Court Opinion

ID: 9739749
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 20:20:22.357845+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:13.769793
License: Public Domain

SULLIVAN, Judge,
concurring.
I concur but deem it appropriate to comment with regard to the majority opinion concerning the rebuttal testimony of Diane Winters.
Even the line of cases represented by Chatman v. State (1975) 263 Ind. 531, 334 N.E.2d 673, as adopted by our Supreme Court in McCullough v. Archbold Ladder Co. (1993) Ind., 605 N.E.2d 175, do not require disclosure of a possible or even a prospective rebuttal witness unless the party calling the *805witness could be expected to anticipate the need for rebuttal. Such anticipation necessarily depends upon what is known to be the evidence likely to be submitted by the other party.
As stated in McCullough, supra:
"[The very nature of a trial gives rise to the likelihood that issues will be raised during the defendant's case which the State could not logically anticipate, and that the State 'is permitted to seek out and call persons to rebut hitherto-unexpected claims." 605 N.E.2d at 178 (citing Smith v. State (1990) Ind., 553 N.E.2d 832, 835).
The rub lies in whether or not the rebuttal testimony is truly anticipated.
A party should not be precluded from submitting rebuttal evidence if, prior to trial, its prospective use was conjectural or speculative. In Palmer v. State (1994) 4th Dist.Ind.App., 640 N.E.2d 415, our court took an even more expansive view toward permitting undisclosed rebuttal evidence, holding that allowing such testimony was not reversible unless non-disclosure was "an intentional act of bad faith on the part of the State." 640 N.E.2d at 421.
I would hold that disclosure is not necessary unless the party has reason to know that the opposing party will more likely than not produce evidence making the rebuttal appropriate. That was clearly the case here. The State had an obligation to disclose Winters as a prospective rebuttal witness. For this reason, I concur as to Issue Two. I fully concur as to Issue One.