Court Opinion

ID: 9505443
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-06 20:04:54.104281+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:04:28.309777
License: Public Domain

BOEHM, Justice,
dissenting.
I agree with Justice Sullivan that the transcript of the July 28 interview was erroneously admitted into evidence. In my view, the interrogating officers’ statements were inadmissible under Evidence Rule 704(b) and therefore the interview was inadmissible under Evidence Rule 403.
In this several hour session, Bostick consistently denied any recollection of setting the fire. The probative value of the interview, if any, is found in Bostick’s statement that if she did commit the crime, it was motivated by animosity towards her husband. The interview contains many statements by the interrogating officers that “we know” Bostick was guilty of the crime. These were inadmissible under Evidence Rule 704(b) as opinions as to guilt. In my view, the minimal probative value of Bostick’s admissible statements does not outweigh the prejudicial effect of these statements, even giving substantial deference to the trial court’s discretion on that issue. If Bostick’s response had been disentangled from the offending statements, presumably they could have been admitted. But that was not done and accordingly, the interview should have been excluded under Rule 403.
The majority’s rationale that the interrogators’ statements were simply questions in declarative form does not persuade me. The interrogation in Smith v. State, 721 N.E.2d 213, 216 (Ind.1999) cited by the majority as an example of an acceptable statement designed to elicit a response was:
Q: Well, you know, if we ... anybody we brought in here who would say in your gut who do you think might have done this ...
A: Um-Hum. They would probably said me.
Q: Omond. How does it feel to be, have that kind of reputation? Everybody wants you.
A: Everybody! That’s messing me up.
That is a far cry from the repeated exchanges between Bostick and her interrogators quoted by the majority. Here the interrogators placed their opinions as to Bostick’s guilt before the jury, reinforced by their claim that they “knew” Bostick was guilty. This technique wholly eviscerates Rule 704(b), and does it in a mode that is more pernicious than permitting a witness to testify in court as to guilt because the interrogator is not subject to cross examination as to the source of this claimed “knowledge.”
When Bostick objected to the admission of the videotape and transcript of the July 28 police interview during the trial, she did so for the reasons stated in her written motion to exclude evidence, previously filed with the trial court. These included the argument that even after redaction of the polygraph references, the resulting statements lacked “evidentiary value other than accusation by the interrogators.” I think this contention sufficiently raised the *276704(b) issue to preserve it for appeal. Accordingly, I agree with Justice Sullivan that this case should be remanded for retrial.
SULLIVAN, J., concurs.