Court Opinion

ID: 9731925
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 16:01:35.457436+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:26:21.903453
License: Public Domain

Dissenting Opinion
DeBruler, J.
I dissent. This case is one of a growing number of cases in which an overzealous law enforcement officer, apparently unschooled or unappreciative of the notion of fundamental fairness in a trial situation, puts before the jury the fact that he has arrested the appellant before, thereby greatly increasing the probability of a guilty verdict. Such an irresponsible comment at the trial not only prejudices the case against the accused, but it also costs the State time and money in the handling of the appeal which follows, and puts off the final disposition of the case. It would seem a simple matter to educate officers in the fundamentals of due process such that they would be aware that references to prior involvement with the law either by arrests or convictions are strictly forbidden, except in narrowly specified circumstances. The number of recent cases in which police officers have “slipped in” this prejudicial information demonstrates that they have not been so instructed. See, for example, Moore v. State (1972), *246258 Ind. 200; Duvose v. State (1971), 257 Ind. 450, 275 N. E. 2d 536; White v. State (1971), 257 Ind. 64, 272 N. E. 2d 312; Duke v. State (1968), 249 Ind. 466, 233 N. E. 2d 159. I believe a strong line should be taken in this area, and any reference to a prior arrest or conviction by a police officer or other professional type witness should, in my opinion, be grounds for a mistrial.
Certainly the error in this case was not harmless where the appellee’s case rested solely on the testimony of an accomplice and the testimony of the police officer who never explicitly and clearly said that he knew at the time of the incident that the man fleeing was in fact the appellant. It is clear that the officer knew appellant for some years prior to the trial, but it is not clear that he knew the man running was that same Robbie Bonds. The trial court struck the testimony where the witness said he yelled for appellant to stop. He was then asked if he knew appellant and the witness pointed him out in court and testified that he had met him several times over a period of ten years and had arrested him before. The witness then described appellant and was asked to describe the man that fled. The witness said the running man was short and slim. When asked if there was any other description he could make the witness said “No, sir, not other than his clothing.” Although the witness was offered a perfect opportunity to say the running man was appellant, the witness did not do so. The majority opinion offers no reason to think that such testimony coupled with accomplice testimony was so solid that the evidential harpoon was harmless.
Note. — Reported in 280 N. E. 2d 313.