Opinion ID: 2006639
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Admission of the Statements about Other Homicides

Text: Defendant claims on appeal that he was deprived of a fair trial through the admission, following re-cross-examination of Sheridan, of his statements regarding other homicides. [21] In their direct case, the People initially introduced defendant's statements pertaining only to the Matos killing and the Avenue D incidents. The trial court ultimately permitted the People to introduce defendant's entire confession, including the statements about other homicides, to rebut the claim that defendant falsely confessed in an unreliable interrogation to killing Matos to cover for his wife. The trial court explained that the jury needed to hear the entire confession to discern the truthfulness of the [Matos] statement and the motivation for the defendant to give the various versions of it. In our view, defendant, in the particular circumstances of this case, opened the door to this evidence. [22]