Murphy v. Bonnano

663 A.2d 505 (1995)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Murphy (P) was at the Bonnano house when Brian Murphy (D), her estranged husband burst into the house with a shotgun and threw P onto a marble table and pumped the gun and screamed at P calling her a whore and a prostitute and accusing her of extramarital affairs. Brian then entered Bonnano's (P1) bedroom and accused P1 of running a whore house. D then walked P out of the house at gunpoint and eventually she persuaded D to leave. P returned to the house and called the police. During trial, D relayed a different version that included two other men. D claimed that P was just as upset as her but had injured herself and that the alleged shotgun that was pointed at the women was always in his truck. D was charged and convicted of unlawful assault and entry. Those convictions were affirmed on appeal. In the present civil suit, each P was awarded $45,000 in compensatory and punitive damages. D appealed. P and D settled and this appeal was continued for P1, and D; D contended that the trial judge erred with he did not allow several prior incidents of asserted conduct on P to be cross-examined as these reflected poorly on P's veracity as a witness. (The bad acts of P are listed on pages 603-4 of Mueller 4th). The trial judge ruled that the prior bad acts were not relevant to the current litigation and that the acts only showed that P was litigious.