Jordan v. City of Huntsville
Jordan v. City of Huntsville
Opinion
The appellant, Harvey Jordan, was convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol, a violation of §
The city's evidence tended to show that on October 25, 1992, at about 1:00 a.m., the appellant approached a traffic checkpoint in Huntsville. Deputy Billy Wells of the Madison County Sheriffs Department testified that the appellant stopped at the checkpoint and that he asked the appellant for his driver's license. Wells testified that the appellant then "took off." The appellant was forced to stop several blocks from the checkpoint by patrol cars from the Madison County Sheriffs Department, the Huntsville Police Department, and the Alabama State Trooper's office. Wells testified that when the officers stopped him, the appellant was belligerent and appeared to be intoxicated. He refused to undergo any field sobriety tests. The appellant was arrested by Huntsville Police Officer Tim Evans, but he refused to undergo any chemical tests to measure his blood alcohol content. The appellant raises four issues on appeal.
"It is not permissible in Alabama to prove the good or bad character of either a defendant or a witness to fortify or impeach his testimony by proving particular acts. Lowery v. State,
98 Ala. 45 ,13 So. 498 (1893); Carroll v. State,555 So.2d 805 (Ala.Cr.App. 1989).
"The rule in Alabama is stated as follows:
" 'A witness may not be cross-examined for impeachment as to specific acts of misconduct by him which have no relevancy except as tending to show that he is a person of bad character as a whole or with respect to truth and veracity. . ..
" '. . . .
*Page 155" 'This rule of excluding questions on cross about specific bad acts of the witness does not apply to exclude prior criminal acts involving moral turpitude for which the witness has been convicted. . . .'
"C. Gamble, McElroy's Alabama Evidence, 141.01(10) (3d ed. 1977) (footnotes omitted).
" 'One of the cardinal principles of the common law is that a person's character, good or bad, offered for the purpose of showing his conduct on a specified occasion, is not provable by evidence of his specific acts or course of conduct. The policy behind the rule is that the reception of such evidence would result in an intolerable confusion of the issues.
" 'The most commonly applied form of the above principle is found in the rule that the criminally accused may not prove his good character, as tending to show that he did not commit the crime in question, by showing prior specific good acts. It is, of course, the right of the accused to introduce his good character but only by means of general reputation. Once the accused introduces evidence of his good character, the door is opened for the prosecution to rebut with proof of his bad character. However, the prosecution may not prove the accused's bad character by showing prior specific acts. The prosecution, like the accused, is relegated to proving character via general reputation.'
"Id. at 26.01(1) (footnotes omitted)."
Snyder v. State,
The reasons for Evans's suspension were not relevant to his testimony at trial and no allegation was made that his suspension was for acts involving moral turpitude. The trial court did not err in excluding this evidence.
"The refusal of a requested written jury instruction, although a correct statement of the law, shall not be cause for reversal on appeal if it appears that the same rule of law was substantially and fairly given to the jury in the court's oral charges or in other charges given at the request of the parties."
Rule 21.1, Ala.R.Crim.P.
The appellant's refused instructions concerned the burden of proof, the evidence the jury could consider, and the application of the law to the facts. These areas were substantially and fairly covered by the trial court's other instructions to the jury. Therefore, we hold that the trial court did not err in refusing to give the appellant's requested instructions. Blackmon v. State,
Section
"If a person under arrest refuses to submit to a chemical test under the provisions of section
32-5-192 , evidence of refusal shall be admissible in any civil, criminal or quasi-criminal action or proceeding arising out of acts alleged to have been committed while the person was driving or in actual physical control of a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol or controlled substance."
The trial court did not err in allowing evidence of the appellant's refusal to submit to a blood alcohol test to be received into evidence.
However, the record does not contain the specific statements by the prosecutor that the appellant objects to. The record contains only the appellant's objection. Therefore, this issue has not been adequately preserved for our review. "It is the appellant's duty to provide this court with a complete record on appeal." McCray v. State,
For the foregoing reasons, the judgment in this case is due to be, and it is hereby, affirmed.
AFFIRMED.
All the Judges concur.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Harvey Jordan v. City of Huntsville.
- Cited By
- 7 cases
- Status
- Published