Court Opinion

ID: 9452632
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 17:46:49.533738+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:33:17.686033
License: Public Domain

BURGER, Circuit Judge,
(concurring) :
I concur fully in Judge Fahy’s opinion, but it seems to me note should be taken of what I consider a misreading of my opinion in Smith and Bowden v. United States, 117 U.S.App.D.C. 1, 324 F.2d 879 (1963). The dissent seems to view each fact and factor recited in that opinion as critical and decisive to the holding.
*319Of course, that is not so. For example, it was never intended in Smith-Bow-den to suggest that the time factor for the interaction of “will, perception, memory and volition” was significant. This interaction in one case may occur in 10 seconds or 10 minutes; in another it may be 10 months, depending upon myriad factors not relevant to the decision to testify. The critical aspect of Smith-Bowden is that live witnesses are not “suppressed”, as inanimate objects may be. When an eyewitness is willing to give testimony, under oath and subject to all the rigors of cross-examination and penalties of perjury, he must be heard. How he came to be in court is a matter which goes only to the weight, not the admissibility, of his testimony.