Case Name: THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. JON LAURENCE COAD, Defendant and Appellant
Court: Court of Appeal of the State of California
Jurisdiction: California
Decision Date: 1986-05-21
Citations: 181 Cal. App. 3d 1094
Docket Number: No. A024331
Parties: THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. JON LAURENCE COAD, Defendant and Appellant.
Judges: 
Reporter: California Appellate Reports, Third Series
Volume: 181
Pages: 1094–1130

Head Matter:
[No. A024331.
First Dist., Div. Two.
May 21, 1986.]
THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. JON LAURENCE COAD, Defendant and Appellant.
[Opinion certified for partial publication. ]
Counsel
David C. Johnson, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.
John K. Van de Kamp, Attorney General, Eugene W. Raster and Martin S. Kaye, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.
Pursuant to California Rules of Court, rules 976 and 976.1, this opinion is certified for publication with the exception of parts II and III.

Opinion:
Opinion
SMITH, J.
Jon Laurence Coad appeals from a judgment entered after he was convicted by a jury of possession of a concealable firearm by a felon (Pen. Code, § 12021), assault with a deadly weapon (§ 245, subd. (a)(1)), vandalism resulting in less than $1,000 damage (§ 594, subd. (b)(2)), and misdemeanor battery of a police officer (§§ 242, 243, subd. (b)). The jury also found that the assault with a deadly weapon was committed while appellant was free on bail pending trial on a felony charge (§ 12022.1) and that appellant had been convicted of a prior serious felony (voluntary manslaughter) within the meaning of section 667. We modify the judgment and, as so modified, affirm.
Background
The four convictions arose out of three separate incidents which occurred over a period of eight months.
Possession of a concealable firearm
The conviction for violating section 12021 arose out of an incident which occurred on April 3, 1982. At 11 p.m. on that date, Albert Negovan, an employee of the City of San Jose, was performing some job related tasks at a pump station in Alviso during a period of severe flooding in that area. As he was working outside the pump station, Negovan saw appellant drive up in a grader and stop about 20 feet from where Negovan was standing. Negovan then saw appellant step down from the grader and approach a group of five or six "Mexicans" who were standing nearby drinking beer around a pickup truck. Although Negovan could not hear what was said, appellant and the Mexicans began speaking in loud voices and apparently became embroiled in a dispute. A woman who was also riding on the grader then approached Negovan and told him appellant had a gun. Mr. Negovan walked over to where appellant was talking with the Mexicans; he saw that appellant was holding a revolver in his right hand with the barrel facing down. With the help of another bystander, Negovan managed to break up the dispute and appellant got back on the grader and drove away. In the meantime, however, another bystander had called the police to tell them a man was threatening others with a gun.
San Jose Police Officer Terrence Simpson was patrolling with his partner in the Alviso area when he received a radio report that a man in a grader was threatening others with a gun in the vicinity of Gold and Moffit Streets in Alviso. As Simpson approached that intersection, he was flagged down by a man who related the incident involving appellant and the Mexicans. Simpson and his partner then proceeded down Gold Street until they encountered and stopped the grader driven by appellant. Simpson ordered appellant to get down from the grader, and then conducted a pat down search for weapons. When the officer told appellant he matched the description of a man who had reportedly used a gun to threaten a group of Mexicans, appellant said he didn't know what the officer was talking about. The officer then climbed into the cab of the grader and found a loaded revolver in a depression next to the driver's seat. The officer also found a .22 caliber AR-7 rifle which was broken down with the barrel disconnected and stored in the stock. Appellant was subsequently placed under arrest and booked.
Appellant took the stand and testified that on the night of the incident he was using the grader to tow cars trapped in the flooding and to haul sandbags to a site where a levee had broken. One of the people who was working at the levee was Santa Clara Deputy Sheriff Rod Herlitz. Initially, Herlitz was wearing his service revolver while he worked on the levee; eventually, however, the revolver became uncomfortable, so he removed the gun, placed it in the grader next to the driver's seat and covered it with his raincoat. Appellant did not see Herlitz put the gun in the grader, and Herlitz did not tell appellant that he had done so.
After the group had finished sandbagging for the night, appellant drove toward home in the grader with his girlfriend Tina as a passenger. On the way home, they drove by a group of Latinos who had earlier threatened to forcibly take some sandbags appellant was transporting to the levee site. As appellant stopped the grader to change gears, the group began yelling at him, threatened to "do things" to his girlfriend, and said they were going to shoot him. Appellant, who, as will become apparent, is not a man to back away from a confrontation, reached down next to the driver's seat and grabbed what he thought was a pipe or wrench, but was in fact Deputy Herlitz's service revolver. Appellant told Tina to get some help and got down from the grader to confront the group. Appellant claims he did not realize he was holding a gun until he was climbing down from the motor grader. Once on the ground, appellant did not point the gun at anybody, but held it pointing toward the ground. Once the bystanders intervened and the confrontation cooled down, appellant got back into the grader, returned the gun to the cubbyhole next to his seat, and drove toward home until he was stopped by the police. Appellant admitted that he lied to the officers when he denied having a gun; he did so, he said, because he was a felon and knew it was illegal for him to possess a concealable weapon.
