Filed 3/2/15 P. v. Gonzalez CA2/8

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IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION EIGHT

THE PEOPLE,

Plaintiff and Respondent,

v.

JUAN G. GONZALEZ,

Defendant and Appellant.

 B251828

 (Los Angeles County

 Super. Ct. No. KA101599)

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Thomas 

Falls, Judge. Affirmed.

Daniel R. McCarthy, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant 

and Appellant.

Kamala D. Harris, Attorney General, Gerald A. Engler, Chief Assistant Attorney 

General, Lance E. Winters, Assistant Attorney General, James William Bilderback II and 

Alene M. Games, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

* * * * * *
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Juan G. Gonzalez appeals from the judgment of conviction for corporal injury to 

the parent of his child, assault by means of force likely to produce great bodily injury, 

cruelty to a child by inflicting injury, and disobeying a domestic relations court order. He 

argues the court committed prejudicial error in excluding the testimony of a certain 

defense witness. We affirm.

FACTS

1. Prosecution Evidence

A.R. and appellant have three children together—L. (age 11), N. (age seven), and 

G. (age one). A.R. had known and lived with appellant for approximately 15 years. She 

agreed that their relationship could be characterized as “mutually violent.” On April 14, 

2013, she was no longer living with appellant and lived with her mother. L. was in the 

front yard when she saw appellant drive up, and she ran inside and locked the door. A.R.

was in the kitchen with her two younger daughters when L. came in and told her 

appellant had arrived.

A.R. asked N. to see what appellant wanted. N. went to the stairs at the front door 

to talk to appellant. A.R. followed her out and met appellant on the front stairs, where N.

was also. L. was inside the house just behind them; she could see N., A.R., and appellant 

from where she was standing.

A.R. told appellant she did not want to reunite with him because she was “tired.” 

He tried to hug or kiss her by grabbing her arms and pulling her towards him. She told

him to stop. N. was on A.R.’s left side; she was crying and telling appellant to stop also. 

Appellant told N. to go inside, but she did not leave. A.R. looked down at N., and the 

next she remembered, she was laying on the floor and spitting up blood, and she heard 

crying and screaming. L. saw appellant push N. into the stair railing and then hit A.R.

with a closed fist. She also saw A.R. fall and hit her head on the door. Appellant did not 

say anything and walked away.

L. and N. were crying. L. saw blood coming from A.R.’s mouth and got her a bag 

of frozen peas to put her on face. L. called the police. An ambulance arrived and took 

A.R. to the emergency room. Her jaw was broken and she had her teeth “pushed in” and 
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“out of place.” She had to see a dentist to repair her teeth and jaw. Her jaw was still 

wired at the time of trial. A.R. said the only time she touched appellant that day was to 

hold him back from her when he tried to kiss her. L. remembered her mother pushing 

appellant away, but she did not remember A.R. hitting or kicking appellant.

Officer David Rios observed appellant four days later during the booking process. 

Appellant had a half-inch laceration on his right hand just above his knuckle. The officer 

did not notice any other marks or injuries on appellant’s body.

Another incident involving appellant occurred months earlier, in September 2012. 

Appellant walked into A.R.’s house, and when she asked him to leave, he refused. 

“There was a lot of yelling,” and he pushed A.R. A.R.’s mother “ran towards him,” and 

he held her mother back. The police were called to the home.

The parties stipulated that appellant was convicted of battery against the mother of 

his child (§ 243, subd. (e)(1)) on October 4, 2012. In that case, he was subject to a 

criminal protective order requiring him to stay away from A.R. and A.R.’s mother.

2. Defense Evidence

Appellant testified in his own defense. He said he did not hit A.R. in the face with 

his fist, but he did see her fall to the ground. She kicked him in the groin and then dove 

toward him like she was going to tackle him. He had one hand on the stair railing and 

one on the cane that he was using. He moved out of the way to evade her attack, and she 

fell and hit her face on the stair railing. N. was “nowhere near” them. He was in pain 

and in shock. A.R. was conscious and told him she was going to call the police. She was 

trying to get up, and he was worried she was going to grab something to further attack 

him. He also heard his daughter yelling, “call the police.” He “took off.”

