State v. Diaz
Annotate this CaseDefendant was charged and convicted of murder, carrying a pistol without a permit, and criminal possession of a pistol. At trial, three witnesses who had criminal matters pending in a variety of venues testified that they had seen Defendant commit the murder. On appeal, Defendant claimed (1) the trial court committed plain error when it failed to instruct the jury, sua sponte, that the testimony of the three witnesses should be viewed with great caution in light of potential benefits the witnesses could receive from the government in their pending criminal matters in exchange for their testimony; and (2) in the alternative, the Supreme Court should exercise its supervisory power to require such an instruction. The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of conviction, holding (1) the trial court did not commit plain error when it failed to give, sua sponte, a special credibility instruction for the three witnesses; and (2) because trial courts already have discretion to give a special credibility instruction under existing case law whenever the court reasonably believes a witness' testimony may be particularly unreliable, there is no need for the Court to create a new supervisory rule requiring a special credibility instruction in such cases.
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