Opinion ID: 1674080
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 13

Heading: Cross-Examination of the State's Witness

Text: After one of the officers testified that he obtained written permission to search the Benton Street house, defense counsel asked him on cross-examination why he had not obtained permission earlier to search Cleveland Johnson's house on Monticello Street. The State's attorney objected to this line of questioning, and the trial judge sustained the objection because he felt that line of questioning was not material. A bill was reserved, and the alleged error of the trial court's ruling is urged as the final contention on this appeal. The bill of exception is founded on the proposition that when a witness has been sworn and has testified to any single fact in his examination in chief, he may be cross-examined on the whole case. La.R.S. 15:376. Furthermore, it is said that since the court at first ruled that the evidence obtained as a result of the search and seizure of the Monticello Street house should be suppressed and since the court thereafter permitted the State to present additional evidence on the reasonableness of the search, it was unfair not to allow the defense to pursue this line of questioning in rebuttal to the State's new evidence. These objections lack merit. In the first place the trial judge had previously decided that the arrests and the search and seizure of the Monticello Street house were valid, the arrests having been made on reasonable belief or probable cause that these defendants were the actors in the robbery-killing, and the search and seizure were incident thereto. As the questioning under consideration was in connection with the predicate being laid by the State for a confession made by Cleveland Johnson at the Benton Street house, it was unrelated in time or place to the Monticello Street search. Moreover, this evidence was to be considered by the judge alone. And he, of course, was satisfied that the officers properly searched the Monticello Street house and that the search there had no bearing upon the reasons why the officers obtained permission to search the Benton Street house. The reasons, however, are apparent. When the search was made of the Monticello Street house, the officers were in hot pursuit of the robber-killers and had no time to obtain permission or a search warrant. If they had delayed to obtain a warrant, the Johnsons and Breaux would surely have escaped. Whereas, when they arrived at the Benton Street house, immediate action was no longer required. All of the suspects were in custody, and there was time to obtain the permission they did obtain to conduct the search there. As this answer to the question posed by defense counsel was obvious to the judge, the law did not require him to permit the questioning to proceed; for the judge regulates the trial and has full authority to prevent needless questioning. For the reasons assigned, the convictions and sentences are affirmed.