Opinion
Record No. 0178-93-2
Decided: July 5, 1994
FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF HENRICO COUNTY, Thomas N. Nance, Judge
Affirmed.
C. David Whaley (Morchower, Luxton Whaley, on brief), for appellant.
Leah A. Darron, Assistant Attorney General (James S. Gilmore, III, Attorney General, on brief), for appellee.
Present: Chief Judge Moon, Judge Fitzpatrick and Retired Judge Hodges
Pursuant to Code Sec. 17-116.010 this opinion is not designated for publication.
The decision of the trial court is affirmed because:
1. "Evidence of collateral facts or those incapable of affording any reasonable presumption or inference on matters in issue, because too remote or irrelevant, cannot be accepted in evidence." Bunting v. Commonwealth, 208 Va. 309, 314, 157 S.E.2d 204, 208 (1967). "[T]he admission of specific acts of dishonesty, and the rebuttal evidence which would follow, injects collateral issues which would divert the jury from the issue of guilt or innocence of the accused." Lambert v. Commonwealth, 9 Va. App. 67, 70-71, 383 S.E.2d at 754 (1989).
Here, Wycoff attempted to impeach the victim, Tammy Woelfl, with a collateral allegation of an alleged prior act of dishonesty involving a third person, Johnny Sweeney. The trial judge did not abuse his discretion in refusing to admit the evidence.
The holdings in Clinebell v. Commonwealth, 235 Va. 319, 368 S.E.2d 263 (1988) and Evans v. Commonwealth, 14 Va. App. 118, 415 S.E.2d 851 (1992), are not applicable because the cases confine their application to rape cases.
2. The credibility of a witness, the weight accorded the testimony, and the inferences to be drawn from proven facts are matters solely within the province of the fact finder, whose findings will not be disturbed on appeal unless plainly wrong. Long v. Commonwealth, 8 Va. App. 194, 199, 379 S.E.2d 473, 476 (1989).
Woelfl testified that Wycoff threatened to kill her, physically restrained her, put a cocked gun in her mouth, threw her down a set of stairs, and kicked her. Woelfl's testimony was not inherently incredible, and the record does not show the conviction based upon her testimony was plainly wrong. Hence, the evidence was sufficient to prove Wycoff guilty of assault.
Affirmed.