Court Opinion

ID: 9860156
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 23:12:36.35598+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T11:18:32.541560
License: Public Domain

GIVAN, Chief Justice,
dissenting.
I dissent from the majority opinion in this case. The majority correctly observes *1202that the question of evidence concerning appellant's prior attack on one Adda Kunli Addu was the subject of a Motion in Limine prior to trial and that the Motion in Limine was sustained by the trial judge. However, the issue presented to the trial court as to whether or not to allow the cross-examination by the State was the fact that during his direct examination, appellant had attempted to convince the jury that Cooper was the aggressor at all times. That it was Cooper who was armed in the first instance. That he only obtained the paring knife because he was fearful Cooper would shoot him and that when he followed Cooper and Walker down the stairs and out on the street, he was merely trying to persuade Cooper to leave Walker alone. He stauchly maintained he was never the aggressor and that at all times he was only trying to defend himself.
This attempt on appellant's part presented the issue of the prior conduct of the two men toward each other and toward Walker. Thus, the trial court was correct in its ruling that notwithstanding the Motion in Limine, appellant had, by his own direct examination, placed the issues of his and Cooper's conduct toward each other and toward Walker squarely before the jury. Thus the State was entitled to cross-examine him in depth on such issues. Jackson v. State (1977), 267 Ind. 62, 366 N.E.2d 1186.
The majority opinion attempts to distinguish Jackson, supra, from the present case. However, I fail to see a valid distinction. In Jackson the prior threats had been against two other foremen rather than the one involved in the case. The evidence was allowed because appellant had attempted to show in his case in chief that he had a good reputation at work and that it was the victim who had caused the episode and that he was only defending himself. The evidence of his prior attacks on other persons at the plant was allowed as rebuttal to his own testimony in chief.
The facts in Jackson and the facts in the case at bar are closely parallel. I believe the trial court was fully justified in allowing evidence of the attack on Adda Kunli Addu.
I would affirm the trial court.
PIVARNIK, J., concurs.