Jensen v. State

RAKER, Judge.

The issue we must decide is whether the trial court abused its discretion in restricting the testimony of a character witness called to impeach the credibility of another witness. In resolving this appeal, we must decide whether the excluded testimony was admissible under Maryland Rule 5-608(a)(3), which allows a character witness on direct examination to give a “reasonable basis” for opinion testimony but does not permit a witness to testify as to “specific instances of truthfulness or untruthfulness.” We shall hold that the character witness’s testimony was improperly…