People v. Rodgers

I am in full agreement with my colleagues that the people were entitled to *221impeach the credibility of a witness who testified in support of the defendant’s alibi by showing that the witness told a different story to a detective than the one he related at the trial. Plainly, incontrovertibly, that is the law.

The real issue — not touched on in the majority opinion — concerns the manner in which the people were allowed to prove the prior inconsistent statement.

Over the objection of the defendant’s lawyer, the trial judge allowed the detective to read a written statement he wrote out at the time…