Court Opinion

ID: 9644526
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 20:58:50.598408+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:50:38.410121
License: Public Domain

MANDERINO, Justice,
dissenting.
I dissent. The majority states that the witness’s former testimony was admissible at appellant’s second trial because of a common law exception to the hearsay rule allowing use of prior testimony. In support of this proposition, the majority quotes from Rothrock v. Gallaher, 91 Pa. 108, 112-113 (1879), as follows:
“We cannot see any substantial reason why the testimony of a witness once duly taken in a pending cause may not afterwards be read in evidence in another cause between the same parties in regard to the same subject-matter, when in the interval the witness has lost his memory by reason of old age and ill health. The justice and propriety of receiving the evidence are as strong as if the witness were dead, insane, out of the jurisdiction of the court, or unable to attend by reason of sickness. Although bodily present, yet if shown to have become so bereft of memory by senility or sickness, that he is unable to recall a past transaction to which he had once testified and has forgotten that he ever testified in regard to it, he may be considered as practically absent, and his former testimony, if otherwise admissible, may be read in evidence. (Emphasis added.)
The majority then concludes that although “. . .no Pennsylvania authority on point . . . ,” has been located, we should extend the Rothrock rationale to a situation such as present here, where the witness, otherwise normal and in good health, experiences a partial memory loss. I strongly disagree. Extension of the Rothrock rationale to cases like the instant case was correctly and unequivocally *40rejected as long ago as 1883, and should be rejected here. In Velott v. Lewis, 102 Pa. 326 (1883), this Court said,
“Under the second assignment we are asked to reverse the court below for its refusal to extend the doctrine of Rothrock v. Gallaher, 10 Nor. 108, to the case of a witness of ordinary health and memory. This we cannot do. There was no evidence tending to show that the witness, Clayton Smith, had, in the interval between the time of the arbitration and trial in court, by old age or otherwise, lost his memory. He but failed to recollect what he had previously sworn to, but if this were enough to admit the notes of a former trial, we might as well abandon original testimony altogether, and supply it with previous notes and depositions. It would certainly be an excellent way to avoid the contradiction of a doubtful witness, for he could always be thus led to the exact words of his former evidence. As we are not yet prepared for an advance of this kind, we must accept the ruling of the court below as correct.” Id. at 333.
See also Reed v. Orton, 105 Pa. 294 (1884) and Putnam v. United States, 162 U.S. 687, 16 S.Ct. 923, 40 L.Ed. 1118 (1895) (both courts quoting with approval the above portion of Velott v. Lewis).
The instant case is controlled by Commonwealth v. Turner, 389 Pa. 239, 133 A.2d 187 (1957). Turner, like appellant here was tried for the second time. The principal prosecution witness at Turner’s prior trial had been a co-defendant. At the prior trial, this witness had implicated Turner in the crimes for which he was on trial, but after that trial the witness denied that Turner had anything to do with the crimes. Despite this recantation, the prosecution called the co-defendant to testify at the second trial, and when the witness denied knowledge of the crime, the prosecution pleaded surprise and was permitted to introduce his prior testimony.
We reversed, concluding that the witness was not “unavailable” according to the Act of May 23, 1887, P.L. 158, § 3 (19 P.S. § 582).
*41“Obviously, [the witness] was not an unavailable witness either within the letter or the spirit of the Act of May 23, 1887, P.L. 158[, 19 P.S. § 681 et seq.]. Not only was he then present in the courtroom but was actually on the witness stand at the time. Nor had he refused to testify to what he then avowed to be the truth, (emphasis added). The fact is that he was willing to testify in accordance with his recantation. The matter of his affidavit having in the course of the colloquy between the court and counsel become known to the trial judge (who was trying the case for his first time), the court stated, ‘This man has been called as a witness. He says that this paper is the truth and he says he wants to tell the truth. In other words, he wants to testify to those facts.' Such being the witness’ status, the court very properly refused the district attorney’s motion to read [the witness’] former testimony in evidence as that of an unavailable witness.” (Emphasis in original.) Id. at 250, 133 A.2d at 192.
The Act of May 23, 1887, P.L. 158 § 3 (19 P.S. § 582) states:
“Whenever any person has been examined as a witness, either for the commonwealth or for the defense, in any criminal proceeding conducted in or before a court of record, and the defendant has been present and has had an opportunity to examine or cross-examine, if such witness afterwards die, or be out of the jurisdiction so that he cannot be effectively served with a subpoena, or if he cannot be found, or if he become incompetent to testify for any legally sufficient reason properly proven, notes of his examination shall be competent evidence upon a subsequent trial of the same criminal issue; . . .” (Emphasis added.)
The above Act permits the notes of a prior trial to be introduced in a subsequent trial in four situations. None of these is present in this case. Like the witness in Turner, supra, Mathis was not an unavailable witness. He was not dead, nor was he out of the court’s jurisdiction; he was present in court, on the witness stand, and willing to testify as to what he then avowed to be the truth. Like the witness *42in Turner, he was now willing to testify in accordance with his present recollection of the incident in question, and was willing to swear to the truth of that testimony. The Act also contains a provision that allows use of prior transcribed testimony “if [the witness] become[s] incompetent to testify for any legally sufficient reason properly proven.” No such proof of incompetency exists in this case. Although the court ordered Mathis to submit to an examination by a court appointed psychiatrist, who then reported his findings to the court, and although defense counsel specifically requested the court to rule on Mathis’ competency to testify, the court refused to declare him incompetent to testify. Allowing the prosecution to introduce his prior testimony was therefore error.
Reading the notes of the witness’ prior testimony leaves the jury with double impact. First, its incriminating nature is self-evident. The witness’ testimony at appellant’s first trial was extremely damaging, directly and unequivocally implicating appellant in the incident which resulted in death, whereas at appellant’s second trial, the witness said he could not remember whether or not appellant wielded the murder weapon. We will not speculate as to which was the more truthful version. At the time of appellant’s first trial the witness had been convicted but not yet sentenced. It may be that he felt it would be to his advantage to falsely implicate appellant at that time. At appellant’s second trial the witness was no longer in danger of prosecution, and may have been telling the truth. Nevertheless, permitting the prosecution to read his previous testimony allowed the jury to draw the additional inference that this now freed accomplice was limiting his present testimony in order to protect his cousin who was still on trial, and the concomitant inference that he was trying to hide his prior testimony so as not to injure his cousin. As we said in Commonwealth v. Turner, supra, 389 Pa. at 256, 133 A.2d at 195,
“It is wholly unrealistic to pretend that the jury was capable of eradicating from their minds [the witness’] former testimony except for its effect in currently *43impeaching him. Even if the jurors tried ever so conscientiously to so limit the effect of the witness’s prior testimony and concluded that, by reason thereof, he was not presently worthy of belief, the resultant psychological effect would be to cause the jury to deduce that what [the witness] had first testified to was the truth. The harm to the defendant from the improper cross-examination is . manifest . . . .” Id., 389 Pa. at 256, 133 A.2d at 195.
Judgment of sentence should be reversed, and a new trial granted.
ROBERTS, J., joins in this dissenting opinion.