Opinion ID: 1771702
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 27

Heading: Curtailed Impeachment

Text: A Baton Rouge police sergeant testified on direct examination by the prosecutor that he monitored the interrogation of defendant, that he observed no one threaten, coerce or physically intimidate defendant, and that the interrogating officers did not display their weapons, apply any physical pressure to defendant or use any plastic or paper bags as a means of forcing defendant to answer questions. On cross-examination, defense counsel asked the sergeant about alleged improprieties which took place some years earlier when officers interrogated suspects during the investigation of the murder of a police officer. The prosecutor objected, claiming that any alleged improprieties in an unrelated investigation years earlier were not relevant to defendant's present claim. The court sustained the objection, stating, What was done in prior cases is not relevant to what was done in this case. The prior record of misconduct by one police officer has no relevance when the defendant alleges mistreatment by another officer. State v. Floyd, 435 So.2d 992, 995 (La.1983). Here, defendant provides no suggestion that any of the officers who participated in his arrest and interrogation had previously engaged in any acts of misconduct. Thus he fails to demonstrate that the court erred when it did not allow the defense to pursue that line of questioning which would have possessed little relevance to defendant's claims of abuse.