Source: http://academy.lawofselfdefense.com/law_case/people-v-humphrey-921-p-2d-1-ca-supreme-court-1996/
Timestamp: 2019-04-24 04:13:19+00:00

Document:
Counsel: Jim Fahey, under appointment by the Supreme Court, for Defendant and Appellant.
Judges: Opinion by Chin, J., with George, C. J., Mosk, Kennard, and Werdegar, JJ., concurring. Concurring opinions by Baxter and Werdegar, JJ., and by Brown, J., with George, C. J., and Baxter, J., concurring.
With an exception not relevant here, Evidence Code section 1107, subdivision (a), makes admissible in a criminal action expert testimony regarding “battered women’s syndrome, including the physical, emotional, or mental effects upon the beliefs, perceptions, or behavior of victims of domestic violence . . . .” Under subdivision (b) of that section, the foundation for admission is sufficient “if the proponent of the evidence establishes its relevancy and the proper qualifications of the expert witness.” 1 Defendant presented the evidence to support her claim of self-defense. It is undisputed that she established the proper qualifications of the expert witness. The only issue is to what extent defendant established its “relevancy.” To resolve this question we must examine California law regarding self-defense.
As Day recognizes, People v. McAlpin (1991) 53 Cal. 3d 1289 [283 Cal. Rptr. 382, 812 P.2d 563] supports this conclusion. There we held that expert testimony regarding parental reluctance to report child molestation was admissible to bolster a witness’s credibility: “Most jurors, fortunately, have been spared the experience of being the parent of a sexually molested child. Lacking that experience, jurors can rely only on their intuition or on relevant evidence introduced at trial. . . . [Evidence that parents often do not report child molestation] would therefore ‘assist the trier of fact’ ( Evid. Code, § 801, subd. (a)) by giving the jurors information they needed to objectively evaluate [the witness’s] credibility.” ( Id. at p. 1302, fn. omitted.) (2c) (2c) As in McAlpin, the expert testimony in this case was ” ‘needed to disabuse jurors of commonly held misconceptions . . . .’ ” ( Id. at p. 1301.) It was relevant “to explain a behavior pattern that might otherwise appear unreasonable to the average person. Evidence of [battered women’s syndrome] not only explains how a battered woman might think, react, or behave, it places the behavior in an understandable light.” ( People v. Day, supra, 2 Cal. App. 4th at p. 419.) Thus, it was admissible under Evidence Code sections 801 and 1107.
There is a clear nexus between the phenomenon of hypervigilance and the objective component of self-defense, i.e., the reasonable fear of imminent injury or death and the perceived need to react with the speed and force used. Under settled principles, if the victim’s threats caused the defendant ” ‘to fear greater peril than she would have had otherwise, [the jury may] take such facts into consideration in determining whether defendant acted in a manner which a reasonable person would act in protecting his or her own life or bodily safety.’ ” (People v. Moore, supra, 43 Cal. 2d at p. 528.) For the same reasons, the defendant may also be ” ‘justified in acting more quickly and taking harsher measures for her own protection in event of assault, than would a person who had not received such threats . . . .’ ” (Ibid.; People v. Bush, supra, 84 Cal. App. 3d at p. 304; People v. Torres (1949) 94 Cal. App. 2d 146, 152-153 [210 P.2d 324].) When antecedent threats have accompanied a recurring cycle of escalating abuse, their relevance to the reasonableness of the defendant’s fear of imminent and more serious violence is manifest.
Notwithstanding the error, the question of prejudice is extremely close given the “miscarriage of justice” standard of review. (People v. Watson (1956) 46 Cal. 2d 818, 836 [299 P.2d 243].) The faulty instruction precluded the jury from considering BWS in assessing defendant’s objective reasonableness. But such evidence could not be considered in a vacuum; it was relevant only to the extent it shed light on the reality of her perceptions. The pertinent inquiry therefore is whether the jury would have discounted any of defendant’s testimony in the absence of expert BWS evidence explaining it in that context.
Other considerations tend to negate prejudice. Defendant made several inconsistent statements to the police shortly after the shooting that undermined her defense. In arguing against a finding of self-defense, the prosecutor did not substantially exploit any circumstances that hypervigilance would have explained as reasonable. Moreover, the instructions included CALJIC No. 5.50 (5th ed. 1988 bound vol.), 1 which afforded an adequate basis for finding self-defense if the jury believed defendant’s account.

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