Court Opinion

ID: 9715768
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 06:13:48.480682+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:37.964196
License: Public Domain

*452ROBERTS, Justice,
dissenting.
I dissent. It is unwarranted on this record to remand this case involving a 1968 accident for a new trial in 1982 on the basis of an evidentiary ruling that, even if erroneous, was not prejudicial to plaintiff-appellant.
Contrary to the majority’s assertion, appellant did not make a timely objection to defense counsel’s introduction into evidence of the entire prior statement of Mr. Jakubczyk. Appellant had introduced the statement, in part, in the immediately preceding examination of Mr. Jakubczyk. Appellant, who necessarily was familiar with the full content of the statement, made no objection when defense counsel asked Mr. Jakubczyk: “would you read for us the entire statement that you gave on November 19, 1968.... ” Only after Mr. Jakubczyk had read three-quarters of the statement, thus reinforcing that portion of the statement which had already been read on appellant’s recross-examination of the witness, did appellant object to the admissibility of the entire statement.
Even assuming that appellant did object in a timely fashion, the overruling of that objection is not reversible error. Although the full statement exceeded the scope of recross-examination and, in part, constituted improper opinion testimony, the content of that statement did not prejudice appellant.
If considered as impeachment evidence, the full statement supported appellant’s position that witness Jakubczyk’s testimony at trial was unreliable. Not only was the witness’s prior statement as to the victim’s location inconsistent with his trial testimony, as had been brought out by appellant on recross-examination, but also the witness’s prior statement that he “saw the victim struck by the vehicle which was traveling south in the passing lane,” was at odds with the witness’s trial testimony that he had not seen the impact. Moreover, this prior statement of Mr. Jakubczyk, a defense witness, conflicted with the testimony of appellee-defendant *453himself, who stated that he had been driving in the non-passing lane.
As substantive evidence, the full statement could hardly have been given any weight by the jury because, as noted, the witness testified at trial that he had not seen the impact, thereby recanting his earlier, inconsistent account of the incident. This subsequent recantation would also have given the jury cause to discredit the witness’s prior statement that “the vehicle was not traveling at excessive speed” when it hit the victim. Because evidence had already been presented at trial regarding the actual speed at which the vehicle was traveling and the challenged statement was made prior to trial by a witness who testified at trial that he, in fact, had not seen the incident, the witness’s improper statement of opinion cannot be said to have unduly interfered with the jury’s province as factfinder.
As this record provides no basis for disturbing the jury’s verdict in favor of appellee, the order of the Superior Court should be affirmed.
HUTCHINSON, J., joins in this dissenting opinion.