Court Opinion

ID: 9647716
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 13:48:11.020594+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:11:52.444110
License: Public Domain

LARSEN, Justice,
dissenting.
I dissent.
The majority concludes that the lower court erred in restricting defense counsel’s cross-examination of Detective Chitwood by not permitting defense counsel “to show that just before interrogating appellant, Chitwood severely beat William Hoskins [appellant’s co-arrestee] with a nightstick and that afterward Chitwood was transferred out of the homicide division of the police department.” I disagree with this conclusion and in support thereof, cite the lower court’s (the Honorable Samuel Smith) opinion:
In the instant case, [appellant] . . . attempted to present evidence (through cross-examination) which, if believed, would indicate only bias against William Hoskins [appellant’s co-arrestee]. There was no evidence of bias against Lonnie Dawson [appellant], nor was there any evidence that Dawson had been beaten or in any way mistreated by Detective Chitwood or any other policeman or detective. (Fourth Trial Day N.T. 98)
The Court properly refused to allow the improper inference of “bias by association” to become a trial issue for the sole reason that Dawson and Hoskins were co-arrestees. Defense counsel was given ample opportunity to attempt to impeach Detective Chitwood; the supposedly “limited” examination included one hundred and twenty five pages of cross-examination and an additional two pages of re-cross.
The Court holds that Hoskins’ alleged beating and any alleged police discipline of Detective Chitwood resulting from it was irrelevant to the case on trial. It was in no way probative of bias toward Lonnie Dawson and the Court acted well within its discretion in excluding such testimony from trial. [Emphasis in original].