Opinion ID: 727344
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Impeachment of Chavez

Text: 26 Chavez's testimony was crucial to the state's case against Henderson. The use of narcotics can, obviously, affect the ability of a witness to perceive, to recall, and to recount the events she has observed. Whether Chavez may have been under the influence of narcotics at the time of the offense (or at some other pertinent time) was thus an appropriate subject of inquiry and impeachment. United States v. Cameron, 814 F.2d 403, 405 (7th Cir.1987). 27 But we agree that Henderson was not deprived of his right to confront the witnesses against him when the trial court barred the testimony of Quintin Jones. 3 Had the proffer of Jones' testimony established that Chavez was using narcotics within the time frame of the events to which she testified, it might have been improper and prejudicial to Henderson to exclude the testimony. Instead, however, Jones was held up as a witness who would testify simply that he had known Chavez to use drugs on many occasions; we do not know when those occasions were in reference to the murder of Leonard and the attempted murder of Chavez. It is thus not at all clear that the testimony was probative of Chavez's ability to recognize and identify the individual who committed the offense. See United States v. Robinson, 956 F.2d 1388, 1398 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 506 U.S. 1020, 113 S.Ct. 654, 121 L.Ed.2d 581 (1992) (testimony as to witness' drug use properly excluded where voir dire did not establish that it affected the witness' memory of relevant events). Absent a connection to Chavez's cognitive abilities, Jones' testimony would have served only to impeach her character, a purpose we have repeatedly deemed improper. See United States v. Neely, 980 F.2d 1074, 1081 (7th Cir.1992); Robinson, 956 F.2d at 1397-98; Cameron, 814 F.2d at 406. Under these circumstances, we see no error, and certainly none rising to the level of a constitutional deprivation, in the decision to bar Jones from testifying on this topic. Robinson, 956 F.2d at 1398; Cameron, 814 F.2d at 406.III. 28 The record establishes no error in the state courts' conclusion that Henderson voluntarily, knowingly, and intelligently waived his Miranda rights and that the testimony of Quintin Jones concerning Mona Chavez's purported drug use was properly excluded. The district court's decision to deny Henderson's petition for a writ of habeas corpus was therefore correct. 29 AFFIRMED.