The thrust of appellant's defense to this charge was self-defense—he claimed that he had a reasonable belief that the group of Latinos was about to inflict bodily injury upon him and that he had a right to use reasonable force (including exhibiting a weapon) to protect himself and his girlfriend.
Vandalism and misdemeanor battery
The convictions for vandalism and misdemeanor battery arose out of an incident which occurred on September 8, 1982. On that date appellant argued with his then girlfriend (later wife) Tina and ended up following her as she drove to a fire station located in Alviso. Fireman Donald Tyson was standing outside the station when Tina drove up in a blue van followed closely by appellant in a pickup truck. Tina appeared very excited and was screaming. Appellant got out of his truck, walked over to the van and began pounding on it while Tina was inside. Tyson tried to intercede, but appellant, who is 6 feet 4 inches tall and weighed between 218 and 240 pounds at the time, began threatening Tyson and chased him, along with 2 other firemen, back into the firehouse. The captain of the firehouse called the police. After a few minutes, appellant drove away in the pickup truck, and the firemen brought Tina into the firehouse. Appellant returned shortly thereafter on foot, and attempted to set the van on fire by ripping out the fuel lines and igniting the fuel with matches. After this attempt failed, he yelled insults at the firemen in the station house and accused them of engaging in sex with Tina. After a few minutes appellant again left.
Shortly thereafter, two policemen arrived on the scene, and the firemen told them what had happened. As the police officers were questioning Tina, appellant again returned to the fire station, this time astride a very large bulldozer. Tyson heard appellant clanking up the street and alerted the police officers who stepped outside and yelled at appellant to stop. Appellant paid no heed, and the officers trained a shotgun and pistol on appellant and again demanded that he stop; appellant ignored the demand and continued to drive the bulldozer over a tree and a wooden fence, knocking both down. The officers then ran along the side of the bulldozer, which was moving at less than five miles per hour, and yelled at appellant to stop. While the officers had their weapons trained on appellant, he stood up several times and shouted "Shoot me! Shoot me! " Eventually, appellant started driving toward an area where some children were playing; fearful that appellant would harm the children, the officer armed with a shotgun pumped three rounds into the tractor's engine, bringing it to a halt.
Appellant then stood up on the tractor and once again yelled at the officers to kill him; when they did not comply, appellant jumped down from the tractor. He then charged one of the officers, grabbed him, lifted him bodily, and slammed him to the ground. The other officer came to the first officer's assistance, and, after a violent struggle, they managed to subdue and handcuff appellant.
Appellant presented no real defense to the vandalism and misdemeanor assault charges. He said only that he had been very depressed, had earlier attempted suicide, and had decided that he would indirectly kill himself by threatening the police officers with the bulldozer until they shot him. In his closing argument defense counsel essentially conceded that appellant was guilty of vandalism and misdemeanor battery of a police officer. However, appellant did successfully defend against and was acquitted of charges that he had stolen the bulldozer (Veh. Code, § 10851) and had committed an assault with a deadly weapon—namely, the bulldozer.
Assault with a deadly weapon
The conviction for assault with a deadly weapon arose out of an incident at a New Year's Eve party celebrating the beginning of 1983. Appellant became angry at another guest and threw a chair at him. Martin Aalso, also a guest at the party, then approached appellant from behind, put his hand on appellant's arm and started to tell appellant not to break the furniture. Appellant immediately spun around and punched Aalso in the mouth. A group of guests then restrained appellant, and Aalso retaliated by punching appellant in the face until he, too, was restrained by other guests.
The party started to break up shortly thereafter, and Aalso went outside to the parking lot with his girlfriend Joyce. They got into their Volkswagen and were driving out of the parking lot when appellant ran in front of the car and forced Aalso, who was driving, to stop the car. Appellant then began banging on the top of the car with a large knife, and yelled "Don't fuck with me. I'll kill you." As appellant was banging on the car and yelling, Joyce, who was sitting in the passenger seat, watched as a knife blade pierced through the roof of the car and extended four inches into the car's interior. Joyce testified that when the knife blade entered the car, her boyfriend's head was tilted toward the window; she expressed her belief that the knife would have stabbed Aalso had he been sitting in a normal driving position.
Appellant eventually quit banging on the car and left; Aalso and Joyce then drove home where they later called the police and reported the incident.
In defense to the charge that he had assaulted Aalso with a deadly weapon, appellant testified that it was not his intent to stab Aalso, but only to "convince him to leave me alone." The jury convicted appellant of assaulting Aalso with a deadly weapon.
Appeal
I
Appellant's primary contention is that the trial court erred when it allowed the prosecution to impeach his testimony with a voluntary manslaughter conviction suffered in 1980.
Prior to trial, appellant made a " Beagle" motion (People v. Beagle (1972) 6 Cal.3d 441 [99 Cal.Rptr. 313, 492 P.2d 1]) to exclude the prior manslaughter conviction. The prosecution argued that Proposition 8 essentially overturned the balancing process mandated by Beagle. The trial court agreed and allowed the prosecution to use the prior manslaughter conviction to impeach appellant's testimony on all charges, including the possession of a concealable firearm charge, which offense occurred before the effective date of Proposition 8.
