Opinion ID: 2378414
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Admission of Sgt. Jamison Testimony

Text: The appellant states the issue in this form: The Court erred in overruling Appellant's objection at trial to the admission of Sgt. Albert T. Jamison's notes and testimony regarding statements made by the Appellant in a custodial interrogation, on the grounds the notes were not disclosed to the Appellant in response to his pretrial motion for discovery and were not revealed thereby to Appellant's county assigned investigator when he interviewed said Jamison, where the Appellant claimed he was surprised by their admission into evidence at that time and thereby was denied an adequate opportunity to prepare his defense. The evidence does not support the statement of issue. Sgt. Jamison was present for only a brief time while the appellant was being interrogated by another officer. He made some notes which he used to refresh his recollection as a witness. These notes were never offered or admitted into evidence. Sgt. Jamison's testimony was very brief and did no more than (a) verify the giving of Miranda warnings by the interrogating officer and (b) relate that in answer to a question by the interrogating officer, appellant stated that he stayed at the Manoir Hotel on Wednesday nigh' (the night the homicide was committed) until it closed which was around midnight. The appellant's investigator did not testify. There is no evidence that the witness failed to reveal anything to the investigator which he had a duty to disclose or that he gave the investigator any false information. There was no violation of M.R.Crim.P., Rule 16(a). Appellant's statement was innocuous and was as consistent with innocence as with guilt. It was at most merely cumulative in the light of the undisputed testimony of the State's witness Cote and the codefendant Turner. No error is shown.