Opinion ID: 2445150
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Impeachment of Defense Witnesses

Text: The appellant cites two instances in which the state impeached defense witnesses through its own rebuttal witnesses on what the appellant contends were collateral matters. The first concerned the testimony of Debbie Bellew, who testified for the defense. She denied that she had said that she would never turn snitch against the appellant in the presence of a deputy sheriff. The state called the deputy sheriff as a rebuttal witness to impeach Debbie's testimony and to show bias on her part. The deputy sheriff recalled that Bellew said she would not testify for the state against anyone. The appellant raised a hearsay objection below but did not object on grounds of improper impeachment due to a collateral matter. The appellant now raises that objection. We have held that an appellant may not change his grounds for objection on appeal. See Shaw v. State, 299 Ark. 474, 773 S.W.2d 827 (1989). In addition, we have held that facts that show bias are not collateral. See Bowden v. State, 297 Ark. 160, 761 S.W.2d 148 (1988). We find no merit in the appellant's argument. Nor do we agree with the appellant on his second impeachment issue for essentially the same reasonthe appellant has changed his argument on appeal. The appellant testified that he did not own firearms other than hunting rifles. A police detective was called as a rebuttal witness for the state and testified that he found a pistol in the appellant's truck. The appellant did object to this testimony, but did so on the basis of a pre-trial stipulation and ruling by the trial judge. At no time at trial did he object on grounds of impeachment of a collateral issue. Indeed, he asked the trial judge to admonish the jury that the pistol was introduced solely for impeachment purposes. He is, therefore, foreclosed from raising the collateral matter objection for the first time on appeal. See Shaw v. State, supra . The appellant raises a third impeachment issue over the cross-examination of a police detective, Richard Ates, who was called as a defense witness and was cross-examined on the background of a potential defense witness, David Langley. The state was led to believe that Langley would testify about a knife found at the crime scene. On cross-examination the prosecutor asked Ates about Langley's past criminal record and use of aliases. As it happened, Langley was never called as a witness by the defense. Before Ates's testimony, a defense witness had also been asked about Langley, and he testified to Langley's use of aliases and criminal record, without objection from the defense. We find no prejudice arising from the cross-examination of Ates, primarily because the questions objected to by the appellant as collateral matters had already been answered on cross-examination of a previous defense witness without objection. The appellant did not object at his first opportunity to do so. Failure to object to a matter at first opportunity waives any right to raise the point on appeal. See Hill v. State, 285 Ark. 77, 685 S.W.2d 495 (1985).