Appellant initially argued on appeal that the trial court had erred only with respect to the possession of a concealable firearm charge, essentially conceding that in the wake of Proposition 8 the prior manslaughter conviction had been properly admitted to impeach his testimony relating to the crimes which occurred posi-Proposition 8. While the present case was pending before us, however, the Supreme Court held in People v. Castro (1985) 38 Cal.3d 301 [211 Cal.Rptr. 719, 696 P.2d 111], that despite the language of section 28, subdivision (f) (see, ante, fn. 4), trial courts retain section 352 discretion to exclude evidence of prior convictions. We requested and have received additional briefing on the issues Castro presents.
Having considered all arguments, we conclude that the prior was erroneously admitted on the pre-Proposition 8 charge since voluntary manslaughter does not directly bear on veracity in the Beagle sense, but that the prior necessarily involved "moral turpitude" as that term is used in Castro and hence could have been used for impeachment on the post-Proposition 8 charges. While error in the admissibility of the prior thus infected only the one charge, we conclude that the court nevertheless erred as to the post-Proposition 8 charges by failing to exercise its discretion under Evidence Code section 352. Finally, we find all error to be harmless.
Pre-Proposition 8
Proposition 8 applies only to crimes committed on or after its June 9, 1982, effective date. (People v. Smith (1983) 34 Cal.3d 251, 258, 262 [193 Cal.Rptr. 692, 667 P.2d 149].) Therefore, impeachment on the firearm possession charge, which was predicated on conduct occurring before that date, was governed by Beagle and its pre-Proposition 8 progeny. Under those standards, which require that a prior involve an element of fraud, deceit or dishonesty before it is admissible for impeachment, voluntary manslaughter is not admissible. (People v. Woodward (1979) 23 Cal.3d 329, 340 [152 Cal.Rptr. 536, 590 P.2d 391]; People v. Gardner (1975) 52 Cal.App.3d 559, 561 [125 Cal.Rptr. 186], overruled on other grounds in People v. Wheeler (1978) 22 Cal.3d 258, 287, fn. 35 [148 Cal.Rptr. 890, 583 P.2d 748]; Evid. Code, § 788.) The People concede error as to admissibility; they further concede that the court's failure to exercise discretion to exclude the prior would be an independent basis for error, even if the prior had been admissible.
Post-Proposition 8
Concerning impeachment on the two post-Proposition 8 charges, the preliminary question is whether voluntary manslaughter is a crime necessarily involving "moral turpitude" as that term is used in Castro. Castro directs us to look for guidance in other bodies of law—particularly attorney discipline and immigration cases—in which the term "moral turpitude" has similarly been applied to felonies. (Castro, supra, 38 Cal.3d 301, 316, fn. 11.)
For purposes of attorney discipline actions, our state's high court has made it clear that voluntary manslaughter does not connote moral turpitude in every case. Rather, the court requires an assessment of the circumstances in each case. In In re Strick (1983) 34 Cal.3d 891 [196 Cal.Rptr. 509, 671 P.2d 1251], the court decided that an attorney's acts resulting in convictions for voluntary manslaughter and assault supported a preliminary finding of probable cause that the offenses involved moral turpitude so as to warrant interim suspension of the attorney pending final disciplinary action. (Id., at pp. 896-900, 905.) Noting that it had referred that matter and two other pending disciplinary matters to the State Bar for a report and recommendation "as to whether the facts and circumstances surrounding the offenses involved moral turpitude or other misconduct warranting discipline," the court stated, "None of the offenses involve moral turpitude per se. " (P. 897, italics ours, citing Bus. & Prof. Code, § 6102, subds. (a) and (c), and In re Rothrock (1940) 16 Cal.2d 449, 455 [106 P.2d 907, 131 A.L.R. 226].) The court elaborated on its referral procedure, quoting subdivision (a) of Business and Professions Code section 6102: "Interim suspension is mandated in cases where from the record of conviction it appears that the crime 'involved or that there is probable cause to believe that it involved' moral turpitude. We refer to the State Bar those cases where moral turpitude is not inherent in the offense itself" (In re Strick, supra, 34 Cal. 3d at p. 899, italics added; see also In re Nevill (1985) 39 Cal.3d 729, 733 [217 Cal.Rptr. 841, 704 P.2d 1332] [matter of attorney's conviction for voluntary manslaughter referred to State Bar].)
