Opinion ID: 2594735
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Prosecution's Motion to Consolidate Charges and Defense Motion to Sever Charges

Text: Defendant contends the trial court erred in consolidating charges brought against him in four separate cases and in denying his motion to sever the Jung Wang and Saiz robbery counts from the Litovich murder charges. We disagree.
Defendant was charged with a number of offenses in four separate cases. In case No. A778709, defendant was charged with 12 counts based on: the robbery of Jung Wang; the crimes of robbery and kidnapping of Piedad Saiz, Maria Galvez, and Leo Pena; and the rape, robbery, and murder of Mary Frances Litovich, and the arson of her house. In case No. A777687 defendant was charged with two counts of burglarizing the residence of John and Lucy Campos. In case No. A779116, defendant was charged with the robbery and attempted murder of Francisco Lopez. And in case No. A798662 defendant was charged with the commercial burglaries of the Ying On Association and the Chung Hing News. The prosecution moved to consolidate all the charges. Defendant unsuccessfully sought to sever the Jung Wang and Saiz robbery counts from those relating to the Litovich murder. The trial court consolidated the counts involving Jung Wang, Saiz and her two companions, the Ying On Association and Chung Hing News, and Mary Frances Litovich. The court refused to consolidate the charges stemming from the robbery and attempted murder of Francisco Lopez and the burglary of the Campos home. Defendant contends the consolidation violated the statutory requirements for joinder of counts, and in any event was an abuse of discretion by the trial court.
Section 954 provides that an accusatory pleading may charge two or more different offenses connected together in their commission ... or two or more different offenses of the same class of crimes or offenses.... (Italics added.) Defendant argues the trial court violated this statute because the consolidated offenses do not meet either requirement of the statute. We disagree. The consolidated offenses are sufficiently connected together in their commission ( ibid.), as we discuss below. Offenses committed at different times and places against different victims are nevertheless `connected together in their commission' when they are, as here, linked by a `common element of substantial importance.' [Citations.] ( People v. Lucky, supra, 45 Cal.3d at p. 276, 247 Cal.Rptr. 1, 753 P.2d 1052.) Here, the close time frame within which the consolidated offenses were committed shows a continuing course of criminal conduct. The Jung Wang robbery occurred at 4:00 p.m. on February 5,1986; the Saiz robberies and kidnappings were committed the next day, at 2:20 a.m.; the commercial burglaries were perpetrated either during the evening after the Saiz crimes on February 6, or early the next morning; the Litovich robbery, rape, and murder occurred on the afternoon of February 7, between 2:00 and 3:00 p.m. The Jung Wang robbery, the commercial burglaries, and the Litovich robbery all involved the intent to illegally obtain property. In this case, as in People v. Lucky, supra, 45 Cal.3d at page 276, 247 Cal.Rptr. 1, 753 P.2d 1052, the `element of intent to feloniously obtain property runs like a single thread through the various offenses....' [Citations.] When, as here, the statutory requirements for joinder are met, a defendant must make a clear showing of prejudice to establish that the trial court abused its discretion in denying the defendant's severance motion. ( People v. Marshall (1997) 15 Cal.4th 1, 27, 61 Cal.Rptr.2d 84, 931 P.2d 262; People v. Price (1991) 1 Cal.4th 324, 388, 3 Cal.Rptr.2d 106, 821 P.2d 610.) In determining whether there was an abuse of discretion, we examine the record before the trial court at the time of its ruling. ( People v. Price, supra, at p. 388, 3 Cal.Rptr.2d 106, 821 P.2d 610.) The factors to be considered are these: (1) the cross-admissibility of the evidence in separate trials; (2) whether some of the charges are likely to unusually inflame the jury against the defendant; (3) whether a weak case has been joined with a strong case or another weak case so that the total evidence may alter the outcome of some or all of the charges; and (4) whether one of the charges is a capital offense, or the joinder of the charges converts the matter into a capital case. ( People v. Marshall, supra, at pp. 27-28, 61 Cal.Rptr.2d 84, 931 P.2d 262.) Defendant correctly notes there was no cross-admissibility of the evidence of the robbery of Jung Wang, the Saiz counts, the two commercial burglaries, and the Litovich charges of rape, robbery, murder and arson. Although cross-admissibility ordinarily dispels any inference of prejudice ( People v. Arias (1996) 13 Cal.4th 92, 126, 51 Cal.Rptr.2d 770, 913 P.2d 980), the absence of cross-admissibility does not by itself demonstrate prejudice. ( People v. Memro (1995) 11 Cal.4th 786, 850, 47 Cal.Rptr.2d 219, 905 P.2d 1305.) Accordingly, we proceed to evaluate the remaining factors set forth in the preceding paragraph. There was strong evidence against defendant on each of the consolidated counts. Robbery victim Jung Wang identified defendant as the perpetrator in a photographic lineup, a live lineup, and at the preliminary hearing. Two of the victims of the Saiz counts identified defendant as the perpetrator of the robberies and kidnappings; thereafter two witnesses saw defendant driving Saiz's car, and the police found Saiz's car parked in front of defendant's girlfriend's house. Also, on the morning of the two commercial burglaries, property taken during the burglary of the Chung Hing News was seen in Saiz's car while defendant was driving it, and defendant gave his girlfriend some of the property taken during the burglary of the Ying On Association. As to the counts relating to