State v. Johnson

551 P.2d 86, 27 Ariz. App. 96, 1976 Ariz. App. LEXIS 548
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arizona
DecidedJune 29, 1976
DocketNo. 1 CA-CR 1318
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 551 P.2d 86 (State v. Johnson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arizona primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Johnson, 551 P.2d 86, 27 Ariz. App. 96, 1976 Ariz. App. LEXIS 548 (Ark. Ct. App. 1976).

Opinion

OPINION

NELSON, Judge.

After a trial by jury, Anthony Hedric Johnson (Johnson) was convicted of armed robbery with a prior conviction and sentenced to not less than 12 nor more than 16 years in the State Prison. On appeal, he raises three issues. Because we must reverse on the first issue of whether a stereo cord was proper impeachment evidence, we do not reach the other two issues raised by Johnson since they are connected to the first issue and will not recur on a retrial.

The trial court initially “suppressed” all of the evidence seized from Johnson except for money, stereo equipment, a portable television set and two guns found in his apartment. It appears that the trial court suppressed this evidence because the victim could not identify any of the other items seized. Accordingly, the State contends and we agree that the basis for the trial court’s ruling was that the other items were irrelevant to the prosecutor’s casein-chief. One of the items which was suppressed was a “DIN jack and cord” (hereafter referred to as “the DIN jack”) which was found in the trunk of Johnson’s wife’s car. A DIN jack is a piece of stereo equipment which connects a tuner to a tape deck. The DIN jack fit the stolen stereo equipment. However, it can also fit other kinds of equipment.

Johnson took the witness stand on his own behalf and denied his involvement in the crime. On cross examination, he testified as follows:

“Q Let me ask you about this yellow over white or white over yellow 70 Ford car. Had you driven this car of your wife’s ?
“A Yes, sir.
“Q Had you driven it that night out to the victim’s place?
“A Yes, sir.
“Q You had keys for the car?
“A Yes.
“Q Had you ever loaned these keys to anyone else, to Jimmy or Sherman or Bobo?
“A Not that night.
“Q How about the next day, the 12th?
“A No, sir.
“Q The day the police came they hadn’t asked you for your keys or anything like that?
“A You mean the police, or who?
“Q 1 mean Jimmy or Sherman or Bobo.
“A No, sir.
“Q So they didn’t get your car on the day of the 12th?
“A No, sir.
“Q Let me ask you about this particular stereo unit here. Who brought that unit in?
“A I’m not sure exactly which individual brought it in, but it was one of the three.
“Q You didn’t bring it in?
“A Into my house?
“Q Right.
“A No, sir.
“Q Have you ever owned a stereo unit like this?
“A No, sir.
“Q How about your wife? Has she ever owned one like this?
“A Not to the best of my knowledge.
“Q Not as long as you’ve known her?
“A Correct.
“Q So you would have no reason to have any accessories, reels or tapes or something for this particular stereo?
“A No, sir.
“Q Did Jimmy or Sherman or Bobo ever ask you if they could put any of this property they took in your car ?
[98]*98“A They did state they wanted to take it somewhere. I said no, they would have to wait for Bobo to come back.
“Q So you didn’t let them put any in your car?
“A No, sir.
“Q Did you ever put any of it in your car?
“A No, sir.
“Q You are positive of that?
“A Yes, I’m positive.”

To supposedly impeach this testimony, the prosecutor offered the DIN jack. There was no testimony, however, that this particular DIN jack belonged to the victim or even that a DIN jack was stolen in the crime. Further, a police officer testified that it was “very possible” that equipment other than the type of stolen equipment could require or utilize a DIN jack.

On sur-rebuttal, Johnson testified that he owned Panasonic and Akawi (phonetic) stereo equipment.1 He also testified that he had placed this equipment and numerous connecting wires in the trunk of his car in order to take the equipment to be fixed. He testified that he had various cords which attached to his stereo equipment, but could not swear that the DIN jack was or was not his cord.

The State attempts to justify the admission of the DIN jack on the ground that it “impeached” Johnson’s testimony. We will consider both this issue and whether his testimony made this evidence relevant which would otherwise have been irrelevant without his testimony.

It is well established that contradiction on irrelevant or collateral matters is not permissible. State v. Williams, 111 Ariz. 511, 533 P.2d 1146 (1975). The test as to whether contradictory testimony is admissible is simply: is it admissible for some purpose other than mere contradiction. State v. Mangrum, 98 Ariz. 279, 403 P.2d 925 (1965); 3 Wigmore on Evidence, § 1003 at 657 (3d ed. 1940).

The testimony which the State contends is “impeached” by the existence of the DIN jack deals with two subjects: first, whether Johnson loaned his wife’s car to the robbers; second, whether Johnson had any reason to own stereo equipment compatible with that stolen.

First, whether or not Johnson loaned his car to the robbers is clearly collateral to the basic issue of whether he was present at the robbery. Further, the existence of a DIN jack in the trunk does not even directly contradict his testimony because there are numerous ways the DIN jack could have been placed in the trunk apart from the loaning of the car.

Second, Johnson did not testify that he did not own any stereo equipment, only that he had no reason to own any accessories to the type of stereo equipment that was stolen. In fact, Johnson did not have any reason to own that equipment, but did have a reason to own accessories which might fit both his own stereo and the stereo which was stolen. Therefore, there is no direct contradiction of his testimony and the admission of the DIN jack for impeachment purposes was error.

Further, Johnson’s ownership of similar equipment is not an issue in the case. The issue in the case was whether Johnson possessed the recently stolen property. There was no issue as to the extent of his ownership of stereo equipment. Accordingly, we feel impeachment on this issue was collateral and improper.

It appears that the trial court initially correctly found the DIN jack to.be irrelevant absent an identification by the victim.

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Related

State v. Sanders
575 P.2d 822 (Court of Appeals of Arizona, 1978)
State v. Valencia
575 P.2d 335 (Court of Appeals of Arizona, 1977)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
551 P.2d 86, 27 Ariz. App. 96, 1976 Ariz. App. LEXIS 548, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-johnson-arizctapp-1976.