Johnson v. Com.
| Decision Date | 03 December 1982 |
| Docket Number | No. 811731,811731 |
| Citation | 224 Va. 525,298 S.E.2d 99 |
| Court | Virginia Supreme Court |
| Parties | Harold Vann JOHNSON, Jr. v. COMMONWEALTH of Virginia. Record |
William P. Sheffield, Abingdon, for appellant.
Jacqueline G. Epps, Asst. Atty. Gen. (Gerald L. Baliles, Atty. Gen., on brief), for appellee.
Before CARRICO, C.J., and COCHRAN, POFF, COMPTON, THOMPSON, STEPHENSON and RUSSELL, JJ.
In this appeal we again consider the right of a cross-examiner, impeaching the credibility of a witness by proof of prior conviction of a felony, to elicit the name of the felony upon which he relies. Finding that the trial court erred in denying the cross-examiner this right, we reverse.
The defendant, Harold Vann Johnson, Jr., was tried by a jury and convicted of statutory burglary. The Commonwealth proved that the office of a veterinarian in Russell County was entered at night by breaking a window and cutting a screen, and that twenty-four bottles containing pentobarbital were removed by breaking open a locked cabinet. Howard Jake Duty, Jr., gave the only evidence of criminal agency. He testified that he, along with Johnson and a third man named Ferguson, had participated in the crime in order to steal drugs. Some of the stolen drugs were later found in a closet in Ferguson's bedroom.
Duty was the only witness whose testimony implicated Johnson. Because of this, defense counsel made an extensive attack on his credibility. Duty admitted that he was a drug addict and that he had participated in the crime in order to get "high" by injecting the stolen drugs intravenously. He stated that on the night in question he had smoked five or six marijuana cigarettes and consumed three or four beers. He said that he was "high" at the time and wanted more drugs. He admitted that he had been a drug addict for nine years, since dropping out of high school, and that he had been twice committed to a state hospital for treatment of his addiction. He admitted that he had been convicted of eight prior felonies and that he was facing new charges arising out of the same incident for which Johnson was on trial. He further admitted that he had decided to testify for the Commonwealth after receiving what he called a "no process" on a charge of possession of marijuana.
During this cross-examination, defense counsel asked Duty: "Do you recall being convicted of grand larceny in nineteen --?" The question was interrupted by the Commonwealth's objection. The court stated: 1
Johnson contends that Duty's testimony was so "overburdened" by matters affecting his credibility that it was unworthy of belief as a matter of law, and that a verdict based upon his uncorroborated testimony should have been set aside. There is no support for this proposition. It is well settled in Virginia that an accused may be convicted upon the uncorroborated testimony of an accomplice. In such a case, however, the court must warn the jury of the danger of basing a conviction upon such uncorroborated testimony. Dillard v. Commonwealth, 216 Va. 820, 224 S.E.2d 137 (1976). 2
Further, the credibility of witnesses and the weight to be given to their testimony are questions exclusively for the jury. Coppola v. Commonwealth, 220 Va. 243, 252, 257 S.E.2d 797, 803 (1979), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 1103, 100 S.Ct. 1069, 62 L.Ed.2d 788 (1980). Here the jury found Duty's testimony believable, despite what it heard affecting its credibility, and based its verdict upon it, as it was entitled to do.
The court erred, however, in refusing to permit defense counsel to elicit the names of the felonies of which Duty had been convicted. This case is controlled by Hummel v. Commonwealth, 217 Va. 548, 231 S.E.2d 216 (1977), and Code § 19.2-269. The jury was entitled to know both the number and the nature of Duty's felony convictions, but not the details thereof, in order to evaluate his testimony and determine what credit it should be given. The trial court erroneously applied the rule of Harmon v. Commonwealth, 212 Va. 442, 185 S.E.2d 48 (1971), which limited such cross-examination to proof that the witness had been convicted of "a felony," without naming it. As we pointed out in Hummel, the Harmon rule is confined to cases in which a defendant in a criminal case, testifying in his own behalf, is...
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