Opinion ID: 780969
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Right to Confront Witnesses and to Present a Defense

Text: 111 Mason argues that the trial court violated his right to confront the prosecution's witnesses and to present a defense by restricting cross-examination of Chris, who had a history of violent assaults on Robin and others. Mason asserts that the Ohio Supreme Court's decision to uphold the trial court's exclusion of this evidence was an unreasonable application of the following principles from Washington v. Texas, 388 U.S. 14, 87 S.Ct. 1920, 18 L.Ed.2d 1019 (1967): 112 The right to offer the testimony of witnesses, and to compel their attendance, if necessary, is in plain terms the right to present a defense, the right to present the defendant's version of the facts as well as the prosecution's to the jury so it may decide where the truth lies. Just as an accused has the right to confront the prosecution's witnesses for the purpose of challenging their testimony, he has the right to present his own witnesses to establish a defense. This right is a fundamental element of due process of law. 113 Id. at 19, 87 S.Ct. 1920. The State of Ohio does not dispute that a defendant may offer evidence to show that a third party committed the crime, but it contends that rules of procedure and evidence constrain the right to present evidence. Mason claims that his right to a fair trial should control. 114 In Chambers v. Mississippi, 410 U.S. 284, 93 S.Ct. 1038, 35 L.Ed.2d 297 (1973), the Supreme Court proclaimed that [f]ew rights are more fundamental than that of an accused to present witnesses in his own defense. Id. at 302, 93 S.Ct. 1038. The right to present witnesses, however, is not absolute. In the exercise of this right, the accused, as is required of the State, must comply with established rules of procedure and evidence designed to assure both fairness and reliability in the ascertainment of guilt and innocence. Id. Mason does not argue that the Ohio rule barring evidence of prior bad acts is unfair or unreliable. Instead, Mason contends that this rule's protection should extend to defendants but not to witnesses. We are not persuaded that any such proposition is clearly established federal law as determined by the Supreme Court, and therefore decline to grant habeas relief on this ground. 115 Mason also argues that evidence of Chris's violent tendencies was admissible to show his bias or motive in testifying for the prosecution. The Supreme Court has recognized a defendant's constitutional right to test the credibility of witnesses through cross-examination. See Davis v. Alaska, 415 U.S. 308, 315-16, 94 S.Ct. 1105, 39 L.Ed.2d 347 (1974); see also Chambers, 410 U.S. at 295, 93 S.Ct. 1038. Forbidding inquiry into a witness's bias can violate the Confrontation Clause. Delaware v. Van Arsdall, 475 U.S. 673, 679-80, 106 S.Ct. 1431, 89 L.Ed.2d 674 (1986). However, a trial court retains discretion to limit the scope of cross-examination, based on concerns such as harassment, prejudice, confusion of the issues, the witness'[s] safety, or interrogation that is repetitive or only marginally relevant. Id. at 679, 106 S.Ct. 1431. In short, the Confrontation Clause guarantees only an opportunity for effective cross-examination, not cross-examination that is effective in whatever way, and to whatever extent, the defense might wish. Delaware v. Fensterer, 474 U.S. 15, 20, 106 S.Ct. 292, 88 L.Ed.2d 15 (1985). 116 In this case, Mason's defense at trial was that Chris had murdered Robin. It was thus in Mason's interest to demonstrate Chris's bias and motive for testifying against Mason. Mason was allowed to present evidence of and to cross-examine Chris about Chris's heavy drinking and violent tendencies, including two incidents of wife-beating. See Mason, 95 F.Supp.2d at 779. The trial court also permitted defense counsel to present evidence of and to cross-examine Chris about an alleged threat to kill Robin on the day that she disappeared. The jury also learned on both direct and cross-examination of Chris that Robin had made him the beneficiary of her life insurance policy. However, the trial court ruled that evidence about Chris's history of assaults was inadmissible because it was proffered by Mason only for the purpose of showing that Chris acted in conformity with the prior acts and was therefore likely to have murdered Robin. 117 Mason's first Confrontation Clause argument appears to have been that the evidence should be admitted to prove identity. Defense counsel alleged that Chris had previously beaten a person and left [that person] for dead in a field, J.A. at 758, just as Robin was left in an abandoned rural area. However, he also argued in the alternative that Chris's violent acts should be admitted not as specific instances to impeach credibility, but to show possibility of intent, motive, [and] similar modus operandi. J.A. at 758-59. Finally, defense counsel wanted to impeach Chris's credibility by showing other inconsistencies and what we believe to be untruths and/or lies. J.A. at 759; see also J.A. at 785 (contending during opening argument that Chris Dennis has lied about certain aspects of this case from the very beginning). But see J.A. at 1593 (arguing, in Mason's brief to the Ohio Supreme Court, that [t]he jury was not being asked to consider this evidence as impeaching). 118 Neither the Ohio Supreme Court nor the district court examined Mason's Confrontation Clause claim as such, holding instead that the evidence was not admissible under Ohio Rule of Evidence 404(A), which bars the use of propensity to prove conduct. The Ohio Supreme Court first rejected Mason's argument that Rule 404 should not apply to Chris because he was a witness rather than a defendant on trial. Mason, 694 N.E.2d at 950. It then observed that the trial court had allowed Mason to present some evidence that tended to show the criminal propensity of Chris Dennis, including testimony about two incidents when Chris struck Robin in the face. Id. 119 We recently considered the Confrontation Clause in Boggs v. Collins, 226 F.3d 728 (6th Cir.2000), cert. denied, 532 U.S. 913, 121 S.Ct. 1245, 149 L.Ed.2d 152 (2001). Although that case was decided under pre-AEDPA standards, it is still instructive. The Boggs court noted that courts had found Confrontation Clause violations when defense counsel had advanced an articulated theory that a witness had a motive to fabricate. Id. at 741. The record in this case, to the extent that Mason's attorneys based the defense on residual doubt, only barely suggests that they pursued a bias theory at trial. The trial court consistently framed the question as one of propensity, and defense counsel did not suggest otherwise. We thus conclude that Mason has failed to show that the Ohio Supreme Court unreasonably applied clearly established Supreme Court precedent in upholding the trial court's exclusion of certain evidence of Chris's violence.