alcohol

Text: Appellant claims that the trial court erred by prohibiting him from cross-examining Commonwealth witnesses regarding their extensive drug and alcohol abuse from the time of the incident in 1981 until trial, nearly fifteen years later. The trial court did permit questioning about the drug and alcohol consumed around the incident in 1981, but refused to permit appellant to cross-examine the witnesses about their drug and alcohol abuse at irrelevant times. [12] Although, this Court has consistently held that intoxication on the part of a witness at the time of an occurrence about which he has testified is a proper matter for the jury's consideration, this Court has also held that the jury should not consider for impeachment purposes the use of drugs or alcohol at other irrelevant times. Commonwealth v. Drew, 500 Pa. 585, 591, 459 A.2d 318, 321 (1983). See also Commonwealth v. Yost, 478 Pa. 327, 337, 386 A.2d 956, 961 (1978) (trial court properly refused to allow cross examination as to whether witness had a severe drug problem, even though it permitted questioning about his use of drugs at the particular time that defendant allegedly admitted to the witness that he killed the victim). Hence, the trial court did not err in limiting cross-examination about Commonwealth witnesses' drug and alcohol abuse. The trial court also refused to permit appellant's expert witness from testifying as to the long-term effects of such drug and alcohol abuse on memory. Since testimony about long-term drug and alcohol abuse was inadmissible, there was no relevance to having the expert testify and the trial court properly excluded this portion of his testimony.