Opinion ID: 1890528
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Use of Extrinsic Evidence To Impeach Character for Truth and Veracity

Text: The rules regarding admission of extrinsic evidence fall into two categories depending on the method of impeachment employed. Parties are permitted to introduce extrinsic evidence to impeach a witness by showing his or her inability to perceive the events testified to; prior convictions; or to show bias, prejudice or interest in the proceeding, regardless of whether the subject of the extrinsic evidence is independently material to the case. See, e.g., State v. Johnson, 700 S.W.2d 815, 817-18 (Mo. banc 1985) (bias); State v. Pigques, 310 S.W.2d 942, 947 (Mo.1958) (bias); State v. Caston, 509 S.W.2d 39, 41 (Mo. 1974) (ability to perceive). By contrast, parties traditionally have been limited in introducing extrinsic evidence when the form of impeachment concerns the witness's prior inconsistent statements or the witness's character for truth and veracity. They generally may do so when the witness denies the prior statement or specific instance of conduct only if the subject of the impeachment is material to the issues rather than collateral. As this Court stated in Black, collateralness goes to relevancy: A matter is considered to be collateral if the fact in dispute is of no material significance in the case or is not pertinent to the issues developed.. . . If a fact may be shown in evidence for any purpose independent of contradiction, it is not collateral. 151 S.W.3d at 55. Black applied these principles to the case before it, holding that the trial court abused its discretion in excluding extrinsic evidence in the form of three witnesses' prior statements that were inconsistent with their in-court testimony because the subject of the inconsistent statements was material. Id. at 55-56. Where the subject of the extrinsic evidence is collateral to the substantive issues at trial, however, then normally the defendant's answer with regard to his knowledge or denial of the questioned conduct is binding on the [questioner] and precludes further inquiry or extrinsic proof. Carothers, 710 S.W.2d at 371. As State v. Long noted, this rule furthers the general policy focusing the fact-finder [on] the most probative facts and conserving judicial resources by avoiding mini-trials on collateral issues. 140 S.W.3d 27, 30 (Mo. banc 2004). But Long held that in the case before it, fairness required it to recognize an exception to the rule prohibiting extrinsic evidence of nominally nonmaterial issues. It permitted the defendant to introduce the testimony of three witnesses who said that the victim had made previous false allegations of sexual or physical assault, stating: In some cases, however, the rule excluding extrinsic evidence of prior false allegations fails to serve this purpose [of focusing the jury on the central issue] by shielding the fact-finder not from collateral issues, but from a central issue in the case. An issue is not collateral if it is a `crucial issue directly in controversy.' Id. Long, therefore, concluded that extrinsic evidence of prior false allegations should be admissible because relevant to the central issue of credibility: Where, as in this case, a witness' credibility is a key factor in determining guilt or acquittal, excluding extrinsic evidence of the witnesses' prior false allegations deprives the fact-finder of evidence that is highly relevant to a crucial issue directly in controversy; the credibility of the witness. Id. at 30-31. This Court's decision in Roberts, 362 S.W.2d at 584, similarly had permitted extrinsic evidence in the form of deposition testimony of plaintiff to be used to impeach plaintiff's testimony at trial that all of his lawyers had joined the mob who were against him. The Court stated that, while the relationship between plaintiff and his lawyers and counsel for defendant, strictly speaking, was immaterial, plaintiff's lack of ability to get along with his lawyers and others as well as his persecution complex and belief in a conspiracy against him would be of value to the jury in assessing and evaluating plaintiff's essential soundness, credibility and reliability as a witness. Id. These cases approve exceptions to the bar on extrinsic evidence of a witness's character for truth and veracity where the evidence in question, even if not dealing with the substantive issues in the case, is very probative of and relevant to credibility. The difficulty with this approach is that it does not assist litigants or the courts in defining when credibility is to be considered central and therefore subject to being shown through extrinsic evidence, and when not. An analogy can be drawn, however, to cases permitting the admission of extrinsic evidence showing a witness's bias, prejudice, interest, prior convictions or inability to