In light of In re Strick, there can be no doubt that the crime of voluntary manslaughter does not inherently involve "moral turpitude" as that term has come to be understood in attorney disciplinary proceedings. Whether voluntary manslaughter constitutes "moral turpitude" as that term is defined and applied in Castro for purposes of impeaching a witness, however, is a significantly different question. Our state courts have been reluctant to hold that any but the most heinous crimes constitute moral turpitude per se, not only in attorney disciplinary cases, but as well in cases where an individual's vested and constitutionally protected right to pursue any particular profession or vocation is at stake. "Although we have variously defined 'moral turpitude' in such broad terms as 'baseness, vileness or depravity' [citations], we have also decided that the question of whether a conviction involves moral turpitude so as to warrant revocation or suspension of a license to practice a profession cannot be determined in the abstract but depends rather on whether the conviction demonstrates unfitness to practice that profession [citations]. The state's power to regulate a profession cannot be used arbitrarily to penalize conduct having no demonstrable bearing upon fitness for its practice. [Citation.]" (Cartwright v. Board of Chiropractic Examiners (1976) 16 Cal.3d 762, 767 [129 Cal.Rptr. 462, 548 P.2d 1134]; but see Wilson v. State Personnel Bd. (1974) 39 Cal.App.3d 218, 221-222 [114 Cal.Rptr. 134] [rejecting any special requirement of a "nexus" between performance of a public employee's duties and any crime involving moral turpitude].) Not only does the state tread gently in that realm, but seemingly static standards of probity, such as "moral turpitude," take on different meanings in application to different professions, depending on the differing duties and responsibilities involved. (Morrison v. State Board of Education (1969) 1 Cal.3d 214, 227-228 [82 Cal.Rptr. 175, 461 P.2d 375].)
The question under Castro, on the other hand, is not the complicated one of whether the crime bears on fitness for a particular occupation, but rather whether the conviction, in its essential elements, shows the "readiness to do evil" necessary to support a reasonable inference of readiness to lie. (Castro, supra, 38 Cal.3d 301, 314, 317.) Discussing crimes of violence and other crimes that do not inherently imply dishonesty, the Castro court had this to say: "Obviously it is easier to infer that a witness is lying if the felony of which he has been convicted involves dishonesty as a necessary element than when it merely indicates a 'bad character' and 'general readiness to do evil.' Nevertheless, it is undeniable that a witness' moral depravity of any kind has some 'tendency in reason' (Evid. Code, § 210) to shake one's confidence in his honesty. We ourselves recognized this in People v. Rist [(1976) 16 Cal.3d 211 [127 Cal.Rptr. 457, 545 P.2d 833], where we said that 'convictions which are assaultive in nature do not weigh as heavily in the balance favoring admissibility as those convictions which are based on dishonesty or some other lack of integrity.' (16 Cal.3d at p. 222.) 'Not as heavily' does not, of course, mean 'not at all.'" (Id., at p. 315, italics added.)
Do the least adjudicated elements of voluntary manslaughter necessarily exhibit, in the words of Castro, "moral depravity of any kind"? We say yes. Manslaughter is the unlawful killing of a human being without malice aforethought. (§ 192.) Voluntary manslaughter, like murder, requires the intent to kill. (People v. Germany (1974) 42 Cal.App.3d 414, 419 [116 Cal.Rptr. 841]; see People v. Flannel (1979) 25 Cal.3d 668, 676 [160 Cal.Rptr. 84, 603 P.2d 1].) What distinguishes voluntary manslaughter from murder is the absence of malice. By statute, malice is negated if the intentional killing is the result of "a sudden quarrel or heat of passion" (§ 192, subd. (a))—otherwise known as adequate provocation—which requires that "'the defendant's reason was, at the time of his act, . . . disturbed or obscured by some passion . to such an extent as would render ordinary men of average disposition liable to act rashly or without due deliberation and reflection, and from this passion rather than from judgment.' (People v. Logan (1917) 175 Cal. 45, 49 . .)" (People v. Spurlin (1984) 156 Cal.App.3d 119, 124 [202 Cal.Rptr. 663].) By decisional law, malice is also negated by an honest but unreasonable belief that it is necessary to defend oneself from imminent peril to life or great bodily injury (People v. Flannel, supra, 25 Cal.3d at p. 674)—the so-called theory of "imperfect" or "unreasonable" self-defense (People v. Wright (1985) 39 Cal.3d 576, 594 [217 Cal.Rptr. 212, 703 P.2d 1106], dis. opn. of Kaus, J.; People v. Wickersham (1982) 32 Cal.3d 307, 328 [185 Cal.Rptr. 436, 650 P.2d 311]). Until fairly recent statutory amendments went into effect, a third, judicially recognized, way to negate malice was to show diminished mental capacity. (People v. Spurlin, supra, 156 Cal. App.3d at p. 125; People v. Flannel, supra, 25 Cal.3d at p. 675; § 21-22, 28 and 188, as amended by Stats. 1982, ch. 893, § 1-4, pp. 3317-3318; see also Stats. 1981, ch. 404, § 1-6, pp. 1591-1593.)
No matter what the avenue for reducing murder to the intentional killing called voluntary manslaughter, there is moral depravity in the act. A jury presented with the question of adequate provocation is asked to decide whether a reasonable person in the circumstances would have acted out of passion rather than judgment. (See CALJIC No. 8.42 (1979 rev.).) It is not asked to determine that a reasonable person's responsive act would have been an intentional killing. (Ibid.) The law finds mitigation in the motivation for the act but by no means forgives or condones as reasonable the act chosen. The killing is punished (§ 193, subd. (a)), not excused or justified (§§ 195, 197, 199).
