William M. Brown v. United States

This appeal from a conviction of manslaughter raises three issues. Two of them we find unavailing, 1 but we are not prepared to dispose of the third without supplementation of the record.

This third issue arises out of the permission given by the court to the prosecution to impeach its own witness. 14 D.C. Code § 102 (1967), and see Bartley v. United States, 115 U.S.App.D.C. 316, 319 F.2d 717 (1963). This witness, Spriggs, was a principal participant in the encounter which resulted in the death of Stokes, and his testimony, as the only eyewitness, was a critical part of the Government’s…