Court Opinion

ID: 9572249
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 20:40:04.442253+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:32:09.213007
License: Public Domain

TIMMONS-GOODSON, Judge,
concurring in the result.
Because I disagree with the majority opinion’s application of State v. Williams, 315 N.C. 310, 338 S.E.2d 75 (1986), to the facts of the instant case, I concur only in the result of Part II of the opinion. I otherwise concur.
The majority concludes that the hearsay testimony offered by Flanagan in the instant case was admissible under the rule cited in Williams that “evidence explanatory of testimony brought out on cross-examination may be elicited on redirect even though it might not have been properly admissible in the first instance.” Id. at 320, 338 S.E.2d at 82. This rule allows admission of evidence elicited during redirect examination of a witness that would have been otherwise inadmissible as irrelevant if first offered during direct examination. See, e.g., N.C. Gen. Stat. § 8C-1, Rule 404(a) (2001) (generally prohibiting character evidence as irrelevant, but allowing such evidence to be offered by the prosecution in order to rebut evidence presented by the defendant). The rule does not encompass evidence that is inadmissible for reasons of hearsay, however.
In State v. Love, 296 N.C. 194, 250 S.E.2d 220 (1978), the case cited by the Williams Court in support of the rule, the defendant objected to certain evidence elicited by the State during redirect examination of a police officer on the grounds that it was “offered solely to prejudice the jury against defendant” and was therefore irrelevant. Id. at 201, 250 S.E.2d at 225. The Love Court concluded that defendant’s objection was without merit, as defense counsel had “opened the door” to this information during cross-examination. The defendant also objected to the testimony on the grounds that it constituted inadmissible hearsay, which argument the Court addressed separately. Clearly, if the rule allowing explanatory information to be *534elicited on redirect encompassed evidence otherwise inadmissible for reasons of hearsay, as well as relevancy, there would have been no need for the Love Court to address these arguments separately. I therefore disagree with the majority’s conclusion that the hearsay evidence offered by Flanagan was properly admitted. As I conclude, however, that admission of this evidence was harmless, I agree with the result of the majority in finding no error.