Argument · 13 of 17
XIII. Mike Mitchell Did Not Testify
The State says family friend Mike Mitchell helped arrange the surrender and supposedly asked Mr. Robinson about clothing connected to the event. Mitchell did not testify. Agent Davis testified about interviews conducted with Mitchell and about a written 1102 statement Mitchell supplied. Davis initially had difficulty accurately identifying which agents interviewed which family members and Mitchell before correcting the record. Source: rev.com The State introduced Mitchell’s written statement through an investigator.
But the defense could not ask Mitchell:
- what Mr. Robinson said verbatim;
- what questions preceded the response;
- whether police or family members had already described the allegations;
- whether Mr. Robinson adopted Mitchell’s language;
- what “related clothes” meant;
- whether the account was written from memory;
- whether Mitchell discussed his statement with anyone before writing it;
- or whether investigators influenced the framing of the questions.
Again, the State substituted a written account and an investigator’s narration for live testimony from the person who supposedly heard the statement.