Court Opinion

ID: 9779062
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 21:34:51.746751+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:33:20.372227
License: Public Domain

Tom Glaze, Justice, dissenting. The majority concedes the trial court erred in excluding the testimony of Johnny Moore, but it concludes, citing Berna v. State, 282 Ark. 563, 670 S.W.2d 435 (1984), that the error was inconsequential and insufficient to reverse. The majority supports its position by reciting defense counsel’s following remark, I believe, a bit out of context, viz., “It’s a very minor point that he’s [Moore’s] called for.” While it is true that Moore’s testimony was for the subservient purpose of introducing two business records or exhibits, those records offered were for a very major point — to impeach the testimony of the state’s witness, Curry, regarding her relationship with appellant the day she claimed appellant raped her daughter. At trial, Curry claimed that, on the day of the rape, appellant was hostile and threatening towards her and her family, including her daughter, plus she denied having ridden with appellant in his car on August 23. Appellant offered two business records through Moore to support appellant’s own testimony and to impeach Curry’s that his relation with Curry was friendly on August 23rd, and that he not only knew she had paid her rent on that date but he also drove her to the Rent ’n Own store to make the payment. The trial court excluded Moore’s testimony for other reasons and never reached the question of whether Moore’s testimony — more particularly the records showing Curry’s rent was paid on August 23 — was relevant. In this review, the majority obviously held that evidence is not relevant since it concludes no reversible error resulted from its exclusion. It is at this point I disagree with the majority. If the trial judge had had the opportunity to rule on the relevancy issue, this court could have been in a better position to decide if the judge had abused his discretion in excluding the testimony. At least, we would have had the benefit of the trial judge’s reasoning in so ruling. Nonetheless, based on the state of the record as it exists now, I cannot say with any degree of certainty that appellant was not prejudiced by the exclusion of that testimony. The evidence bearing on appellant’s guilt or innocence of the rape charge was a close question, depending greatly upon whose testimony the jury believed. Curry’s as well as appellant’s credibility was in issue. Obviously, any evidence that had a tendency to show that Curry and appellant had an amiable contact on August 23 would serve to undermine to some extent Curry’s charges that appellant threatened Curry and raped her daughter in retaliation for Curry breaking off her relationship with appellant. Bias may be inquired into on cross-examination and may be proven extrinsically. Allen v. State, 277 Ark. 380, 641 S.W.2d 710 (1982); see also Hice v. State, 11 Ark. App. 184, 668 S.W.2d 552 (1984) (wherein trial court erred in excluding defense testimony that police officer refused to administer breathalizer test to defendant, the appellate court holding jury entitled to hear such testimony as bearing on the officer’s credibility). The harm or prejudice done appellant’s case by the exclusion of Moore’s testimony is especially evident when considering the close evidence concerning appellant’s guilt. The record clearly reflects evidence consistent with Curry’s daughter having been raped; less clear is where, and with whom, she was when the rape occurred. While the record might prove more definitive on a retrial of this case on who raped the girl, the evidence before us now is somewhat confusing. For example, the doctor who examined Curry’s daughter placed the time of rape after the time appellant delivered the girl to Curry.1 Also, Curry’s brother, James, testified he saw appellant pick up the girl between 5:30 and 6:00 p.m.; appellant said it was 9:30 p.m., after he had been to Hubie’s. The girl and her brother had been at James’s home that day but James had taken the son — not the daughter — home early. The state’s case showed the physical evidence could not rule out someone with appellant’s O blood type. James testified he had O-type blood. The girl’s testimony was most damaging and, it alone, would have been sufficient for the jury to convict the appellant. In sum, she related the appellant pulled her into his car, took her to some woods and raped her. However, on cross-examination, the girl did not respond to the question concerning whether her mother told her to say appellant did it. Curry’s credibility was in issue throughout the trial, both directly, and, when considering her daughter’s failure to respond as just noted, indirectly. One witness, Rocinty McKinney, said that Curry had asked McKinney to alter her testimony.2  In view of the credibility issues and the conflicting evidence that exist in the record, I am unable to say appellant was not prejudiced or harmed by the trial court’s ruling to exclude the Moore testimony. Therefore, I would reverse. Purtle, J., joins in this dissent.   The victim was examined between 10:50 p.m. and 12:10 a.m. and the doctor said the rape occurred thirty minutes to an hour earlier. At the earliest, the time would have been 9:50 p.m.; and the appellant delivered the girl at 9:40 p.m.    McKinney testified she had seen appellant at Hubie’s on August 23, but could not give the time.