Opinion ID: 1607200
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 17

Heading: Dr Emma Lew

Text: Dr. Lew was the medical examiner who performed the autopsy on Cynthia Brown's body and testified at trial. On direct examination, Dr. Lew testified that Brown had died from asphyxiation, which can be caused by a number of different mechanisms such as smothering, strangulation, drowning, carbon monoxide poisoning, and positional constriction of the airway. Dr. Lew discounted all of these mechanisms except smothering based on the crime scene evidence and Brown's body. Dr. Lew stated that the evidence was consistent with Brown being smothered with a bed pillow. On cross-examination, defense counsel asked Dr. Lew if it was possible that Brown died from asphyxiation while having sex with her face in a pillow. Dr. Lew responded this was unlikely as the person would start flailing to get her breath and to get the other person off of her. Defense counsel then asked if both people were drunk and using drugs could she be placed in a position where she might be asphyxiated during sex. Dr. Lew responded that it was unlikely because she would not have had her underpants on if she died during sex. [8] Defense counsel also asked whether the underwear could have been placed back on the body after she died in order to cover up the scene. Dr. Lew responded that if that were the case they did not do a good job as there was no evidence of activity on the bed, Brown was covered up with the bed clothes when she was found, and a bloody pillow was found under her head. Defense counsel further asked if it was possible that Brown could have had a heart attack after having sex and using cocaine and the other person staged her body when he realized she was dead. Dr. Lew stated it was possible and was consistent with the evidence. Defense counsel then asked whether sex could be described as a violent activity. Dr. Lew responded that you usually are not holding your breath during sex. Defense counsel then responded but are not there people who try to limit their breathing during the sex act. The State objected that to this question as irrelevant, speculative, and not based on the evidence, which was sustained. Then defense counsel asked if there was such a thing as autoerotic asphyxia. Dr. Lew said yes there is such a thing. When defense counsel asked Dr. Lew to explain this to the jury, the State objected as to relevancy and the court sustained that objection. The trial court held that defense counsel could ask Dr. Lew if it autoerotic asphyxia applied in this case but could not ask Dr. Lew to explain the asphyxia. The court told defense counsel that it could call its own expert on this matter. Defense counsel never called Dr. Lew or any other expert as a defense witness to testify about autoerotic asphyxiation. The Florida Evidence Code provides that [c]ross-examination of a witness is limited to the subject matter of the direct examination and matters affecting the credibility of the witness. § 90.612(2), Fla. Stat. (2005). The credibility of a witness may be attacked by evidence that the witness has been convicted of a crime if the crime was punishable by death or imprisonment in excess of 1 year under the law under which the witness was convicted, or if the crime involved dishonesty or a false statement regardless of the punishment. § 90.610(1), Fla. Stat. (2005). A trial judge has wide discretion to impose reasonable limits on cross-examination. See Delaware v. Van Arsdall, 475 U.S. 673, 106 S.Ct. 1431, 89 L.Ed.2d 674 (1986); Geralds v. State, 674 So.2d 96, 100 (Fla. 1996); Jones v. State, 580 So.2d 143, 145 (Fla.1991). A judge's determination to allow or disallow questioning in that regard is not subject to review unless the determination is clearly erroneous. See Sanders v. State, 707 So.2d 664, 667 (Fla.1998). We conclude that the trial court did not improperly restrict cross-examination of Fail or Jones. In fact, the trial court's holdings are entirely consistent with the law because questioning about the underlying facts of a conviction is not allowed. Defense counsel was not permitted to inquire into the nature of the witnesses' prior convictions. See Floyd v. State, 913 So.2d 564, 576 (Fla.2005); Cummings v. State, 412 So.2d 436, 438 (Fla. 4th DCA 1982). However, defense counsel was permitted to question their veracity and their bias. Moreover, the record shows that defense counsel was able to extensively question Dr. Lew about the cause of Brown's death. Through his questioning, counsel was also able to call into question the manner of death as homicide. He was able to explore his death during sex scenario fairly extensively. In fact, the only restriction was not being able to ask Dr. Lew to explain what autoerotic asphyxia involves. We conclude that the trial court's determination to disallow this questioning was not an abuse of discretion because defense counsel's questioning went beyond the scope of cross-examination. Additionally, the defense was free to either call Dr. Lew as a defense witness or to call another expert to explain autoerotic asphyxia more fully. We find no merit to Smith's claims regarding the questioning of Fail, Jones, and Dr. Lew.