Opinion ID: 1757749
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: the trial court erred in unresonably restricting defenant's impeachment of prosection witness.

Text: There seemed to be some confusion during the trial as to whether specific acts of conduct were admissible or whether the rule was limited to general character and reputation. This confusion apparently results from the application of Ark.Stat.Ann. § 28-1001, Rules 404 and 608 (Supp.1977): Rule 404. Character evidence not admissible to prove conduct, exceptionsOther crimes. (a) Character Evidence Generally. Evidence of a person's character or a trait of his character is not admissible for the purpose of proving that he acted in conformity therewith on a particular occasion, except: . . . . . (2) Character of victim. Evidence of a pertinent trait of character of the victim of the crime offered by an accused, or by the prosecution to rebut the same, or evidence of a character trait of peacefulness of the victim offered by the prosecution in a homicide case to rebut evidence that the victim was the first aggressor; . . . . . Rule 608. Evidence of character and conduct of witness. (a) Opinion and Reputation Evidence of Character. The credibility of a witness may be attacked or supported by evidence in the form of opinion or reputation, but subject to these limitations: (1) the evidence may refer only to character for truthfulness or untruthfulness, and (2) evidence of truthful character is admissible only after the character of the witness for truthfulness has been attacked by opinion or reputation evidence or otherwise. (b) Specific Instances of Conduct. Specific instances of the conduct of a witness, for the purpose of attacking or supporting his credibility, other than conviction of crime as provided in Rule 609, may not be proved by extrinsic evidence. They may, however, in the discretion of the court, if probative of truthfulness or untruthfulness, be inquired into on crossexamination of the witness (1) concerning his character for truthfulness or untruthfulness, or (2) concerning the character for truthfulness or untruthfulness of another witness as to which character the witness being cross-examined has testified. . . . . . After the prosecuting witness had testified on cross-examination that the character of the victim was good, the appellant attempted to question her about specific incidents. The witness denied knowledge of the specific incidents requested and the court curtailed the questioning upon objection by the state. On other occasions the appellant attempted to question the witness about the victim's general reputation and objections by the state were sustained. It is apparent from the abovequoted rules that evidence of a person's character or trait of his character may be offered by an accused in a homicide case for the purpose of rebutting evidence that the victim was not the aggressor. In this particular situation appellant asked about two specific violent incidents and the witness denied any knowledge of either. Although appellant may impeach his own witnesses, even character witnesses, he cannot make one his witness, after he has cross-examined him, and impeach the witness's adverse testimony by asking about specific instances of conduct except he may inquire about the victim's reputation or traits of character on matters relating solely to violence. Appellant could have presented these incidents by other witnesses.