Claude Bell was indicted by a Fayette County grand jury of attempted armed robbery, kidnapping, possession of a firearm during commission of a crime, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and burglary. A jury acquitted Bell of kidnapping but found him guilty of attempted armed robbery, possession of a firearm during commission of a crime, and burglary. The remaining charge was nol prossed by the State. Bell’s motion for new trial was disposed of by consent with leave to appeal, and he appeals, asserting as his sole enumeration of error that the trial court erred in granting the State’s motion in limine. Finding no error, we affirm. Both parties filed pretrial motions in limine. Bell contended the victim’s identification of him as one of the perpetrators was based solely on rumors concerning his involvement in robberies and home invasions. He moved to exclude the victim’s identification testimony, contending she had insufficient knowledge to identify him as one of the masked assailants based on “his movements and voice.” The State’s motion sought to exclude the victim’s testimony in an earlier criminal trial in which her husband was convicted of drug offenses.
At the pretrial motions hearing, the trial court partially granted the State’s motion with respect to the husband’s criminal activities or conviction, observing that such evidence was irrelevant and inadmissible unless the husband testified and Bell impeached him with a certified copy of the conviction. Bell’s counsel argued that he needed to obtain testimony regarding the circumstances of the husband’s criminal case to challenge the victim’s identification of Bell by showing that the victim “had no access or no reason to see my client or get to know him or any other characteristics for the four month period between the time her husband went to prison and the time that the . . . alleged incident occurred.” The trial court instructed Bell that he was permitted to ask the victim “about how she got to know Bell, you certainly have the right to do that; how long she’d known him; under what circumstances” in order to “set up a time period . . . just as long as you stay out of the criminal activity.”
