United States v. Whitmore
United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia
359 F.3d 609 (D.C. Cir. 2004)
Gerald Whitmore (defendant) was charged with felon-in-possession and drug possession after Officer Soto testified he saw Whitmore throw a gun during a chase; Whitmore's defense was that Soto fabricated the story and planted the gun. Whitmore tried to call three character witnesses to attack Soto's truthfulness, but the trial court excluded all three: a journalist not personally acquainted with Soto, a defense attorney who had only discussed Soto with fellow defense lawyers, and a man who had not been in Soto's community for years. The court also barred cross-examination of Soto about a prior judicial finding that he had lied under oath, his suspended driver's license, and his failure to pay child support. A jury convicted Whitmore on both counts, and he appealed.
Whether a party offering reputation evidence under Federal Rule of Evidence 608(a) must establish that the character witness is genuinely acquainted with the witness and the witness's community, and whether Federal Rule of Evidence 608(b) allows cross-examination about specific misconduct bearing on truthfulness even without a resulting conviction.