State v. Doran
| Decision Date | 07 June 1977 |
| Docket Number | No. 7530,7530 |
| Citation | 374 A.2d 950,117 N.H. 491 |
| Parties | The STATE of New Hampshire v. Thomas Joseph DORAN. |
| Court | New Hampshire Supreme Court |
David H. Souter, Atty. Gen., and Richard B. Michaud, Concord, Atty., for the state.
R. John Roy, Manchester, and Barry S. Weinstein, Boston, Mass., for defendant.
Defendant appeals from his conviction under RSA 634:1 III(a) for the burning of Cote's Restaurant in Claremont in the early morning of December 25, 1974. The defendant and his wife owned Cote's Restaurant at the time of the fire. The issue here is the propriety of the admission of certain impeachment testimony in the course of trial before a jury. Defendant excepted to rulings of the Trial Court (Loughlin, J.) and all questions of law raised by defendant's exceptions were reserved and transferred. For the reasons which follow we hold there was no error on the part of the trial court in admitting the testimony to which defendant objects.
At trial there was evidence that the fire was intentionally started. This evidence included testimony and exhibits tending to show that a coupling in a fuel oil line in the cellar of the restaurant had been loosened, that oil soaked materials were strewn about the cellar, and that a certain relatively rare type of candle was used to delay the ignition of a fire in the above materials. One such candle was found still burning on one of the steps of the cellar stairs by firemen who extinguished the fire upstairs. There was evidence that during the afternoon of December 24, 1974, the defendant had been in one of the few places where such candles were sold in the Claremont area.
There was evidence that the defendant had increased the insurance coverage on the restaurant from $67,500 to $168,000 within six weeks before the fire and that on December 24, 1974, he attempted to make a payment for the augmented coverage. There was also evidence that the defendant had financial difficulties in the operation of the restaurant. During the three week period immediately preceding the fire the defendant's son and daughter-in-law moved out of the apartment above the restaurant, taking most of their furniture and personal effects. Some of these were removed in the afternoon preceding the day of the fire. The defendant was the last person to be seen at the restaurant during the afternoon before the fire. Routine police patrols and inspections of the restaurant were made periodically through the night of the fire and the police saw nothing suspicious before the fire broke out around 4:00 a. m. on December 25, 1974.
The defendant's wife and son were, among others, witnesses on his behalf at trial. Their testimony tended to rebut or mitigate the state's evidence that the restaurant business was in financial difficulty. They corroborated defendant's exculpatory testimony and also sought to establish an alibi for the defendant. One theory of the defense was that a burglar could have started the fire in order to destroy any evidence of his presence in the restaurant. Defendant's son testified that approximately $1,200 which had been left in the restaurant's safe disappeared between December 24, 1974, and January 2, 1975. He also testified that money was missing from a pair of cash registers. One of these was damaged by the fire so that it could not be opened, but shaking it showed it to have been emptied before the fire. There was no indication that anyone had tampered with the safe. The person who set the fire apparently intended it to start in two separate places. Neither was in the office where the safe was located.
The state sought to impeach the credibility of defendant's son, Thomas Doran, Jr., by asking him on cross-examination about a conversation, in October preceding the fire, with Rebecca Revoir, a saleslady in a local shoe store. He denied having stated to her that his father, mother and family did not like Claremont or its people, and that the only way they would be free of the restaurant was if it burned down. For the same purpose, Anne Doran, the defendant's wife was asked on cross-examination about a conversation in November preceding the Christmas Day fire, with Karen Lihatsh who was a waitress at the restaurant for a short time. She denied having stated to Karen that the Dorans did not like the area and that the only way that they could get out of the business was if the place burned down. Defendant excepted to the cross-examination of Thomas, Jr., but not to that of Anne.
Later in the trial, the state called Rebecca and Karen as rebuttal witnesses. Rebecca testified that defendant's son made the statement attributed to him in cross-examination. Karen also testified that defendant's wife made the statement attributed to her in cross-examination. Defendant objected to their testimony and requested "that there be given a limiting instruction that this is solely for the purposes of credibility." The instructions given by ...
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State v. Baillargeon, 82-121
...of her earlier testimony, on direct examination by defense counsel, that her husband was a loving father. See State v. Doran, 117 N.H. 491, 494, 374 A.2d 950, 952 (1977). The relief sought by the defendant on this appeal is a new trial. The defendant's request for a new trial is Reversed an......
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State v. Rodriguez
...counsel, during examination of witness, to make statement of material facts of which there is no evidence); cf. State v. Doran, 117 N.H. 491, 494-95, 374 A.2d 950, 952 (1977) (State's effort to impeach witness about prior inconsistent statements implying material, prejudicial facts held pro......
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State v. Lavallee
...would in all likelihood have been admissible only to impeach the victim's in-court testimony, not for its truth. State v. Doran, 117 N.H. 491, 374 A.2d 950 (1977); State v. Gomes, 116 N.H. 113, 352 A.2d 713 (1976). Her later retraction cast considerable doubt as to the defendant's assertion......