Opinion ID: 1528630
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 16

Heading: refusal to allow cross-examination

Text: The Defendant next argues that the trial court erred in refusing to allow cross-examination of Willie Cox about his deal with the State. Willie Cox testified that the Defendant had told him shortly after the murder that the Defendant had cut the throat of a woman on Winchester and put her in a bathtub. Cox, who, it was revealed, had several prior convictions, had not come forward with this information until a year later when he himself was in trouble once again. On cross-examination, the Defendant asked Cox if he had been trying to make a deal. Cox replied, No, it wasn't really a deal but he thought it might be a deal. The defense then elicited that Cox had pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and served six months in jail. The court sustained the State's objection to Defendant's elicitation of how much time Cox had served and to a second question proposing to ask [Cox] something about [his] voluntary manslaughter charge. The State had argued that this information was irrelevant. The Court also sustained an objection to a later question on re-cross in which the Defendant asked if, at the time of his statement to police, was Cox not really charged with murder in the second degree. The Defendant contends that the court's rulings on the State's objections prevented his examining Cox to show that promises of leniency had motivated Cox to testify falsely against the Defendant and that this limitation on cross-examination interfered with his Sixth Amendment right of confrontation. The State argues that the Defendant waived this issue by not making an offer of proof to establish there was a deal. See Tenn.R.Evid. 103(a)(2) (error may not be predicated on an error excluding evidence unless the substance of the evidence and the specific evidentiary basis supporting admission were made known to the court by offer or were apparent from the context). As the State points out, Cox denied there was a deal. This issue also was not raised on motion for new trial. An accused has a right to explore on cross-examination promises of leniency to a prosecution witness to show a motive for testifying falsely for the State. State v. Norris, 684 S.W.2d 650, 654 (Tenn. Crim. App. 1984). Undue restriction of this right may violate a defendant's right to confrontation. See Delaware v. Van Arsdall, 475 U.S. 673, 106 S.Ct. 1431, 89 L.Ed.2d 674 (1986). See generally, Cohen, Paine and Sheppeard, Tennessee Law of Evidence, § 616.3 (2nd ed. 1990). In the present case, if the voluntary manslaughter conviction did grow out of the trouble Cox was in when he contacted the authorities, and this is not entirely clear from the record, the trial court should have allowed inquiry into Cox's treatment by the State on this conviction. Any error, however, is harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. See State v. Black, 815 S.W.2d 166, 177 (Tenn. 1991); Delaware v. Van Arsdall, 475 U.S. at 680-85, 106 S.Ct. at 1436-1438. Cox's testimony made it clear that it was only after he was in trouble that he came forward to tell authorities about Defendant's remarks. Although he denied any deal, and there is no proof there was a deal, he said that he had hoped there might have been one. The jury also heard he had served only six months on a guilty plea to voluntary manslaughter. The Defendant's confession to his niece and the presence of his fingerprints in the bedroom corroborated Cox's testimony. We find no reversible error.