Commonwealth v. Ferrell

ISSUE

KELLER, Justice.

During Ferrell’s trial testimony, the trial court sustained an objection by the Commonwealth and did not allow Ferrell to answer a question asked by his counsel. Ferrell’s counsel then informed the trial court of the nature of what Ferrell’s answer to the question would be, but Ferrell himself did not make a specific offer of his answer by way of avowal. Was Ferrell’s avowal testimony necessary to preserve the trial court’s ruling for appellate review? Because we cannot determine admissibility and prejudice issues on appeal without this witness’s testimony before us, we…