The same is true of imperfect self-defense. By definition, no reasonable person would have responded to the situation by intentionally killing, as the defendant did. A person who acts unreasonably in deciding to intentionally commit the ultimate act of violence against another human being acts with serious moral depravity. Despite his subjective motivation, he has nonetheless acted unreasonably. Justice Tobriner's opinion for the court in People v. Flannel, supra, states with regard to an honest but unreasonable belief in the need to defend, "No matter how the mistaken assessment is made, an individual cannot genuinely perceive the need to repel imminent peril or bodily injury and simultaneously be aware that society expects conformity to a different standard." (25 Cal.3d 668, 679.) One might be tempted to reason that such lack of awareness of a societal duty is inconsistent with the "readiness to do evil" contemplated under the Castro court's definition of moral turpitude. However, Justice Tobriner's remarks in Flannel were addressed to the judicially created—and now legislatively overruled— awareness-of-societal-duty component of malice aforethought. Nothing in Castro suggests that the "readiness to do evil" necessary for moral turpitude requires or is limited to an awareness of societal duties in the sense formerly required for malice. "[A] witness' moral depravity of any kind has some 'tendency in reason' . to shake one's confidence in his honesty." (Castro, supra, 38 Cal.3d 301, 315, citation omitted and italics added.) As already noted, the moral depravity in voluntary manslaughter is the unjustified and intentional taking of human life, the ultimate moral wrong against society.
Nor does the formerly allowed incomplete "defense" of diminished capacity render the crime free of moral depravity. The degree of mental capacity required under this theory for voluntary (as opposed to involuntary) manslaughter, still required the capacity to intend to kill. (People v. Tidwell (1970) 3 Cal.3d 82, 86 [89 Cal.Rptr. 58, 473 P.2d 762], see CALJIC Nos. 8.41 (1979 rev.) and 8.45 (1979 rev.).) A jury would have had to find that, "due to diminished capacity caused by mental illness, mental defect, or intoxication, the defendant did not have the capacity to form the mental state constituting malice aforethought, even though the killing was intentional, voluntary, deliberate, premeditated, and unprovoked.'''' (CALJIC No. 8.41, supra, italics added.)
In all three instances—provocation, imperfect self-defense and diminished capacity—the law looks at the motivation (or partial lack of capacity) behind the killing with empathy and compassion, but does not forgive the intentional killing that results. Moral turpitude is said to depend to an extent on the state of public morals. (Castro, supra, 38 Cal.3d 301, 334, fn. 2, cone, and dis. opn. of Bird, C. J.) Contemporary society's view of voluntary manslaughter as morally reprehensible is dramatically underscored by a 1983 amendment to section 193, subdivision (a), which changed the former punishment of the crime from "two, four, or six years" to "three, six, or eleven years." (Stats. 1983, ch. 941, § 2, p. 3398.) To say that a crime as serious as voluntary manslaughter does not necessarily involve moral depravity of any kind would do violence to Castro itself. There the Supreme Court held that possession of heroin for sale was a crime necessarily involving moral turpitude, not for the possession element of the crime, but solely because possession for sale necessarily evinced "the intent to corrupt others." (38 Cal.3d at p. 317, fn. omitted.) If the intent to corrupt others furnishes sufficient moral depravity in every conviction of possessing heroin for sale, regardless of extenuating circumstances, then so must the intent to kill which inheres in every conviction of voluntary manslaughter (People v. Van Ronk (1985) 171 Cal.App.3d 818, 823 [217 Cal.Rptr. 581]), regardless of which mitigating factor reduces the homicide from murder to manslaughter.
We thus agree in substance with the court's reasoning in People v. Parrish (1985) 170 Cal.App.3d 336 [217 Cal.Rptr. 700] (rev. den. Nov. 14, 1985): "[T]he intentional taking of a human life, whatever the excuse for doing so, involves the intent to do harm to another. The intent to do evil is always involved in the intentional taking of a human life. Accordingly, . . . voluntary manslaughter necessarily involves moral turpitude within the meaning of that term as used in Castro." (Id., at p. 351.) Any prior conviction for voluntary manslaughter is therefore prima facie admissible under Castro subject, of course, to the trial court's discretion to exclude that evidence under Evidence Code section 352. (Castro, supra, 38 Cal.3d 301, 306, 312, 316. )
For reasons already stated above, we find little guidance in California attorney discipline cases, which approach the phrase "moral turpitude" as a synonym for "unfit to practice law" rather than as a test for moral depravity and witness credibility. (Accord People v. Armendariz (1985) 174 Cal.App.3d 674, 682 [220 Cal.Rptr. 229]; People v. Cavazos (1985) 172 Cal.App.3d 589, 595 [218 Cal.Rptr. 269].)
