Opinion ID: 1527360
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: before the court and jury)

Text: THE COURT: The Jury will please disregard the last question and answer made by the witness. The last two questions and the last two answers of the witness will be stricken. Appellant here contends that the innuendoes created by the questioning were highly prejudicial, and that since the prosecuting attorney had no record upon which to base such a question, the trial court should have sustained the request for a mistrial. We do not find any such plain error in the trial court's ruling as would authorize consideration of this assignment under the plain error rule. There is no sound, substantial manifestation   , a strong, clear showing, that injustice or miscarriage of justice will result if the rule is not invoked. State v. Meiers, Mo.Sup., 412 S.W.2d 478, 480-481 [1]. The evidence of defendant's guilt was strong and substantial. Testifying in his own behalf, appellant was unable to deny his guilt. We see no basis for any conclusion that the inquiry which was the subject of objection produced a miscarriage of justice. Admittedly, such inquiries, without record support, have been condemned, but even in cases where there has been condemnation, such an inquiry has not served as a sole ground for reversal of a conviction. See: State v. Spivey, 191 Mo. 87, 90 S.W. 81, 88; State v. Stago, 82 Ariz. 285, 312 P.2d 160, 161 [2, 3]; State v. Singleton, 66 Ariz. 49, 182 P.2d 920, 930-931 [17-21]; Kizer v. State, 67 Okl.Cr. 16, 93 P.2d 58, 90 [16], [17]; Leo v. State, 63 Neb. 723, 89 N.W. 303, 305-306; Buel v. State, 104 Wis. 132, 80 N.W. 78, 82-83; People v. Perez, 58 Cal.2d 229, 23 Cal.Rptr. 569, 373 P.2d 617, 621-622 [4, 5], 3 A.L.R.3d 946. We do not find the case of Pearson v. United States, 6th Cir., 192 F.2d 681, very much in point on this issue, as appellant suggests. In Pearson, several defendants had been charged with receiving stolen property. The evidence at trial was circumstantial. One defendant was discharged on a directed verdict and two others were found not guilty by the jury. The appellate court, indicating that the evidence against the defendant Twitty was comparable to that against acquitted defendants, held that Twitty was entitled to a new trial because of questions relative to a 30-day jail sentence 16 years previously for receiving stolen property. In fact, Twitty had not been so sentenced. He had been arrested on such a charge but the warrant had been dismissed. In view of the district attorney's question, defense counsel found it necessary to explain the affair and the court of appeals said: Twitty's chances for a verdict of not guilty of the charge of receiving stolen property could well have depended on whether the jury thought he had been convicted, or learned he had been arrested, as a receiver of stolen property on a prior occasion. 192 F.2d 698 [19]. The court also questioned the good faith of government counsel in assuming in his question that Twitty had been convicted on the charge when the record showed otherwise. The court pointed out that the prosecutor must have obtained his knowledge of the charge from record sources, yet he saw fit to persist, contrary to the record, in innuendo that Twitty had been found guilty on the prior charge. Appellant's counsel, on oral argument in the present case, stated that the question here was not asked in bad faith. In United States v. Haskell, 2nd Cir., 327 F.2d 281, questioning of a defendant relative to prior convictions, based upon an erroneous FBI report, was held not prejudicially erroneous when the court directed that inquiry relating to such matters be disregarded. In United States v. Yarbrough, 6th Cir., 352 F.2d 491, the error consisted of cross-examination by the prosecution of the defendant relative to an offense which he had admitted on direct examination. The court held that the only method of impeachment was the record of the conviction and further that the inquiry was prejudicial because it related to an indictment for an offense, not a conviction. Neither of these cases, cited by appellant, is of assistance here. Here, the trial court sustained the first objection presented. Although it did not grant the requested mistrial, it did instruct that the inquiry be disregarded. The prosecuting attorney did not persist in inquiry along such lines. He did ask a general question about conviction of crime which produced the reply that the defendant had been convicted of an assault and of driving while intoxicated. The defendant's candor on these inquiries could have been considered in relation to any innuendo from the objectionable question. In any event, this is not such a matter as will call for application of the plain error rule and we need consider the matter no further. Matters of record, examined pursuant to Supreme Court Rule 28.02, V.A.M.R., are without error. The judgment is affirmed. HOUSER and HIGGINS, CC., concur.