Court Opinion

ID: 9451576
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 17:19:58.875246+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:32:48.342752
License: Public Domain

McALLISTER, Senior Circuit Judge
(dissenting).
In the accompanying opinion it is held that it was not prejudicial error for the district court to rule that if the defendant-appellant was going to testify in this criminal ease, he must do so before he presented any other proof in his own behalf, and that he must do so before any other defendants testified or offered proof. Counsel for appellant strongly objected to this ruling, and did not thereafter introduce the testimony of any witnesses on behalf of appellant. The court’s ruling was, in my opinion, unreasonable and arbitrary and may well have resulted in prejudicial error. In saying this, I do not, in any manner, reflect upon the fairness and impartiality of Honorable Bailey Brown, the district judge who made this ruling. He was following the rule provided for by statute in the State of Tennessee, as well as in Kentucky, and which is followed in some other jurisdictions. Of course, when there are several defendants in a criminal case and counsel for none of them wishes to take the first step in submitting his defense witnesses, the trial court must, of necessity, decide the question which defendant must first produce his proofs and, also, in case of necessity, the order in which other defendants must proceed. However, in a well-reasoned opinion in Bell v. State, 66 Miss. 192, 5 So. 389, where it was held error to require an accused, “as a condition upon which he would be permitted to testify at all, to take the stand before examining othering witnesses whom he desired to introduce,” the court declared: “It must often be a very serious question with the accused and his counsel whether he shall be placed upon the stand as a witness, and subjected to the hazard of cross-examination, and one which cannot be a question that he is not required to decide until upon a full survey of all the case, as developed by the state, and met by witnesses on his own behalf. He may intelligently weigh the advantages and disadvantages of his situation, and, thus advised, determine how to act. Whether he shall testify or not; if so, at what stage in the progress of his defense, —are equally submitted to the free and unrestricted choice of one accused of crime, and are in the very nature of things beyond the control or direction of the presiding judge.”
The defense of a man charged with crime is often one of the most difficult professional tasks which confronts a lawyer. The witnesses to be called to sustain the defense are frequently persons whose character can be easily assailed by the prosecutor. The questions to be asked must be reflected upon with utmost care, for the wrong or careless question may bring an answer that imperils the liberty of the accused. If the man charged with crime takes the witness stand in his own behalf, any and every arrest and conviction, even for lesser felonies, can be brought before the jury by the prosecutor, and such evidence may have devastating and deadly effect, although unrelated to the offense charged. The decision as to whether the defendant in a criminal case shall take the stand is, therefore, often of utmost importance, and counsel must, in many cases, meticulously balance the advantages and disadvantages of the prisoner’s becoming a witness in his own behalf. Why, then, should a court insist that the accused must testify before any other evidence is introduced in his behalf, or be completely foreclosed from testifying thereafter? We have come a long way in protecting *191the rights of accused persons in courts, and their rights cannot be made to depend upon a bargain between the accused and the court that if the accused will testify first, then his other witnesses can testify; otherwise not. This savors of judicial whim, even though sanctioned by some authorities; and the cause of justice and a fair trial cannot be subjected to such a whimsicality of criminal procedure.
It is most distressing to be obliged to hold that a conviction that might be otherwise valid should be set aside and the case retried because of such a holding. But this appears to be required in the present case; and it is to be hoped that an opinion to this effect will be salutary and effective in trials of criminal eases in the future in this circuit.