State v. Hubbard

The majority opinion in this case reverses the trial judge stating he had no discretion to exclude evidence offered to prove the interest of the officer in the outcome of the case. The court does so without a word of analysis of the question asked or the answer given by the officer. The majority opinion states “where the questioning is curtailed before bias or interest is shown, the decision [of the trial judge] is an error of law.” 297 Or at 800.

After making this perfectly valid and undisputed observation, the opinion directly launches off on a discussion of harmless error without pointing…