Opinion ID: 1743314
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Third Specification of Error

Text: The final specification of error (Bill No. 1) was taken to the trial court's denial of a motion to strike certain rebuttal testimony by a police officer. He testified that, at the time of the arrest, the defendant had identified an object taken from his person as belonging to him. (This was contrary to the defendant's previous trial testimony that the object belonged to a friend.) Since the object had nothing at all to do with the robbery or the defendant's conduct at that time, apparently the purpose of the questioning was to prove a prior inconsistent statement. No objection was made to the testimony as being irrelevant, nor to it as being improper impeachment since as to a collateral fact or irrelevant matter. La.R.S. 15:494. The statement sought to be proved by way of impeachment was not a confession, nor an admission involving the existence of a criminal intent or an inculpatory fact, see 18 La.L.Rev. 140-142 (1957), and it is doubtful that a predicate need be laid. Pretermitting this issue, however, we find no merit to the bill. The trial court had sustained the defendant's earlier objection and had ordered the state to prove the voluntariness of the admission. Without objection by the defense, the state asked a series of three questions and established the prior inconsistent statement. After the state had rested with this witness, the defendant then moved to strike his testimony on the ground that the predicate was inadequate. The motion to strike is not recognized as a procedural remedy, at least where the defendant had failed to re-urge his objection if he felt that the further examination did not adequately prove the predicate of voluntariness. State v. Isaac, 261 La. 487, 260 So.2d 302 (1972).