United States v. Shelly Grant Gambler, AKA Grant Gambler

A trial court cannot permit the government to shield its complaining witness from the probing cross-examination that our system of justice accords a criminal defendant. The right to cross-examine is particularly imperative when an articulate and determined witness, whose testimony is the only real evidence that a crime has in fact occurred, has shown a potential bias by filing a lawsuit against the defendant. I believe that the trial judge’s error in curtailing inquiry into Pottinger’s effort to bring a $100,000 damage suit against Gambler deprived the jury of evidence that could have…