Court Opinion

ID: 9546260
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 17:26:40.020578+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:16:12.691949
License: Public Domain

PARKS, Presiding Judge,
specially concurring:
While I agree with the outcome of this case, I want to comment on the use of transcripts from preliminary hearings at trial when the witness is no longer available to testify.
*1369In the case at bar, Appellant argued that the trial court erred in not allowing him to object during the reading of Officer El-ledge’s preliminary hearing testimony as it was presented to the jury during trial. At one point, the defense attorney attempted to enter an objection to a question, and the trial court said it would not entertain any objections during the reading of the transcript:1
“MR. BERRY: I object to that, your Honor, being admitted at this trial. It’s a leading question. And clearly improper.
BY THE COURT: The exhibit has been received and it is being read in its entirely and the Court won’t entertain any objection during the reading of the transcript. Your objection will be overruled.” (Tr. p. 134) [Emphasis added].
The appellant analogizes the use of prior testimony to the use of depositions, provided for at 22 O.S.1981, § 761-771. When depositions are read into evidence “the same objection may be taken to a question or answer contained therein as if the witness had been examined orally in court.” The state argues that otherwise valid testimony can be lost because an improper question cannot be rephrased. With a live witness, a leading question can be rephrased in such a way to get the testimony into court; but if there is a leading question in a transcript, there is no opportunity to cure it.
The dilemma as to objecting to former testimony being used at trial must be viewed in light of the circumstances surrounding the preliminary hearing. A preliminary hearing is a less searching exploration into the merits of a case than that of a trial. Magill v. Miller, 455 P.2d 715 (Okl.Cr.1969). Rules of Evidence are not as rigidly applied at a preliminary hearing as they are at trial. Magill v. Miller, supra; McCurdy v. State, 39 Okl.Cr. 310, 264 P. 925 (1928). The nature of a preliminary hearing at least serves as a means of discovery for the defendant. Hampton v. State, 501 P.2d 523 (Okl.Cr.1972); Beaird v. Ramey, 456 P.2d 587 (Okl.Cr.1969). However, in State v. Fredette, 462 A.2d 17 (Me.1983), the Supreme Court of Maine resolved the prior testimony objection conflict by applying a form versus substance test to determine the admissability of the testimony. That court categorized objections that only go to the form of the question or answer (as where a question is leading or an answer is non-responsive) must be made at the time the testimony is given, and such objections may not be made for the first time when the testimony is read at a later trial. On the other hand, objections which go to the substance of the testimony (that is, hearsay, for instance, or inadmissable evidence of another crime) may be raised for the first time when the testimony is being read, e.g., Morrison v. Lowe, 274 Ark. 358, 625 S.W.2d 452 (1981) (a civil case), and Annot., 159 A.L.R. 119.
The above outlined rule should be adopted to use in a criminal setting, with a great deal of consideration for the differences between civil depositions and a preliminary hearing testimony. Emphasis must be placed on the distinction between form and substance objections, and the correct application of the general rule. Testimony that would be lost due to an improper question could be invaluable to the proper disposition of the case. While testimony which is improper when given retains its improper status when read at the subsequent trial, the right of the appellant to confront the witness testifying against him will be protected by keeping out inadmissa-ble testimony by way of substance objections. Otherwise, a form objection is waived if it is not made at the preliminary hearing examination.
*1370In the case at hand, the blanket statement by the trial judge that no objections would be taken during the reading of the transcript was improper, the objections should be allowed to be made in an in-camera hearing. This case reveals no questions or answers that could have properly been objected to and sustained. For this reason, there is no need to reverse for failing to allow defense counsel to object to the testimony from the preliminary hear-mg. The rule propounded should be adopted for future use in cases that require the use of transcripts from preliminary-hearings when the witness is now unavailable for trial.

. It should be noted that the appellant also contends that the transcript was from the preliminary examination, and that he had a different attorney at the preliminary examination than at trial. This position has no merit. Ohio v. Roberts, 448 U.S. 56, 100 S.Ct. 2531, 65 L.Ed.2d 597 (1980).