Opinion ID: 1924787
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: Unavailability of the Witness

Text: We do not reach defendant's argument regarding the trial justice's finding that Floyd was unavailable as a witness [26] because defendant has failed to properly preserve it for review by this Court. We have repeatedly held that an issue is not properly before this Court if it was not raised at the trial level. See, e.g., Cardoza, 649 A.2d at 748; see also Lopes, 884 A.2d at 399. With respect to evidentiary rulings, when one side objects to the introduction of evidence for only one specific reason, any other ground for objection, even if later raised at the appellate level, is deemed to have been waived. State v. Neri, 593 A.2d 953, 956 (R.I.1991); see also State v. Bettencourt, 723 A.2d 1101, 1107 (R.I.1999). In the instant case, defendant did not object at trial to the determination that Floyd was unavailable; rather, defendant limited his argument concerning the admissibility of Floyd's prior testimony to the adequacy of defendant's opportunity to cross-examine him at the earlier trial. Accordingly, we will only review the trial justice's ruling that defendant's opportunity to cross-examine Floyd at the federal court trial was sufficient to warrant the introduction of Floyd's recorded federal court testimony in defendant's state court trial.