State v. Christian
| Decision Date | 28 August 1978 |
| Docket Number | No. KCD,KCD |
| Citation | 570 S.W.2d 819 |
| Parties | STATE of Missouri, Respondent, v. Terry L. CHRISTIAN, Appellant. 29424. |
| Court | Missouri Court of Appeals |
William F. Bauer, Acting Public Defender, Fifth Judicial Circuit of Missouri, St. Joseph, for appellant; Jere E. Lloyd, St. Joseph, assisted preparation of brief.
No brief filed for respondent.
Before SOMERVILLE, P. J., and DIXON and TURNAGE, JJ.
Defendant was tried and convicted of assaulting a police officer while the latter was engaged in discharging his official duties, a misdemeanor. Punishment was fixed at thirty days confinement in the Buchanan County Jail and payment of a $100.00 fine.
A brief narration of the apical facts follows: At approximately 3:30 A. M. on the morning of October 22, 1976, two members of the St. Joseph, Missouri, Police Department were en route to the apartment of Sheryl Christian, defendant's estranged wife, in response to a "disturbance call". Upon arrival they observed defendant exiting the apartment building and heard a woman yelling for them to stop the defendant. Defendant was approached by one of the officers and asked to stop and talk with him. Defendant refused to do so and kicked the officer. A struggle then ensued between defendant and the officer during which time defendant struck the officer several times. Defendant was eventually restrained and placed under arrest.
Defendant called his wife, Sheryl Christian, as a witness. Her testimony differed in some respects from that of the two police officers called by the state. For instance, defendant's wife testified that she observed the altercation from her kitchen window and never saw defendant strike the officer. When defense counsel attempted to elicit from defendant's wife that her father was a police officer and that she felt no animosity toward the police department an objection was lodged by the state which was sustained by the trial court. Defense counsel's proffered theory being that it was admissible for the purpose of rehabilitating the witness. The trial court's refusal to permit defense counsel to elicit the aforementioned testimony from defendant's wife is the only point of error raised by defendant on appeal.
The only authority cited by defendant to support his single assertion of error consists of the following incomplete statement abstractly lifted from Wigmore on Evidence, Vol. VII, § 2034(3), page 344: "The Mere assertion of any witness need not...
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Reed v. Sale Memorial Hosp. and Clinic, 13376
...(1945). And, there is authority that until a witness' credibility has been attacked, rehabilitation is premature. State v. Christian, 570 S.W.2d 819, 820[1, 2] (Mo.App.1978); Hasl and O'Brien, Missouri Law of Evidence § 5.4, p. 43 (1984). However, contradiction is sometimes referred to as a......
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State v. Alexander, 62502
...Similarly, testimony bolstering the witness whose credibility had not been attacked would not have been admissible. State v. Christian, 570 S.W.2d 819 (Mo.App. 1978). Thus, defendant's stated intention to introduce evidence of Mansfield's informant status was premature, and absent a showing......