Smith's Criminal Case Compendium
Table of Contents
State v. Godbey, 241 N.C. App. 114 (May. 19, 2015)
In a case where the defendant was charged with assaulting a court security officer, no error occurred when the State was allowed to cross-examine the defendant about another criminal proceeding in which he was the prosecuting witness and that he referenced in his direct examination. On direct, the defendant explained that he was at the courthouse on the day in question to find out why the prior case had been dismissed. The court concluded that by testifying about the earlier case on direct, he opened the door to cross-examination. The court rejected the defendant’s argument that the evidence detailing dismissal of the charge constituted a “judicial opinion” on his credibility, reasoning: “a charge may be dismissed for a variety of reasons; for example, a witness’s unimpeached and credible testimony may simply not establish the elements of a criminal offense.”