However, we find meaningful guidance in the federal immigration cases' interpretation of the statutory term "moral turpitude," used to describe crimes that render an alien deportable or excludable. (See 8 U.S.C. § 1251(a)(4), 1182(a)(9).) The federal courts confine their determination, as we must under Castro, to the face of the statute violated or to the inherent nature of the offense, disregarding the individual circumstances of the case. (Castle v. Immigration & Naturalization Serv. (4th Cir. 1976) 541 F.2d 1064, 1066 & fn. 5; Okabe v. Immigration and Naturalization Service (5th Cir. 1982) 671 F.2d 863, 865; McNaughton v. Imm. & Nat. Service (9th Cir. 1980) 612 F.2d 457, 459; Castro, supra, 38 Cal.3d 301, 317. ) Starting with a decades-old case law definition of "moral turpitude" identical to that used in California for attorney discipline cases (compare Ng Sui Wing v. United States (7th Cir. 1931) 46 F.2d 755, 756, with In re Strick, supra, 34 Cal.3d 891, 901), the federal courts have invariably held that voluntary manslaughter (i.e., manslaughter requiring the intent to kill) always involves moral turpitude. (De Lucia v. Flagg (7th Cir. 1961) 297 F.2d 58, 60-61, cert. den. (1962) 369 U.S. 837 [7 L.Ed.2d 843, 82 S.Ct. 867] ["So long as the homicide is voluntary and not justifiable no amount of provocation can remove it from the class of crimes involving moral turpitude"]; see United States v. Karnuth (W.D.N.Y. 1929) 30 F.2d 825, 825-826; see also Brymer v. United States (9th Cir. 1936) 83 F.2d 276, 276; Pillisz v. Smith (7th Cir. 1931) 46 F.2d 769, 770; United States v. Day (2d Cir. 1930) 42 F.2d 217, 217; cf. In re Di Cola (D.R.I. 1934) 7 F.Supp. 194, 195 [no moral turpitude for manslaughter committed through negligent or reckless operation of a vehicle]; United States v. Karnuth, supra, 30 F.2d at p. 826 [no moral turpitude in second degree manslaughter designated as an act resulting in death but "without design to injure or effect death"].) The focus, as in Castro, is whether the crime shows moral depravity. The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals put it well in Pillisz v. Smith, supra: "We know of no greater moral law than that which discountenances the taking of human life without excuse, and one who violates it is to that extent morally depraved. We hold, therefore, that moral turpitude was involved in the crime [of manslaughter] for which the alien was convicted." (46 F.2d at p. 770.)
Given the differing purposes and conflicting holdings between the federal immigration cases and the California attorney discipline cases, we find the reasoning of the federal cases more applicable to the Castro "moral turpitude" inquiry and hence more persuasive (accord People v. Parrish, supra, 170 Cal.App.3d 336, 350-351). Nevertheless, as shown above, our own analysis leads independently to the same conclusion as that reached by the federal courts.
We hold that voluntary manslaughter necessarily involves moral turpitude under Castro.
In dissenting from this conclusion, our colleague constructs an elaborate but misfocused argument. Limiting his view of moral depravity to the policy judgments underlying "malice aforethought"—a rigid concept that finds parallel expression in no other area of the criminal law than murder—he ignores Castro's invitation to consider "moral depravity of any kind" (Castro, supra, 38 Cal.3d 301, 315, italics added). In his view, the seriousness of the act (judged by contemporary standards) and the proven intent to commit it count for nothing, and, in his estimation, such act may be considered "morally defensible." (Cone, and dis. opn., post, at pp. 1125-1126.) He loses sight of our goal under Castro, which is not to decide what circumstances should relieve a killer of society's harshest penalties but, instead, what circumstances provide "some basis—however tenuous—for inferring that a person . is more likely to be dishonest than a witness about whom no such thing is known." (Castro, supra, at p. 315, fn. omitted.) In that frame of reference, we believe that a juror charged with the solemn task of sorting out the truth from often incomplete and conflicting testimony would want to know that a particular witness once (1) reacted to reasonably aroused passions by killing, (2) needlessly killed in "self-defense" as the result of rash judgment, or (3) killed without the presence of mind to harbor "malice aforethought" or to fully appreciate the killing. However tenuous the connection of voluntary manslaughter to the juror's task, the connection nonetheless exists.
Our colleague concludes that an intent to kill, without more, does not indicate the readiness to do evil required by Castro. This is specious reasoning. The conclusion is correct as stated, but it overstates the case. In this majority opinion, we have recited the statutory definition of voluntary manslaughter as "the unlawful killing of a human being without malice." (§ 192, italics added.) The modifying phrase "unlawful killing" clearly answers both the dissent's "lawful death sentence" example and its reliance on the statutorily provided defense of self-defense. Our colleague fails to see that once statutory authorization and self-defense are removed from consideration, one is left with the intentional killing of another human being. The intentional killing may be without malice, but it also is without lawful authorization.
The dissent attempts to screen this unlawful aspect of voluntary manslaughter by saying it is either objectively reasonable (heat of passion), or involved a significant element of honesty (mistaken belief), or was induced by a mental defect that rendered the actor incapable of comprehending the duty to comply with law and unable to harbor malice (diminished capacity). (Cone, and dis. opn., post, at p. 1118.) There is nothing "reasonable" or "honest" about intentionally and unlawfully taking the life of another. What our colleague fails to recognize is that while his depiction of these forms of mitigation removes malice, and therefore murder, from consideration, it fails to remove the unlawfulness of intentionally killing another human being. Nor does his description of mitigation involved in voluntary manslaughter remove the moral reprehensibility of the act. Therefore, the "readiness to do evil" patina which covers voluntary manslaughter remains.
Having concluded that the prior was prima facie admissible for impeachment on the two post-Proposition 8 charges in this case, we must conclude that the trial court nevertheless erred by concluding that it had no discretion to exclude the prior under Evidence Code section 352. (Castro, supra, 38 Cal.App.3d 301, 317.) We therefore must assess the effect of the error.
