Opinion ID: 2636899
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: Admission of evidence of violent streak.

Text: Reprising his guilt phase claim that the writings found in his mobilehome did not warrant an inference that he was evil or violent, appellant argues that the court erred in admitting into evidence at the sanity phase and permitting the prosecutor to question Drs. Mills and Rosenthal about the paper on which appellant had written: If you aren't given a choice whether or not to kill but can choose who or when or how or the # to die or live, it's not murder. [U] Death is a given in some situations. Appellant objected to admission of the document and a blowup thereof on the ground that there was insufficient foundation to establish when the item was written and on the ground that its prejudicial impact outweighed its probative value. (Evid.Code, § 352.) The court overruled the objection, noting that at the guilt phase the evidence had been excluded as too prejudicial, but it could be used in cross-examination of the experts if a sanity phase foundation was laid by asking the witness if he had seen the document and read it, and, if so, if he considered it and if it had an effect on his opinion. The court ruled expressly that in the sanity phase the probative value of the evidence would outweigh its prejudicial impact, explaining: The jury's heard an abundance of evidence that is not dissimilar to this, and I don't think that this is going to inflame or outrage the jury so that they can't properly weigh the value of the doctor's testimony. Appellant argues that the statement was irrelevant and incurably vague, leading the jurors to speculate about its meaning and consider it as propensity evidence, all of which he claims violated Evidence Code sections 350, 352, and 1101, subdivision (a), and federal due process. He concedes that he did not object on those grounds, but claims that objection would have been futile given the court's rulings on his prior objections. We agree that an objection on those grounds would have been unavailing, but that is because it would have lacked merit. At the sanity phase, the jury was not being asked to decide if appellant had committed murder, but whether he was not guilty by reason of insanity. Insofar as appellant's writings might reveal a philosophy which condoned murder, they were relevant to the opinion of the psychiatrists that appellant acted under an insane delusion that God or a higher power, rather than this philosophy, condoned the murders. The evidence was relevant to the weight to be given to the experts' opinion that appellant was insane. Whether appellant's statement was vague went only to the weight the jury might give it in assessing the persuasiveness of the experts' opinion that appellant was insane. There was no error in admitting the evidence. To the extent that appellant argues here that the prosecutor's use of the evidence constituted misconduct and that counsel was incompetent in failing to seek to exclude the evidence as character or propensity evidence, the claims are rejected. The use of the evidence did not exceed the proper scope of cross-examination of the witnesses (Evid.Code, § 721) and no issues regarding appellant's character and/or propensities were raised by that use. Counsel may not be deemed incompetent for failure to make meritless objections.