Court Opinion

ID: 9569617
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 20:15:45.074465+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:03:37.352837
License: Public Domain

THOMAS, Justice,
concurring and dissenting.
I certainly agree with the result which is reached by the majority opinion. I disagree with the majority with respect to whether it was error for the district court to receive into evidence the transcript of the victim’s statement about which Officer Owen was interrogated by the defense. I do not think it was error to receive that transcript into evidence, and consequently, I would not find it necessary to consider whether it was harmless error.
*1221The strategy of defense counsel is a familiar one that is taught in advocacy institutes, law schools and by writers of trial techniques and tactics. Essentially, the attempt is to introduce into evidence only the favorable portions of a pre-trial statement furnished by a witness, usually the victim. Portions of statements which are taken out of context frequently are misleading in the sense that they do not tell the entire story, and if that is all that is presented from the pre-trial statement, counsel is in a favorable position to argue either that there are inconsistencies in the witness’ story or to emphasize the information which was favorable to the accused. The only way to counter such an effort is to be sure that the unfavorable information from the statement is also before the jury. This prevents the utilization of comments out of context, and even though it may duplicate in many respects the trial testimony of the witness, receiving such evidence is an appropriate balance to an attempt by the accused to obtain an unfair advantage.
In this instance, the victim furnished two statements to police officers. One was given to an officer on August 4, 1985, the second was given to Officer Owen on August 7, 1985. During the trial, the defense offered only a portion of the first statement which was favorable to the defense position. The State agreed to the admissibility of that information on the condition that the entire five pages of the first statement be admitted. This was done to assure that the comments in the statement were maintained in their proper context. The admissibility of the August 4, 1985 statement was not an issue raised in this case.
At a later time in the trial, Officer Owen testified as a witness for the State. No questions were asked on direct examination concerning the August 7, 1985 statement, but on cross-examination, defense counsel questioned Officer Owen very skillfully as to selected portions of that statement. Left at that point, the defense clearly would have been able to create the impression that the August 7,1985 statement was inconsistent with the August 4, 1985 statement and inconsistent with trial testimony. If that had been the state of the record, an argument that the testimony of the victim was fabricated would have been an effective one to the jury. This tactic was foiled by the introduction of the entire 15 pages of the August 7, 1985 statement into evidence.
Reliance upon Stinehart v. State, Wyo., 727 P.2d 1010 (1986), to conclude that the district court erred in receiving the second statement into evidence is misplaced. In that case, this court held that it was not error for the trial court to deny a motion by the defense to introduce a victim’s statement previously given to the police on the ground that it was the only evidence which corroborated the defendant’s testimony. In that decision, Towner v. State, Wyo., 685 P.2d 45 (1984), was distinguished. In the Towner case, we held it was error for the trial court to refuse to allow certain witnesses to testify who would have corroborated the testimony of the defendant. We held in Stinehart v. State, supra, that Towner v. State, supra, did not control because in the later case there was other testimony which corroborated the testimony of the defendant, and the statement of the victim was merely cumulative in light of the other testimony. Neither of those cases involved an instance in which previous statements of a witness were used by an adversary for purposes of impeachment on cross-examination.
Certainly, the concerns implicated by Rule 106, W.R.E., are pertinent. Rule 106, W.R.E., is identical to Rule 106 of the Federal Rules of Evidence. With respect to the federal rule, the Advisory Committee’s Note states:
“The rule is an expression of the rule of completeness. McCormick § 56. It is manifested as to depositions in Rule 32(a)(1) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, of which the proposed rule is substantially a restatement.
“The rule is based on two considerations. The first is the misleading impression created by taking matters out of context. The second is the inadequacy of repair work when delayed to a point later in trial.” (Emphasis added.)
*1222Rule 106, W.R.E., is invoked subject to the provisions of Rule 403, W.R.E., and no doubt there would be instances in which an application of Rule 403, W.R.E., would lead to a conclusion to not receive the proffered evidence. See 1 D. Louisell and C. Mueller, Federal Evidence § 49 at 353 (1977). In making its ruling under Rule 106, W.R.E., however, a trial court must be given ample discretion to determine what portions of the document are necessary to maintain a proper context with respect to any excerpts admitted on behalf of the adversary. As one commentator has stated:
“Rule 106 wisely avoids any attempt to set a hard and fast rule. The trial court has been granted power to determine whether ‘fairness’ requires the proponent to introduce all of the writing or other form of recording as relates to the fact sought to be proved.” 1 J. Weinstein and M. Berger, Weinstein’s Evidence If 106[02] at 106-17 (1986).
With fairness as the essential purpose of this rule, I conclude that the district court did not abuse its discretion in admitting this entire statement into evidence in this case. No portion of that statement encompassed evidence that was inadmissible for any other reason. The questioning by defense counsel, during cross-examination of Officer Owen, was not limited to any specific portion of the statement but covered comments from at least nine pages of the 15-page statement. Under these circumstances, the trial court had ample discretion to find that it was only fair to permit the prosecution to place the entire statement before the jury in order to avoid an implication of fabrication with respect to the testimony of the victim. See United States v. Andrade, 20 Fed.R.Evid.Serv. 570, 788 F.2d 521 (8th Cir.1986), cert. denied by Riley v. United States, — U.S. -, 107 S.Ct. 462, 93 L.Ed.2d 408 (1986); United States v. Pierre, 20 Fed.R.Evid.Serv. 372, 781 F.2d 329 (2d Cir.1986); United States v. Harris, 761 F.2d 394 (7th Cir.1985); United States v. McEachern, 10 Fed.R. Evid.Serv. 623, 675 F.2d 618 (4th Cir.1982). Also see 29 Am.Jur.2d Evidence §§ 268, 839 at 317-318 and 930-931 (1967); C. McCormick, McCormick on Evidence § 56 at 145-146 (3d ed. 1984).
A literal application of Rule 106, W.R.E., might require that the balance of the document be introduced during cross-examination of the police officer. That approach, however, could interfere with the orderly presentation of evidence, and courts have found in general that compliance with the rule is obtained by permitting the opposing party on redirect examination to present relevant portions of the deposition, written statement or document necessary to maintain the proper context. Moody v. Pulte Homes, Inc., 423 Mich. 150, 378 N.W.2d 319 (1985); 1 D. Louisell and C. Mueller, Federal Evidence § 50 at 361 (1977). The admission of the statement into evidence in this case rather than having it read into evidence by the officer also was within the trial court’s discretion. See Rule 611(a), W.R.E.
I conclude that it was not error for the district court to admit the transcript of the statement into evidence after the defense had used selected portions of it to impeach the victim’s testimony. Consequently, the harmless error doctrine need not be invoked.
As I said, I do concur in the affirmance of this case.