Opinion ID: 1977295
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: lyman cole's testimony

Text: A few weeks after the trial had begun, Dr. Wild's counsel, in chambers, requested the trial court's permission to use Lyman Cole's testimony to introduce evidence he would otherwise elicit from Justice James C. Otis, a member of the Minnesota Supreme Court and a director of Amherst Wilder Foundation and Minnesota Foundation. An offer of proof was made and a hearsay objection was sustained. The trial court intimated that Justice Otis should be called as a witness and then impeached by Cole's testimony. Later in the trial, Justice Otis was called as a witness and testified that he had no recollection of a telephone call from the late John Dorsey, a Minneapolis attorney, in November or December of 1963 as to why Minnesota Foundation terminated sponsorship of Dr. Wild's research project. Dr. Wild subsequently put on the stand Lyman Cole, a Minneapolis investment banker, who testified that he, Dr. Wild, and Sidney Colbert, chairman of the advisory committee, met with the late John Dorsey in the latter's office at which time Dorsey allegedly telephoned Justice Otis regarding the reasons for Minnesota Foundation's termination of sponsorship. Although he could not hear the voice on the other end of the telephone conversation, Mr. Cole testified that Mr. Dorsey had related Justice Otis' conversation regarding the reasons for termination of Dr. Wild's project. Defendants objected that Cole's testimony was hearsay, conversations with a dead person, and was given without proper foundation or identification of the person to whom John Dorsey was talking. The trial court overruled defendants' objections and did not instruct the jury as to whether Cole's testimony was to be used as substantive evidence or only for the purpose of impeachment of Justice Otis' credibility. No cautionary instruction was requested by the defendants. Defendants assert that the trial court committed error in these rulings and in not instructing the jury that Lyman Cole's testimony was to be used for impeachment purposes only. They argue that when the trial court failed to do this, Cole's testimony was permitted to be interpreted by the jury as substantive evidence. Dr. Wild claims that Cole's testimony was admissible as substantive evidence under the res gestae exception to the hearsay rule or else was admissible for impeachment purposes. Since it is unclear which purpose the trial court admitted Lyman Cole's testimony for, we will consider it as either substantive evidence or as impeachment. If the trial court admitted Cole's testimony as substantive evidence, it was error since it is clearly double hearsay and does not come within an exception to the hearsay rule. McCormick, Evidence (2 ed.) § 246. Because Cole's testimony was not admissible as substantive evidence, the relevant issue is whether it could be used for impeachment purposes. We think that it could not. There is no doubt that prior inconsistent statements which are hearsay may be used for impeachment purposes. McCormick, Evidence (2 ed.) §§ 34, footnote 7, and 39. It is also true that a witness may be impeached if he denies or fails to recollect making the prior inconsistent statement. Price v. Grieger, 244 Minn. 466, 472, 70 N.W.2d 421, 425 (1955); McCormick, Evidence (2 ed.) § 37 and footnote 47. However, before a witness may be impeached by a prior inconsistent statement, it should be shown by adequate foundation that he made a prior inconsistent statement. That was not done in this case as Cole could not hear the voice on the other end of the telephone conversation. That voice, if there was one, could have been the voice of anyone. All other issues raised in this appeal have been considered and are deemed without merit. Reversed and remanded for a new trial with directions.