Prejudice
Both Castro and pre-Proposition 8 Beagle cases require that we assess prejudice caused by Beagle-Castro error under the standard articulated in People v. Watson (1956) 46 Cal.2d 818, 836 [299 P.2d 243], That is, we will reverse a conviction only when we are of the opinion that it is reasonably probable a result more favorable to the defendant would have occurred in the absence of the Beagle-Castro error. (Castro, supra, 38 Cal.3d at pp. 318-319; People v. Cole (1982) 31 Cal.3d 568, 581 [183 Cal.Rptr. 350, 645 P.2d 1182].)
We note first that appellant took the stand in his defense and testified with respect to all of the criminal incidents. Thus, this is not a case where we have "no way of knowing what defendant's testimony would have been [and therefore] no basis for concluding that such testimony would not have affected the result." (People v. Barrick (1982) 33 Cal.3d 115, 130 [187 Cal.Rptr. 716, 654 P.2d 1243]; see also People v. Spearman (1979) 25 Cal.3d 107, 119 [157 Cal.Rptr. 883, 599 P.2d 74]; People v. Fries (1979) 24 Cal.3d 222, 233-234 [155 Cal.Rptr. 194, 594 P.2d 19].) Since appellant testified and was cross-examined, we have a sound basis for assessing the impact of the error.
A number of factors have been identified by the appellate courts to aid in assessing whether Beagle-Castro error requires reversal in a particular case. These factors include the strength of the case against the defendant (Castro, supra, 38 Cal.3d at p. 318; People v. Cole, supra, 31 Cal.3d at p. 581; People v. Rollo (1977) 20 Cal.3d 109, 120 [141 Cal.Rptr. 177, 569 P.2d 771]; People v. Kent (1981) 125 Cal.App.3d 207, 216 [178 Cal.Rptr. 28]); the emphasis which the prosecution places on the prior conviction as it bears on credibility (People v. Cole, supra, at p. 581; People v. Rollo, supra, at p. 120); and whether, in light of other evidence in the case, the witness' testimony would have "strained the credulity of a rational trier of fact in such fashion as to render the improper references to appellant's previous convictions of little consequence." (People v. Betts (1980) 110 Cal.App.3d 225, 233-234 [167 Cal.Rptr. 768].)
We note initially that the error was clearly harmless with respect to the convictions for vandalism and misdemeanor battery of a police officer. As indicated earlier, appellant presented no defense to these charges, and his trial counsel conceded in final argument that the People had proved them "beyond a reasonable doubt." Thus, with respect to these charges, appellant's credibility was not at issue.
We also find that the error was harmless with respect to the possession of a concealable firearm charge. The case against appellant was extremely strong—he in fact admitted that after he had found the gun in the grader he maintained knowing possession of it. His defense to this charge was instead based on self-defense. Specifically, he claimed it was necessary for him to use the gun to protect himself from the group of "Mexicans." In order to establish this defense appellant was required to show, inter alia, that a reasonable person would have believed he was in imminent danger of great bodily harm, and that there was no other alternative means of avoiding the danger presented. (People v. King (1978) 22 Cal.3d 12, 24 [148 Cal.Rptr. 409, 582 P.2d 1000]; CALJIC No. 12.40.2 (1984 pocket pt.).) Appellant testified that he confronted the group because he had to stop the grader in order to change gears. However, the truck was some 20 feet away from the grader when appellant stopped, and none of the Mexicans approached the grader; instead, appellant dismounted the grader and approached them. Appellant testified that he did so because he was afraid he would be shot in the back if he were to drive away. We believe this contention "strained the credulity of a rational trier of fact . . . ." (People v. Betts, supra, 110 Cal.App.3d 225, 234.) Appellant was driving a large piece of heavy equipment; it took less than a minute to change gears. The group of Mexicans made only verbal threats and from a distance of some 20 feet. Appellant's asserted fear that he would be shot in the back is even more suspect in light of his testimony that he had initially planned to confront the group with a pipe or wrench. Certainly, if he genuinely believed the group was armed, he would more likely have made a run for it, rather than openly confront the group with a pipe or wrench.
Additionally, the prosecutor simply did not rely on the prior conviction to attack appellant's credibility; she relied instead on appellant's bias and motive to lie, and emphasized his other admitted lies. Thus, the prosecutor placed no emphasis on the prior conviction as impeaching evidence.
Finally, with respect to the assault with a deadly weapon charge, we note that the case against appellant was also very strong, and that in her final argument the prosecutor again did not rely on the prior manslaughter conviction to impeach appellant's credibility. Appellant's defense to this charge was that he did not have the general criminal intent to commit assault; that is, he did not intend "to commit an act, the direct natural and probable consequence of which . . . would be the application of physical force upon the person of another." (CALJIC No. 9.00 (1984 pocket pt.).) In other words, he claimed that by stabbing through the car he did not intend to commit a battery. (People v. Parks (1971) 4 Cal.3d 955, 959 [95 Cal.Rptr. 193, 485 P.2d 257].) It is true that appellant's credibility was at issue with respect to this defense; nevertheless, considering the facts surrounding the offense and the fact that the prosecution did not emphasize the prior conviction to attack appellant's credibility, we do not believe it is reasonably probable that a result more favorable to appellant would have occurred in the absence of the Beagle-Castro error. We therefore find the error harmless.
