DocketNumber: C.A. No. 20828.
Citation Numbers: 2006 Ohio 45
Judges: DONOVAN, J.
Filed Date: 1/6/2006
Status: Non-Precedential
Modified Date: 4/18/2021
{¶ 2} Appellant asserts five Assignments of error on appeal that present evidentiary issues. "The decision whether to admit or exclude evidence lies in the sound discretion of the trial court." State v. Carter, Summit App. No. 22444,
{¶ 4} "THE TRIAL COURT ERRED IN ALLOWING THE STATE TO IMPEACH ITS OWN WITNESS WITHOUT FIRST HAVING ESTABLISHED THE ELEMENT OF SURPRISE"
{¶ 5} Evid. R. 607(A) provides that "[t]he credibility of a witness may be attacked by any party, except that the credibility of a witness may be attacked by the party calling the witness by means of a prior inconsistent statement only upon a showing of surprise and affirmative damage."
{¶ 6} On direct, the State asked A.H. if she told Shelby, other girls, her mother, the police, the prosecutor and her therapist that Appellant touched her inappropriately, and A.H. testified that she did so accuse Appellant. On cross-examination, Appellant asked A.H. if it was true that Appellant touched her inappropriately, and A.H. said it was not true. On redirect, the State confronted A.H. with evidence of the prior statements concerning which she had testified in her direct testimony.
{¶ 7} The evidence the State introduced on re-direct was not inconsistent with evidence the State elicited from A.H. on direct. Rather, the re-direct evidence was consistent with her direct evidence testimony, offered not to impeach her direct evidence testimony but to rehabilitate her credibility after Defendant's cross-examination. Any inconsistencies it exposed were with her cross-examination testi