A.R., appellant, and appellant’s mother, Lourdes Morejon Layug, all said A.R. hit 

appellant on the head with a laptop approximately five years before the incident on April 

14. His head bled, though he did not seek medical treatment.

A.R. said she had also scratched his face before. Appellant said she had scratched 

his face several times and caused bleeding. Morejon Layug recalled a time when A.R.

was visiting appellant at her house. She heard A.R. yelling and then appellant came out 
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of his room with bleeding scratches on his face. Morejon Layug testified it had been her 

experience that A.R. lies.

Appellant admitted he had convictions in 2012 for vandalizing A.R.’s vehicle and 

in 2010 for assault by means of force likely to cause great bodily injury and terrorist 

threats. The victims in the assault and terrorist threats case were men who he believed 

had raped A.R.

PROCEDURE

The information charged appellant with one count of corporal injury to the parent 

of his child (Pen. Code, § 273.5, subd. (a)),1 one count of assault by means of force likely 

to produce great bodily injury (§ 245, subd. (a)(4)), two counts of cruelty to a child by 

inflicting injury (§ 273a, subd. (b)), and disobeying a domestic relations court order 

(§ 273.6, subd. (a)). As to the corporal injury and assault counts, the information alleged 

appellant had personally inflicted great bodily injury on A.R. under circumstances 

involving domestic violence. (§ 12022.7, subd. (e).) The information further alleged a 

prior strike under the Three Strikes law (§§ 667, subds. (b)-(i), 1170.12), three prior 

convictions for which appellant had served prison terms (§ 667.5, subd. (b)), and a prior 

serious felony conviction (§ 667, subd. (a)(1)). The jury found appellant guilty as 

charged and found true the allegation of personally inflicting great bodily injury. 

Appellant admitted the prior strike and three prior prison terms. The court sentenced 

appellant to a total of 22 years in state prison. Appellant timely appealed.

DISCUSSION

Appellant contends the trial court committed prejudicial error when it precluded a 

witness for appellant, Jillian Rodriguez, from testifying. We disagree.

1. Background

Before the prosecution commenced its case, the court held an Evidence Code 

section 402 hearing regarding Morejon Layug’s testimony. It ruled Morejon Layug could 

 

1 Further undesignated statutory references are to the Penal Code.
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testify about A.R.’s prior acts of violence against appellant under section Evidence Code 

section 1103.2 Defense counsel asked whether the court might allow evidence of acts 

against any victim, not just appellant. The court responded: “It would be with any 

victim. . . . [¶] [T]hat might be allowable as well to show that she’s a violent person.” 

The court noted defense counsel had “tried to go there” with a female witness who was 

apparently unavailable.

Further events suggest the unavailable witness was Rodriguez. On the last day of 

trial, after appellant and his mother had testified, defense counsel indicated she had no 

more witnesses on her witness list, but Rodriguez was a potential witness who was not on 

the witness list. Counsel’s offer of proof was that A.R. “beat this woman up within a 

period of . . . one or two years,” which she argued was relevant to show A.R.’s aggressive 

and violent nature. Counsel had talked to Rodriguez several months ago, but Rodriguez 

said she could not provide contact information because she was in between homes, and 

thus counsel had been unable to contact Rodriguez since. Rodriguez had simply shown 

up to court that day. The prosecutor indicated that if the court were to allow Rodriguez’s 

testimony, he would want “at least a couple days” to conduct an investigation into 

Rodriguez, based on the offer of proof.

The court reasoned the testimony was on a “collateral issue.” It ruled Rodriguez 

could not testify under Evidence Code section 352 because the prejudicial effect of the 

evidence outweighed any relevance and it would involve an undue consumption of time. 

Further, the court ruled Rodriguez’s testimony was coming “far too late in the game.”