the Litovich murder, defendant was seen hiding from the police less than a block away from the Litovich home immediately before the crimes were committed. After discovery of the fire at the Litovich home and while the efforts to extinguish it were still underway, defendant was seen one block from the fire with the victim's property in his hands. At 5:25 p.m., after his arrest, defendant admitted to Officer Hernandez having burned up Litovich. The strength of the evidence as to each of the consolidated counts shows that here we are not dealing with weak charges being joined with stronger charges so as to alter the outcome of some or all of the charged offenses. That the evidence against defendant on some of the counts consisted of eyewitness statements and on other counts was circumstantial does not establish improper consolidation of charges. Direct evidence is neither inherently stronger nor inherently weaker than circumstantial evidence. Although the counts relating to the Litovich murder included special circumstance allegations, the capital charges were independent of the Jung Wang robbery count, the Saiz robbery and kidnapping counts, and the commercial burglary counts. The capital charges were not the result of joinder of the various incidents. ( People v. Sandoval (1992) 4 Cal.4th 155, 173, 14 Cal.Rptr.2d 342, 841 P.2d 862.) Nor were the consolidated theft-related charges unusually likely to inflame the jury against defendant. The counts likely to inflame a jury against defendant pertained to the Litovich murder, and they were sufficiently distinct from the consolidated counts as to render the likelihood of prejudice minimal. Defendant has failed to show that the trial court abused its discretion by consolidating the various charges and by denying his severance motion. Nor has defendant shown that the consolidation resulted in a trial that violated his right to due process, an issue we discuss below.
Even if a trial court's severance or joinder ruling is correct at the time it was made, a reviewing court must reverse the judgment if the defendant shows that joinder actually resulted in `gross unfairness' amounting to a denial of due process. ( People v. Arias, supra, 13 Cal.4th at p. 127, 51 Cal.Rptr.2d 770, 913 P.2d 980.) In support of his contention that the consolidation of charges rendered his trial fundamentally unfair, defendant points to the prosecution's introduction of evidence at trial of gang membership, the trial court's failure to instruct the jury on its own motion that evidence of one crime is not to be considered as evidence of other crimes, and the trial court's jury instruction on the use of eyewitness testimony. [3] We reject defendant's argument. At the hearing in response to the defense argument that evidence of gang membership supported severing the charges, the prosecutor stated there is absolutely no evidence of gang membership on the part of the defendant, nor do we ever intend to put any evidence of such gang membership on. Thereafter, at trial, the prosecutor asked robbery and kidnapping victim Piedad Saiz what defendant had said when he was hanging onto her car door during the incident. She responded that defendant said he was a homeboy and that he had his friends around someplace. She later testified that she understood the term homeboy to mean, Well, a gang. The defense timely objected to the latter question as immaterial. The trial court, however, overruled the objection on the ground that the question was relevant to show that Saiz's state of mind was that of fear at the time of the offenses. Leo Pena, who had been with Saiz during the crimes and was himself a victim, also testified that defendant said he was a homeboy and that he had people around him. Then, during closing argument the prosecutor referred to robbery victim Jung Wang's description of defendant's hair as combed back like Cholo style, gang style. These comments and those by the witnesses were fleeting and minor; they therefore did not result in gross unfairness so as to amount to a denial of defendant's constitutional right to due process. Equally unavailing is defendant's assertion that the trial court should, on its own motion, have instructed the jury that evidence of one crime may not be used as evidence of another offense. We have held that neither policy nor precedent favors a rule requiring a trial court to instruct the jury sua sponte to disregard evidence of prior criminal offenses or prior criminal conduct. ( People v. Milner (1988) 45 Cal.3d 227, 251-252, 246 Cal.Rptr. 713, 753 P.2d 669.) Here, the consolidated offenses were factually separable. Thus, there was a minimal risk of confusing the jury or of having the jury consider the commission of one of the joined crimes as evidence of defendant's commission of another of the joined crimes. Also, because of the absence of any appreciable likelihood of prejudice, we reject defendant's contention that defense counsel's failure to request such an instruction constituted ineffective assistance of counsel. (See People v. Hawkins (1995) 10 Cal.4th 920, 942, 42 Cal.Rptr.2d 636, 897 P.2d 574.) We also reject defendant's claim that the trial court's instruction on eyewitness testimony rendered his trial grossly unfair. The instruction told the jury: Eyewitness testimony has been received in this trial for the purpose of identifying the defendant as the perpetrator of the crimes charged. (CALJIC No. 2.92 (1984).) This instruction was preceded by an instruction on having to find the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, and to find him not guilty if there was any reasonable doubt as to his identity. (CALJIC No. 2.91 (1982 rev.).) In light of these instructions, a reasonable juror would have understood the challenged eyewitness testimony instructions to apply only to those offenses on which eyewitness testimony was presented at trial.