Scull v. United States

How courts have described this case

Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.

• concluding that inability of counsel to cross-examine regarding witnesses' own fear of prosecution forced defendant to tie questions to \dubious theory\ without apparent support
• holding that “the witnesses] subjective belief in the possibility of prosecution is central,” and “[t]o the extent that the proposed cross-examination might [have shown] or uncovered] a bias or motivation underlying [the witness’s] testimony, it was relevant and admissible”
• stating that party must proffer some facts supporting a genuine belief that the witness is biased in the manner alleged, and also must proffer facts sufficient to allow the trial court to determine whether the proposed questioning is probative of bias
• trial court committed reversible error by denying defendant’s motion to cross-examine government witnesses about their prior sales of marijuana
• plausible that a jury would have discredited testimony of government witnesses if appellant had been allowed to impeach them as biased by their perceived need to curry favor with the government to protect their own liberty interests
• plausible that a jury would have discredited testimony of government witnesses if appellant had been allowed to impeach them as biased by their perceived need to curry favor with the government to protect their own liberty interests

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).