Court Opinion

ID: 9515164
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-06 22:54:20.261751+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:06:25.775939
License: Public Domain

ZINTER, Justice
(concurring specially).
[¶ 28.] I concur, and write on Issue 2 only to opine that the trial court allowed effective4 cross-examination of Luthy under the particular facts and circumstances of this case. Although the trial court prohibited reference to the precise sentence Lu-thy could have received under a murder charge, effective inquiry was permitted into all other aspects of the plea agreement including the sentence reduction and the adverse credibility inferences to be drawn from that reduction. More specifically, Jolley was permitted to cross-examine Luthy on her reduction of charges (from murder to child abuse relating to Barrett and A.J.). In that examination, Jolley exacted Luthy’s concession that because of the plea agreement, Luthy was now only facing a twenty-year potential sentence rather than “a lot more than that.” Under further cross-examination, Luthy even admitted that the sentence she previously “fac[ed] on the murder charge was substantially more serious than what [she was] now facing,” and that she “understood” the severity of that previous, potential sentence. Luthy finally admitted that she had agreed to testify in return for this reduction in charges and reduced potential sentence under the plea agreement.
[¶ 29.] Thus, the actual cross-examination permitted the jury to know the grounds upon which any bias, prejudice or lack of credibility could be inferred. Although the circuit court imposed a limited restriction to prevent disclosure of the specific sentence for murder (because it would also disclose the sentence Jolley faced if convicted), Jolley concedes in his brief “that he was allowed extensive cross-examination of Luthy.” Thus, even with the limitation on disclosure of the precise sentence for murder, the jury was not prevented from considering the negative inferences to be drawn from Luthy’s plea *312agreement. On the contrary, Jolley’s cross-examination permitted him to argue to the jury that Luthy was biased and not credible because, as Jolley’s counsel put it, “she gained one of the most significant things that a person on the face of the earth could gain- — [t]hey dismissed the murder charge against her.”
[¶ 30.] Therefore, the trial court’s balancing process correctly excluded the impermissible disclosure of Jolley’s potential sentence, while it permitted effective testing through cross-examination of the credibility and believability of Luthy’s testimony. This is the Confrontation Clause’s concern. Considering the actual cross-examination that was permitted, Jolley’s assertion — that the additional disclosure of the precise sentence for murder would have damaged Luthy’s credibility to the point where the jury’s verdict may have changed-is untenable. Because the negative credibility inferences arising from the sentence reduction were clearly disclosed, a reasonable jury would probably not have come to a significantly different impression if the precise sentence had been disclosed. Jolley therefore failed to meet his burden of establishing a Confrontation Clause deprivation. State v. Walton, 1999 SD 80, ¶ 25, 600 N.W.2d 524, 530.

. As the Court notes today, there is language in our opinions stating that “[t]he Confrontation Clause does not guarantee effective cross-examination, but guarantees the opportunity to confront the witness.” See, ¶ 12, supra (citing State v. Perovich, 2001 SD 96, ¶¶ 14-15, 632 N.W.2d 12, 16). This Perovich citation is based upon State v. Karlen, 1999 SD 12, 589 N.W.2d 594. Karlen, does however, permit "effective” cross-examination. Karlen more precisely states "the Confrontation Clause only guarantees an opportunity for effective cross-examination, not cross-examination that is effective in whatever way, and to whatever extent, the defendants might wish.” (citing Pennsylvania v. Ritchie, 480 U.S. 39, 53, 107 SCt 989, 999, 94 L.Ed.2d 40, 54 (1987)). Under this standard, even if the cross-examination was not effective "in whatever way, and to whatever extent [Jolley] might wish,” it was, nevertheless effective to disclose the possible sources for impeachment of Luthy.