perceive; the rationale on which the latter cases rely is the same as that used in Long to justify introduction of extrinsic evidence of a witness's character for truth and veracity. As a result, in State v. Solven, 371 S.W.2d 328 (Mo. banc 1963), this Court held that evidence of bias, prejudice or interest is always relevant: The interest or bias of a witness and his relation to or feeling toward a party are never irrelevant matters, and where the interest or bias is denied by the witness, it may be shown by the testimony of others, and even where such interest or bias is admitted by the witness, the extent of it may be shown, though much is left to the discretion of the trial court as to how far the inquiry may go into the details of the difficulty, disagreement or other transaction which caused the hostility, prejudice or ill feeling. Id. at 331 (emphasis added). State v. Edwards, 637 S.W.2d 27, 29-30 (Mo. 1982), and State v. Johnson, 700 S.W.2d 815, 817 (Mo. banc 1985), reaffirm that extrinsic evidence showing bias or interest is never irrelevant and is admissible subject to the trial court's discretion to avoid undue prejudice. [10] Similarly, Lagud held that where the extrinsic evidence goes to the witness's intoxication or similar reasons that affect the witness's perception, then the subject of the witness's testimony is not a collateral issue but bears directly on the ability of the witness to accurately describe those events. 136 S.W.3d at 793. Accord, State v. Caston, 509 S.W.2d 39, 41 (Mo. 1974). The focus of both exceptions is the need to admit highly probative and relevant evidence for the jury's consideration in determining whether to credit a witness's testimony. [11] An important distinction nonetheless does exist between cases involving extrinsic evidence of bias as compared with cases involving extrinsic evidence of character for truth and veracity. That distinction may explain why, historically, extrinsic evidence has not been permitted in the latter instance. For while the bias of a testifying witness toward a party or issue is nearly universally going to be highly relevant and probative because it will affect whatever issue the person is testifying about, the same may not always be true concerning extrinsic evidence of character for truth and veracity. This is because the fact that a person has told a lie on an irrelevant issue that is remote in time or subject may make the extrinsic evidence of little value in determining the witness's character for truth and veracity. As a result, the cases have adopted a general rule prohibiting such evidence because in most instances the risk of prejudice and the distraction of a mini-trial would outweigh the benefit of allowing such evidence. [12] The adoption of ad hoc exceptions in cases such as Long and Roberts , however, indicates that the better rule, and one that would provide more consistent guidance, would be to recognize that the real issue to be decided by the trial court is whether admission of the extrinsic evidence would be more probative or more prejudicial. In cases involving character of the witness for truth and veracity, it will be the unusual case where that balancing weighs in favor of admission of extrinsic evidence. But where it does so, such evidence should be admitted. In Long, therefore, because the extrinsic evidence concerned prior false allegations to authorities of a matter similar in nature to the alleged wrongful conduct in which the witness claimed defendant engaged, the truthfulness of the witness was highly relevant and probative to the credibility of the case's key witness. Although Long did not expressly weigh the probative value against any prejudice of the evidence, it in effect held that where the evidence is so highly probative and relevant, the court abused its discretion by excluding it. Applying these rules regarding admission of extrinsic evidence here, plaintiffs sought to impeach the defendant's character for truth and veracity by presenting extrinsic evidence of Dr. Kardesch's own statements under oath in this very case showing he gave a false answer in an interrogatory asking whether his license to practice medicine had been suspended. The probative value and relevance of his willingness to answer this interrogatory falsely (if such is shown) is high. This is so not because the suspension itself is highly relevant (it is not as it was based on a ground not related to the doctor's medical ability) but because it showed the defendant was willing to dissemble to hide facts about his medical background that he found embarrassing. This reflects on the credibility of his testimony at trial about what he told Mrs. Mitchell and whether his testimony was accurate or was offered instead to avoid embarrassment. On these facts, the trial court abused its discretion in entirely excluding such extrinsic evidence.