II-III
Disposition
For reasons expressed in the unpublished portion of this opinion, the judgment is modified to reflect that the five-year enhancement imposed pursuant to Penal Code section 667 shall run consecutively only to the term imposed for count 6 in information number 84577 (assault with a deadly weapon). As so modified, the judgment is affirmed.
Rouse, J., concurred.
Unless otherwise noted, subsequent statutory references are to the Penal Code.
See footnote, ante, page 1094.
Appellant had been convicted in 1980 of voluntary manslaughter and was thus prohibited from possessing or having under his control "any pistol, revolver, or other firearm capable of being concealed upon the person . . . ." (§ 12021, subd. (a).)
Specifically, the prosecution relied on article I, section 28, subdivision (f), of the California Constitution enacted by Proposition 8 which provides in pertinent part that "[a]ny prior conviction of any person in any criminal proceeding, . . . shall subsequently be used without limitation for purposes of impeachment . in any criminal proceeding."
Beagle held, in essence, that a trial court must weigh the probative value of a prior conviction against its prejudicial effect under section 352 of the Evidence Code in deciding whether the prior may be used to impeach a witness. (Beagle, supra, 6 Cal.3d at p. 447.)
While the reduction of murder to manslaughter due to diminished capacity is no longer available, it must be assumed that prior convictions may have been based on that theory for killings occurring before the effective date of the amendments.
Exploring the mental state of malice aforethought, Justice Tobriner wrote in Flannel, supra, 25 Cal.3d 668, at page 679: "[A] person who carefully weighs a course of action, and chooses to kill after considering reasons for and against, is normally capable of comprehending his societal duty to act within the law. 'If, despite such awareness, he does an act that is likely to cause serious injury or death to another, he exhibits that wanton disregard for human life or antisocial motivation that constitutes malice aforethought.' (Italics added.)" (Quoting People v. Conley (1966) 64 Cal.2d 310, 322 [49 Cal.Rptr. 815, 411 P.2d 911].) He continued, just before making the statement quoted, ante, in the text above, "Given this understanding of malice aforethought, we cannot accept the People's claim that an honest belief, if unreasonably held, can be consistent with malice." (Flannel, supra, 25 Cal.3d at p. 679.)
The awareness-of-societal-duty concept was abrogated by 1981 and 1982 amendments to the definition of malice contained in section 188, which now reads, in part: "Neither an awareness of the obligation to act within the general body of laws regulating society nor acting despite such awareness is included within the definition of malice." (Stats. 1982, ch. 893, § 4, p. 3318; Stats. 1981, ch. 404, § 6, p. 1593.)
The surprising and perhaps embarrassing fact evident from the conflicting federal and California decisions is that a person who commits voluntary manslaughter is immediately deportable but might otherwise be allowed to practice law in California.
With regard to the standard for assessing harmless error in post-Proposition 8 cases, we note an anomaly in the Castro case. Castro held that federal due process "forbids the use of convictions of felonies which do not necessarily involve moral turpitude." (Castro, supra, 38 Cal.3d at p. 306.) It follows that impeachment of a testifying defendant with an irrelevant prior violates due process. Since the defendant in Castro was herself impeached with an irrelevant prior (simple possession of heroin) her due process rights were violated. Presumably, the minimum standard of federal constitutional error is the Chapman test: "[B]efore a federal constitutional error can be held harmless, the court must be able to declare a belief that it was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt." (Chapman v. California (1967) 386 U.S. 18, 24 [17 L.Ed.2d 705, 710-711, 87 S.Ct. 824, 24 A.L.R.3d 1065].) Yet Castro applied the less stringent Watson standard, and concluded that the error was harmless. Since we have determined that appellant was impeached with a prior conviction for a felony not involving moral turpitude, we must presume that his federal due process rights were violated. Nevertheless, we feel compelled by stare decisis to apply the Watson standard, since the Supreme Court did so under identical circumstances in Castro.
In related contentions, appellant argues that the trial court erred when it denied his motion to admit the prior conviction element of the possession of a concealable firearm charge or, alternatively, to sever that charge and try it separately. (People v. Hall (1980) 28 Cal.3d 143, 151-158 [167 Cal.Rptr. 844, 616 P.2d 826].) The trial court did so because it believed it was bound by California Constitution article I, section 28, subdivision (f) (enacted by Proposition 8) which provides in pertinent part: "When a prior felony conviction is an element of any felony offense, it shall be proven to the trier of fact in open court." As indicated earlier, the trial court improperly applied section 28, subdivision (f), to the possession of a concealable firearm charge because it predated the effective date of Proposition 8. The People concede this error. For reasons stated in our discussion of the Beagle-Castro error, the court's failure to allow appellant to admit the prior or to sever the trial must also be deemed harmless error. (People v. Hall, supra, 28 Cal.3d at pp. 157-158.)
See footnote, ante, page 1094.