Who May Impeach

The credibility of a witness may be impeached by any party, including the party calling the wit- ness, unless the court determines that a party’s impeachment of its own witness is primarily for the purpose of introducing otherwise inadmissi- ble evidence. COMMENTARY Section 6-4 reflects the rule announced in State v. Graham, 200 Conn. 9, 17–18, 509 A.2d 493 (1986). In Graham, the Supreme Court abandoned the common-law ‘‘voucher’’ rule; id., 17; which provided that a party could not impeach its own witness except upon a showing of surprise, hostility or adversity, or when the court permitted impeachment in situa- tions in which a witness’ in-court testimony was inconsistent with his or her prior out-of-court statements. See, e.g., State v. McCarthy, 197 Conn. 166, 177, 496 A.2d 190 (1985); Schmeltz v. Tracy, 119 Conn. 492, 498, 177 A. 520 (1935). In Graham and subsequent decisions; e.g., State v. Wil- liams, 204 Conn. 523, 531, 529 A.2d 653 (1987); State v. Jasper, 200 Conn. 30, 34, 508 A.2d 1387 (1986); the court has supplied a two-pronged test for determining whether impeachment serves as a mere subterfuge for introducing substantively inadmissible evidence. A party’s impeachment of a witness it calls by using the witness’ prior inconsistent statements is improper when (1) the primary purpose of calling the witness is to impeach the witness, and (2) the party intro- duces the statement in hope that the jury will use it substan- tively. E.g., State v. Graham, supra, 200 Conn. 18. The court in Graham instructed trial courts to prohibit impeachment when both prongs are met. Id. Note, however, that if the prior incon- sistent statement is substantively admissible under State v. Whelan, 200 Conn. 743, 753, 513 A.2d 86, cert. denied, 479 U.S. 994, 107 S. Ct. 597, 93 L. Ed. 2d 598 (1986); see Section 8-5 (1); or under any other exceptions to the hearsay rule, the limitation on impeachment will not apply because impeach- ment with the prior inconsistent statement cannot result in introducing otherwise inadmissible evidence. Cf. State v. Whelan, supra, 753 n.8. Section 6-4 applies to all parties in both criminal and civil cases and applies to all methods of impeachment authorized by the Code.