Opinion ID: 2159195
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Cross-Examination of Expert Witnesses

Text: Counsel are customarily accorded considerable latitude in the cross-examination of witnesses, subject to limits reasonably imposed by the trial court in the exercise of its sound discretion. State v. Siegler, 12 N.J. 520, 526-27 (1953). Defendant acknowledges that it was appropriate for the prosecutor to have tested the conclusions of its expert witnesses through cross-examination focused on factors that formed the basis for their opinions. Defendant contends, however, that questions to Dr. Lapidus and Dr. Fox emphasizing details of defendant's record in high school, the army, and in jail were improper because the records were not in evidence and the experts had not relied on them in formulating their opinions. Moreover, defendant asserts that the questions posed by the prosecutor concerning these subjects exposed the jury to allegations about defendant's past conduct not otherwise admissible by the State in the penalty phase. An example cited is the prosecutor's question during cross-examination of Dr. Fox concerning his knowledge that defendant extorted meals from inmates while in jail, an allegation that the prosecutor repeated during his summation. Defense counsel did not object to the question and Dr. Fox denied any such knowledge. Without doubt, the question was improper, and a timely objection, if made, should have been sustained. Not only was the subject matter unrelated to Dr. Fox's opinion or the information reviewed by him, no facts concerning the event on which the question was based were in evidence and the prosecutor made no proffer indicating his ability to prove the occurrence. See State v. Di Paglia, 64 N.J. 288, 302-03 (1974) (Clifford, J., dissenting); see also infra at 513-519 (discussing limits on cross-examination). Similarly, other questions relating to defendant's schooling, army service, and incarceration, asked and answered without objection, were neither related to the materials reviewed by the experts nor based on evidence in the record. Subject to our conclusion concerning the need for a limiting instruction before jury deliberations in the penalty phase, we find that whatever error may have occurred in permitting this line of cross-examination was not clearly capable of producing an unjust result. R. 2:10-2. Defendant challenges the prosecutor's cross-examination of the expert witnesses concerning defendant's acts of physical violence toward women. Although acknowledging that information concerning these incidents had been reviewed by the experts prior to trial, defendant contends that the cross-examination was improper because it was conducted based on the prosecutor's wildly exaggerated version of the facts. Since both experts referred to these incidents during their direct testimony, the defendant's prior physical assaults on women was a proper subject for cross-examination. Although defense counsel had ample basis for objecting to the exaggerated and inflammatory form of this interrogation, we note that this questioning also occurred without objection. Under the circumstances, and subject to our conclusion about the need for a limiting instruction, we conclude that any error on the part of the trial court in connection with this aspect of the expert's cross-examination was harmless. Defendant also challenges as irrelevant and inflammatory the interrogation of Dr. Lapidus and Dr. Fox concerning defendant's reason for buying the shotgun, the schoolyard incident in which defendant carried the shotgun while looking for Coley Hunter, and defendant's hostility toward and altercations with black youths. We find this line of interrogation to be pertinent and conclude, subject to our determination concerning a limiting instruction and our discussion of prosecutorial misconduct, that any errors that occurred on specific aspects of this cross-examination were harmless.