Court Opinion

ID: 9620637
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 05:44:59.914757+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:04:52.188084
License: Public Domain

Concurring Opinion by
Justice JOHNSTONE.
Although I agree that the trial court erred in permitting C.G. to testify via closed circuit television, I write separately because I disagree with the harmless error analysis undertaken by the majority.
In determining that the error is harmless, the majority examines the remaining evidence of Appellant’s guilt, noting that C.G.’s testimony was “basically redundant” and largely corroborated by the physical evidence and Appellant’s own admissions. This conclusion implies that the error is harmless because the jury would have found Appellant guilty even without C.G.’s testimony. Such an analysis would be relevant had the trial error concerned the admission or scope of C.G.’s testimony. However, in this case, the trial error lay in allowing C.G. to testify via closed circuit television rather than on the stand. Thus, the pertinent inquiry is not whether the jury would have found Appellant guilty of murder absent C.G.’s testimony due to the weight of the remaining evidence. Rather, it is whether a substantial possibility exists that the outcome would have been different had C.G. testified in open court.
The jury rejected Appellant’s claim that he killed his wife while in the midst of an extreme emotional disturbance. Though the majority characterizes the testimony as redundant, C.G.’s testimony was actually quite crucial to the Commonwealth’s case, as conceded at oral argument. C.G. directly contradicted Appellant’s claim, that he was sent into an EED when Tara hit the child, as C.G. testified that his mother *89never hit him that evening. C.G. further corroborated the autopsy findings that Tara had been choked with two hands, also contrary to Appellant’s statements. Because it ultimately found Appellant guilty of murder, it is fair to assume that the jury at least partially accepted C.G.’s version of events over Appellant’s. In my opinion, there is no substantial possibility that the jury would have been less inclined to accept C.G.’s testimony had he testified in open court. In fact, common sense dictates that the testimony of a very young and tragically victimized child will be even more persuasive when delivered face-to-face. In short, if the jury believed C.G.’s version of events after viewing his testimony on television, I find no substantial possibility that it would have rejected that exact same testimony if given from the witness stand.
GRAVES, J., joins this concurring opinion.