Opinion ID: 1138073
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: refreshing witness' recollection and impeachment

Text: Plaintiff's witness, Arlen W. Snyder, testified on cross-examination that he could not remember whether the fire was down near the water when he first observed it. He was then asked by counsel for the defendant Lord, for the stated purpose of refreshing his memory, whether in a statement he had given shortly after the fire in the presence of a court reporter he had not said in answer to the question whether there was anything else now that you could tell us about the fire that we haven't discussed: I don't know what it would be. I'm convinced of two things, though: That the fire started down quite low near the water, and if the sprinkling system had been on, it would have stopped it right then. Objection by counsel for plaintiff was overruled and the record continued: Q (By Mr. Morrison) Do you remember telling him that? A Yes. Q And that was the truth? A As I believed it. Plaintiff's witness Ellis C. Smith testified that he was working in cargo hole Number 5 when he first heard of the fire and that at that time a chemical fire extinguisher was between 15 and 30 feet upstream from where he was working. Again, for the stated purpose of refreshing the witness' memory, the witness was asked on cross-examination concerning a statement given by him a few days after the fire in the presence of the same court reporter and whether he had not said on that occasion that the chemical cart was thirty or forty feet from the fire. (The quoted words are taken from a longer sentence read by counsel to the witness.) An objection of plaintiff was overruled and the witness answered, in substance, that he did not remember making such a statement and reaffirmed his previous testimony that the fire extinguisher was 30 or 40 feet upstream from cargo lift number 5. Counsel for defendant Lord thereupon, over objection of plaintiff, laid the foundation for impeachment of the witness and subsequently the court reporter who took the statement testified from his notes that the witness had given the answer theretofore read to him on cross-examination. Assignments of error based on these rulings will be considered together. It is apparent from the record that in each instance counsel was reading from a transcript of the stenographic notes of the interview made by the court reporter. The objection of counsel for the plaintiff was on the ground that the transcribed statement was not shown to the witness or to counsel. Reliance is placed on ORS 45.580, which provides: A witness is allowed to refresh his memory respecting a fact by anything written by himself, or under his direction, at the time when the fact occurred or immediately thereafter or at any other time when the fact was fresh in his memory and he knew that it was correctly stated in the writing; but in either case the writing must be produced, and may be inspected by the adverse party, who may, if he chooses, cross-examine the witness upon it, and read it to the jury. The witness may testify from that writing, though he retains no recollection of the particular facts; but the evidence shall be received with caution. 21. The statute is not applicable because the memorandum, if such it can be called, was neither written by, nor under the direction of, the witness. In fact, it has been strongly suggested by this court that ORS 45.580 is applicable only where a memorandum is used as a record of past recollection and not for the purpose of reviving present recollection: Manchester Assur. Co. v. Ore. R.R. Co., 46 Or 162, 166, 79 P 60, 114 Am St Rep 863, 69 LRA 475. For discussion of this distinction see, also, State v. Magers, 36 Or 38, 47-48, 58 P 892; 3 Wigmore on Evidence (3d ed) §§ 734, 763; McCormick on Evidence 15; 4 Jones on Evidence, §§ 964, 972. 22, 23. We do not deal here with past recollection recorded, but with refreshing present recollection, which may be done by calling to the attention of the witness his earlier oral statements: State v. Dixon, 212 Or 572, 579-580, 321 P2d 305; Weygandt v. Bartle, 88 Or 310, 318, 171 P 587, or by a memorandum not made by the witness: Banks v. Community Church, 178 Or 1, 7, 165 P2d 65; Wigmore, supra, § 759. It has been said that anything which will refresh the memory of a witness may be resorted to  as, for example, a pictorial preservation of facts: Jones, supra, § 965. It is equally well settled that the effort to refresh the memory of the witness may come from the cross examining party: Wigmore, supra, §§ 762, 764; U.S. v. McKeever, 271 F2d 669, 675 (2d Cir.1959); People v. Stone, 155 Cal App 2d 259, 318 P2d 25, 32-33; Marti v. Standard Fire Ins. Co., 127 NJL 591, 23 A2d 576, 578; Rex v. Ford, 5 Cox, CC 184; Annotations, 125 ALR 19, 27; 82 ALR2d 473, 492. The question remains, however, whether, entirely apart from the statute, counsel for the plaintiff was entitled to see the transcript