Opinion ID: 731023
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Court's Admission of Tape-Recorded Interview

Text: 19 Cedric Neal testified, as a hostile witness, that he was not sure of the identity of the masked, armed robber who shot Adrian Riley. He also testified that he did not remember giving a taped interview on February 23, 1994, less than three weeks after the Elm Street shooting and robbery, in which he stated that he saw Mr. Kizeart shoot Riley. The government impeached co-conspirator Neal's statements through the testimony of Carbondale police detectives Lynn Trella and James Temple, who stated that, in their interviews with him, Neal had identified Mr. Kizeart as the one who had shot Riley. After their testimony, the government sought to play to the jury the February 23 taperecorded interview with Neal. Mr. Kizeart objected on the grounds that the tape recording was cumulative, would not add anything to Detective Trella's own testimony, and would unduly emphasize the final and incriminating interview of Mr. Neal. Tr.II at 328. The court overruled the objection and granted the admission of the tape. Mr. Kizeart submits now that the trial court should have exercised its authority to exclude the taped recording as cumulative under Federal Rule of Evidence 403. 1 According to Mr. Kizeart, once the government had impeached Neal through the testimony of the two police officers who had conducted the interview in question, the admission of the tape recording of that interview was cumulative and unduly emphasized Neal's one tape-recorded statement to the detriment of the three interviews that were not recorded. 20 It is within a district court's sound discretion to admit or to refuse evidence challenged as cumulative. Our court reviews a district court's evidentiary decisions under Rule 403 solely for an abuse of that discretion. United States v. Irvin, 87 F.3d 860, 863-64 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 117 S.Ct. 259, 136 L.Ed.2d 184 (1996); United States v. Wiman, 77 F.3d 981, 984 (7th Cir.1996). Chief Judge Posner recently has offered a definition of cumulative that assists our analysis: 21 Evidence is cumulative when it adds very little to the probative force of the other evidence in the case, so that if it were admitted its contribution to the determination of truth would be outweighed by its contribution to the length of trial, with all the potential for confusion, as well as prejudice to other litigants, who must wait longer for their trial, that a long trial creates. 22 United States v. Williams, 81 F.3d 1434, 1443 (7th Cir.1996). 23 In this case, the recorded statement added considerable probative force on the issue of Neal's veracity because it addressed the contradictions between the statements of Neal and of the detectives. It also addressed Neal's internally contradictory testimony. Neal's credibility was an issue from the moment he began his testimony. Both the prosecutor and the court continuously reminded Neal that he must answer the questions truthfully under oath. The court allowed him to discuss his concerns with his lawyer before continuing with his testimony. In spite of these admonitions in court, Neal denied that he could recall events that clearly had occurred, events of which he had direct knowledge. When he stated that he did not remember making a tape-recorded statement to Detective Trella, the government had good reason to proffer the most direct evidence, the tape of the interview, impeaching that statement. Rule 403 permits a court to exclude evidence to avoid the needless presentation of cumulative evidence. Fed.R.Evid. 403 (emphasis added). In this case, the tape-recorded testimony was far from needless; it had an independent evidentiary value, a probative effect that raised that evidence from cumulative to contribut[ory] to the determination of the truth. See Williams, 81 F.3d at 1443. 24 The district court admitted Neal's recorded statement for the limited purpose of weighing Neal's credibility as a witness. Moreover, once the defense put on its case, Neal was recalled as a witness and was given the opportunity to explain the discrepancies in his statements. 2 Therefore Neal's perspective was presented for full consideration by the jury. In the end, the credibility determination concerning Neal's testimony was in the hands of the jury. The district court did not abuse its discretion in admitting the taped interview of Neal for the purpose of ascertaining Neal's credibility and for the purpose of giving the jury as complete a picture of the events as possible. Accordingly, we shall not disturb the jury verdict on account of that determination.