Court Opinion

ID: 9776247
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 19:28:32.417984+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:32:36.273089
License: Public Domain

WHITHAM, Justice,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. I would hold that the trial court denied appellant his constitutional right of confrontation under the sixth amendment of the Constitution of the United States and under article I, § 10, of the Constitution of the State of Texas. I reach this conclusion because the trial court denied appellant effective cross-examination by limiting cross-examination to those matters brought up during the direct examination of the witness. Accordingly, I would sustain appellant’s first ground of error and reverse and remand.
The majority quotes at length from an “interchange” to determine the trial court’s ruling on a defense motion and concludes “that, taken in context, the judge’s remarks did not deny cross-examination of the doctor, but only denied cross-examination to elicit otherwise inadmissible evidence in the report.” It will be noted, however, that the “interchange” upon which the majority relies for its conclusion is a colloquy between the court and the prosecutor. Thus, the majority finds a trial court ruling in a colloquy between court and prosecutor.
Although the majority finds the trial court’s ruling in the colloquy between court and prosecutor, the defense counsel heard no ruling from the trial court during the colloquy between court and prosecutor. Rather, defense counsel was forced to press for a ruling following the colloquy between court and prosecutor—“I want to be either sustained or overruled.” Only then did the trial court make a ruling on the motion. In my view, the “exchange” between court and prosecutor in the present case cannot constitute a ruling on the motion. Therefore, defense counsel properly insisted upon a ruling from the trial court. An appellant must obtain a ruling to preserve error. In the absence of an adverse ruling, nothing is presented for review. Evans v. State, 622 S.W.2d 866, 871 (Tex.Crim.App.1981); Dunavin v. State, 611 S.W.2d 91, 97 (Tex.Crim.App. 1981). In the latter case, the court declined to find a ruling sought by defense counsel in a colloquy between the court and defense counsel. 611 S.W.2d at 94, 97.
In my view, the trial court’s ruling is found in the record as follows:
[DEFENSE COUNSEL]: Well, I want to be either sustained or overruled on my motion to get this report for purposes of cross-examination. And I want—I want, on the basis of the fact that he has refreshed his memory and used this report before the jury, I want to be able to cross-examine him, I feel it’s the defendant’s right to cross-examine him on the entire report.
THE COURT: Overruled on that.
[DEFENSE COUNSEL]: You’re overruling—
THE COURT: You can—on anything that he testified to about that, you can cross-examine him, on anything he testified about.
Those last words spoken by the trial court constituted the trial court’s ruling and denied appellant effective cross-examination by limiting cross-examination to those matters brought up during the direct examination of the witness.
In my view, trial counsel are entitled to specific, definite and understandable rulings from a trial court and rulings meeting those requirements cannot be found in col-loquys between one’s opponent and the court. Presumably, the majority wishes the trial court had not limited cross-examination to “anything [Cunningham] testified about.” Hence, the necessity to find a different ruling in a colloquy between court and prosecutor. I take the trial court’s ruling to be just as stated when a ruling was properly insisted upon. The words used by the trial court are definite, understandable, and the result inescapable— “You can cross-examine him, on anything he testified about.” Therefore, I cannot *162agree with the majority’s search for the trial court’s ruling in a colloquy between court and prosecutor. To my mind, defense counsel properly insisted upon a ruling and the ruling is made plain enough in the above quotation from the record. Perhaps in making its ruling the trial court misstated its ruling. Nevertheless, the stated ruling by the trial court denied appellant effective cross-examination by limiting cross-examination to those matters brought up during the direct examination of the witness. Needless to say, defense counsel was required to defer to the trial court’s ruling as stated.
The trial court’s ruling limiting cross-examination to the bounds of the direct testimony lacks support in Texas law. This state has long followed the so-called English rule which permits the cross-examination of a witness to extend to every issue in the case regardless of the scope of the direct examination. Continental Casualty Co. v. Thomas, 463 S.W.2d 501, 506-07 (Tex.Civ.App.—Beaumont 1971, no writ). Citing Brumfield v. State, 445 S.W.2d 732, 736 (Tex. Crim.App.1969), the majority correctly recognizes that the Texas criminal rule is the same as the Texas civil rule. Thus, in my view, failure to follow the English rule in the courts of the State of Texas results in denial of effective cross-examination.
