Court Opinion

ID: 9747162
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-27 14:59:17.228127+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:25:20.545671
License: Public Domain

Johnson, J.,
concurring: I concur in the result, but write separately on the mistrial issue. I agree with much of what the majority suggests, i.e. that the act of defendant’s brother in taking evidence from the witness stand was misconduct in the courtroom; that the observation of that conduct by one of the jurors was likely to be *108prejudicial to the credibility of a critical defense witness; and that the trial court abused its discretion by failing to investigate the misconduct’s impact on the jury and by failing to appropriately caution or admonish the jury. I would even agree that the nature and extent of the State’s evidence can support the majority’s finding of harmless error, although, in my view, that determination is an extremely close call.
Where I depart from the majority’s reasoning is when it assesses witness credibility to rationalize harmless error. The majority appears to be driven by its agreement with the opinions of the trial judge and the Court of Appeals panel that defendant’s brother was just not a very believable trial witness. Perhaps a witness’ prior inconsistent statements might be a valid consideration when considering the strength of the State’s case in the harmless error analysis. However, a judicial assessment of whether the jury would have believed a defense witness’ exculpatory trial testimony is way beyond the purview of appellate review. Cf. City of Mission Hills v. Sexton, 284 Kan. 414, 422, 160 P.3d 812 (2007) (in sufficiency of the evidence challenge, appellate court does not reweigh the evidence or pass on the credibility of the witnesses). The right to a fair trial, i.e. the guarantee of a fair and impartial process, is not conditioned upon the perceived quality of one’s witnesses. We let the jury decide whether to believe a witness.
Beier and Rosen, JJ., join in the foregoing concurrence.