Harrison v. State

In Harrison v. State, 788 S.W.2d 18 (Tex. Crim. App. 1990), the defendant was accused of hindering apprehension. In that case, defense counsel, suggested on cross-examination that the police officer who was subdued was wrong about having sustained a black-eye from another person in the altercation, by suggesting counsel had seen the officer and had not seen a black-eye. Id. at 20. This Court found that defense counsel's cross-examination of State's witness did not irreversibly inject counsel's credibility as an issue in the trial because the issue about which counsel suggested he had personal knowledge was merely tangential to the allegations lodged against his client and if an issue, only a minor one because counsel did not pursue that theory. Id. at 23-24. The Court also found that disqualification was not required, reasoning that although defense counsel may have made himself a potential witness, the matter of credibility presented by the questioning was not important to the case or any issue concerning the offense, and did not impeach the credibility of the State's witness to any great degree, if at all, on a material issue. Id. at 24.