In Pointer v. State of Texas, 380 U.S. 400, 404-05, 85 S.Ct. 1065, 1068, 13 L.Ed.2d 923 (1965), the United States Supreme Court explained the place of cross-examination under our constitutional system:
It cannot seriously be doubted at this late date that the right of cross-examination is included in the right of an accused in a criminal case to confront the witnesses against him. And probably no one, certainly no one experienced in the trial of lawsuits, would deny the value of cross-examination in exposing falsehood and bringing out the truth in the trial of ■a criminal case. See, e.g., 5 Wigmore, Evidence § 1367 (3d ed. 1940). The fact that this right appears in the Sixth Amendment of our Bill of Rights reflects the belief of the Framers of those liberties and safeguards that confrontation was a fundamental right essential to a fair trial in a criminal prosecution. Moreover, the decisions of this Court and other courts throughout the years have constantly emphasized the necessity for cross-examination as a protection for defendants in criminal cases. This Court in Kirby v. United States, 174 U.S. 47, 55, 56, 19 S.Ct. 574, 577, 43 L.Ed. 890, referred to the right of confrontation as “[o]ne of the fundamental guaranties of life and liberty,” and “a right long deemed so essential for the due protection of life and liberty that it is guarded against legislative and judicial action by provisions in constitution of the United States and in the constitutions of most, if not of all, the states composing the Union.” Mr. Justice Stone, writing for the Court in Alford v. United States, 282 U.S. 687, 692, 51 S.Ct. 218, 219, 75 L.Ed. 624, declared that the right of cross-examination is “one of the safeguards essential to a fair trial.” And in speaking of confrontation and cross-examination this Court said in Greene v. McElroy, 360 U.S. 474, 79 S.Ct. 1400, 3 L.Ed.2d 1377:
They have ancient roots. They find expression in the Sixth Amendment which provides that in all criminal cases the accused shall enjoy the right ‘to be confronted with the witnesses against him.’ This Court has been zealous to protect these rights from erosion. 360 U.S., at 496-497, 79 S.Ct., at 1413 (footnote omitted).
Therefore, the right to cross-examine a witness is implicit within the right to confrontation provided by the sixth amendment to the Constitution of the United States. Chambers v. Mississippi, 410 U.S. 284, 295, 93 S.Ct. 1038, 1045, 35 L.Ed.2d 297 (1973). This right to confront and cross-examine witnesses is essential to due process and a fair trial within the provisions of the fourteenth amendment. In re Oliver, 333 U.S. 257, 273, 68 S.Ct. 499, 507, 92 L.Ed. 682 (1948).
*163To my mind, the trial court’s ruling was an improper prior restraint on cross-examination. The majority appears to condone the trial court’s limitations on cross-examination on the grounds that appellant might “elicit otherwise inadmissible evidence.” To my mind, the solution is for the trial court to sustain a proper objection to the introduction of impermissible testimony should the occasion arise. Anticipation of inadmissible evidence should not prohibit full cross-examination which might bring forth admissible evidence. Therefore, I cannot agree that the majority’s concern justified prior restraint of cross-examination. Thus, we shall never know what evidence appellant might have developed but for defense counsel’s proper deference to the trial court’s ruling. The examiner need not indicate the purpose of his inquiry nor state to the court what facts a reasonable cross-examination might develop. Alford v. United States, 282 U.S. 687, 692, 51 S.Ct. 218, 219, 75 L.Ed. 624 (1931). Spain v. State, 585 S.W.2d 705, 710 (Tex.Crim. App.1979) points out that a defendant is not required to show that his cross-examination would have affirmatively established the facts sought.
Moreover, Spain notes that “an effective cross-examination encompasses more than just the opportunity to elicit testimony to establish the existence of certain facts. The cross-examiner should be allowed to expose the limits of the witness’ knowledge of relevant facts, place the witness in his proper setting, and test the credibility of the witness.” 585 S.W.2d at 710. I cannot agree that appellant had full opportunity to show the witness’ bias or motive, establish the limits of the witness’ knowledge of relevant facts or test the witness’ credibility when limited to matters brought up during cross-examination.
Regrettably, the majority disregards the place of cross-examination under both state and federal constitutions. Accordingly, I would hold that the trial court deprived appellant of rights afforded him by both the state and federal constitutions. That deprivation requires reversal and remand in the present case.