from which cross examining counsel read in putting the question designed to refresh the witness' memory. It is true that the transcript was not a written statement within the purview of ORS 45.580 nor could it have been used as evidence: Hall v. Brown, 102 Or 389, 392-393, 202 P 719; State v. Goodager, 56 Or 198, 203, 106 P 638, 108 P 185; State v. Brake, 99 Or 310, 332, 195 P 583; Marti v. Standard Fire Ins. Co., supra; Henry v. Lee, 2 Chit 124. However, whether opposing counsel was entitled to inspect the transcript does not depend on its admissibility in evidence, but on considerations of common fairness in the trial of a lawsuit. The matter was well put by Mr. Justice Traynor in People v. Carter, 48 Cal 2d 737, 312 P2d 665, where the prosecutor used the transcript of a statement given to the sheriff by a witness for the defendant for the purpose of laying the foundation for impeachment and the court held that counsel for the defendant was entitled to inspect the transcript. The court said:    The prosecutor may read to the jury extracts from the transcript selected with an eye to putting the witness in the worst possible light by emphasizing the gap between his prior statement and his present testimony. It is clearly unfair to deny the defendant an opportunity to show that the extracts have been taken out of context, and that when read with other parts of the statement the alleged inconsistency disappears. To be effective such an opportunity must include the right to see the transcript the prosecution has used; the witness' memory of what he said is not enough.    48 Cal 2d at 753. See, also, People v. Brown, 153 NYS2d 744, 2 AD2d 202; McCormick, supra, 17; Annotations, 125 ALR 194, 82 ALR2d 557. (In most of the cases cited in the annotations the memorandum was shown to the witness, but this is an irrelevant circumstance when the memorandum is in court.) We take it that on this question there is no ground for distinguishing between the use of a transcript to refresh memory and to impeach. A somewhat different view was expressed in United States v. Socony-Vacuum Oil Co., 310 US 150, 231, 60 S Ct 811, 84 L Ed 1129, where a grand jury transcript was used by the government to refresh the recollection of certain of its witnesses. The court said that no iron-clad rule requires that opposing counsel be shown the grand jury transcript where it is not shown the witness and where some appropriate procedure is adopted to prevent its improper use. 310 US at 233. That was said to be a matter resting in the sound discretion of the court. In that case the trial court adopted the practice of inspecting the transcript and itself seeking to refresh the witness' recollection by reading from his prior testimony. 310 US at 232. 24. Since there is some question about how far an Oregon judge may with propriety go in taking over the examination of a witness in a jury trial, we think the better rule to be that when a transcript of a statement given by a witness is read by counsel for the purpose of refreshing the witness' recollection, opposing counsel, on request, has the right to inspect the transcript whether or not it is shown to the witness. In addition to the reasons stated in People v. Carter, supra, such a rule affords opposing counsel a good opportunity to test the credibility of the witness's claim that his memory has been revived, and to search out any discrepancies between the writing and the testimony. McCormick, supra, 17. See, also, Commonwealth v. Burton, 183 Mass 461, 67 NE 419; State v. Bacon, 41 Vt 526, 98 Am Dec 616. Furthermore, the rule operates as a safeguard against incompetent and prejudicial matter coming into the case. This is illustrated by what occurred on the examination of the witness Snyder. The only point as to which his recollection required refreshing was the location of the fire when he first saw it. But the portion of the transcript read to him in the presence of the jury was not limited to that point, it included the statement if the sprinkling system had been on, it would have stopped it [the fire] right then  an opinion of the witness incompetent for any purpose. 25. There is another reason, though it is not raised on the record, why the question put to the witness Smith for the purpose of refreshing his recollection was subject to objection, and that is that there was no showing of any need to refresh this witness' recollection. See cases, Annotation 82 ALR2d 493. What we have said on the question of the right of opposing counsel to inspect the transcripts applies also to the use of the transcript for the purpose of laying a foundation for the impeachment of the witness Smith. The rulings of the circuit court were not in accordance with these principles. While we are not prepared to hold that they constituted grounds for reversal, we have considered it appropriate to pass upon them as they present a question of first impression in this court and may arise on another trial.