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

Heading: Defense Counsel's Failure to Object to Victim's Showing of Scars

Text: Francisco Lopez testified that while he was walking home on the night of February 1, 1986, defendant approached him and demanded money. When Lopez did not immediately reply, defendant placed a gun against Lopez's chest and shot him. At the prosecutor's request and without objection, Lopez showed the jury scars on his chest that resulted from the shooting. Defendant contends trial counsel should have objected that the scars were not relevant and that the victim's display of the scars was inflammatory and highly prejudicial. The impact of a capital defendant's past crimes on the victims of those crimes is relevant to the penalty decision, however. ( People v. Clark, supra, 50 Cal.3d at p. 629, 268 Cal.Rptr. 399, 789 P.2d 127.) Defendant cannot now challenge counsel's failure to object. Such a claim must be rejected on appeal when the record does not show why counsel acted or failed to act in the manner challenged `unless counsel was asked for an explanation and failed to provide one, or unless there simply could be no satisfactory explanation ....' ( People v. Mendoza Tello (1997) 15 Cal.4th 264, 266, 62 Cal. Rptr.2d 437, 933 P.2d 1134.) Defendant has not shown that counsel was asked for and failed to provide an explanation for not objecting to this evidence or that there could be no satisfactory explanation for counsel's decision not to object. ( Ibid.)