2. Analysis

The trial court has the discretion to “exclude evidence if its probative value is 

substantially outweighed by the probability that its admission will (a) necessitate undue 

 

2 Evidence Code section 1103, subdivision (a)(1), permits “evidence of the 

character or a trait of character . . . of the victim of the crime for which the defendant is 

being prosecuted” if it is “[o]ffered by the defendant to prove conduct of the victim in 

conformity with the character or trait of character.”
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consumption of time or (b) create substantial danger of undue prejudice, of confusing the 

issues, or of misleading the jury.” (Evid. Code, § 352.) We review the trial court’s ruling 

excluding testimony for abuse of discretion. (People v. Lee (2011) 51 Cal.4th 620, 643; 

People v. Waidla (2000) 22 Cal.4th 690, 725.)

We are not convinced the court abused its discretion here. Appellant contends the 

court had recognized that Rodriguez’s testimony constituted relevant evidence when it 

decided Morejon Layug could testify about A.R.’s acts of violence; Rodriguez’s 

testimony of A.R.’s violent act would have been similar. But the court did not determine 

Rodriguez’s testimony was irrelevant—only that its probative value was outweighed by 

other factors under Evidence Code section 352. A trial court is well within its discretion 

to exclude cumulative evidence that unduly consumes the court’s time. (People v. 

Williams (2009) 170 Cal.App.4th 587, 611.) The “state has a strong interest in prompt 

and efficient trials,” and the court has a “duty to consider the burden on jurors and the 

court itself” during trials. (Ibid.) Here, the trial court could have reasonably determined

Rodriguez’s testimony was cumulative because other admitted testimony demonstrated

A.R.’s purportedly aggressive and violent nature. Moreover, by the time defense counsel 

sought to introduce Rodriguez’s testimony, the trial was all but complete, and allowing 

the testimony could have caused a delay of perhaps several days for the prosecution to 

investigate the witness.

Even if we were to hold the court erred, any error would not have been prejudicial. 

Appellant contends the asserted error implicated his substantial constitutional rights, and 

we must therefore apply the Chapman v. California (1967) 386 U.S. 18 (Chapman),

“harmless beyond a reasonable doubt” standard. (Id. at p. 24.) But the routine 

application of state evidentiary law generally does not violate a defendant’s constitutional 

rights. (People v. Mills (2010) 48 Cal.4th 158, 194.) “‘Although the complete exclusion 

of evidence intended to establish an accused’s defense may impair his or her right to due 

process of law,’” that did not occur here, when the jury heard other evidence of A.R.’s 

arguably violent nature. (People v. Leonard (2014) 228 Cal.App.4th 465, 495.) 

Regardless of whether we apply the Chapman standard or the state law standard set forth 
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in People v. Watson (1956) 46 Cal.2d 818, 836, any error was not prejudicial. 

Appellant’s defense was that he never hit A.R.; she attacked and lunged at him and hit 

her face on the stair railing. Appellant and Morejon Layug both testified A.R. hit 

appellant with a laptop and scratched his face on different occasions. Appellant contends 

this was the only evidence of A.R.’s violent nature, and because both of them had an 

obvious interest in his acquittal, Rodriguez’s testimony likely would have made a 

difference. But A.R. herself testified to hitting appellant on the head with the laptop and 

scratching his face. Moreover, she admitted the two had a “mutually violent” 

relationship. The jury was unlikely to discredit the victim’s own testimony of her violent 

acts. There was ample evidence to support appellant’s defense, even without Rodriguez’s 

testimony. We cannot say the exclusion of Rodriguez’s testimony prejudiced appellant 

under any standard.3

DISPOSITION

The judgment is affirmed.

FLIER, J.

WE CONCUR:

BIGELOW, P. J. RUBIN, J.

 

3 Because there was no prejudicial error in excluding the testimony under Evidence 

Code section 352, we need not address appellant’s second argument that the court erred if 

it excluded the evidence under the discovery rules (§§ 1054.3, 1054.7).