Opinion ID: 1179776
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Double Hearsay Testimony of Linda McCord.

Text: Linda McCord was called as a witness before Judy N. had testified. As will be recalled, McCord stated that in the immediate aftermath of the Judy N. incident, she and a visibly upset Ms. N. conversed while they were waiting to be interviewed by the police. Over defense objections, McCord was allowed to testify that during their conversation, Ms. N. told her defendant had said, Haven't you been reading about me in the papers? I'm the man who killed the man in the Beacon Gas Station. On appeal, defendant raises several arguments against the admission of this testimony. None has merit. The pertinent background is as follows: When the prosecutor asked McCord to tell what Ms. N. had said to her, defense counsel objected on hearsay grounds. The prosecutor responded that the statement was offered as a spontaneous declaration. The jury was excused, and an in limine hearing ensued. Defense counsel said he assumed McCord's description of Ms. N.'s statement would be something along the lines that [Ms. N.] was very frightened, she was afraid the person was going to shoot her and the person had a gun. On this basis, counsel argued that the existence and truth of any such statements should be elicited from Ms. N. herself. He also asserted that McCord's testimony would merely be cumulative, and should therefore be excluded under Evidence Code section 352. [22] The prosecutor responded with the cryptic remark, As I indicated to counsel, I just found out about this. He denied that McCord's testimony would be cumulative, since Ms. N. herself had not yet testified. He also argued that admission of a spontaneous declaration did not depend on whether the declarant herself confirmed the declaration on the stand. But he never identified on the record what he had just found out about, nor did he contradict defense counsel's stated assumption about what McCord would testify. The court ruled that Ms. N.'s statement to McCord was admissible as a spontaneous declaration. It also indicated that I can't make a ruling under [Evidence Code section] 352 that this is cumulative, since this is the first witness who's testified, so I can't make the ruling that it's an undue consumption of time.... So I think your motion is premature under 352. So the motion is denied. Defendant first contends that McCord's testimony was double hearsay not subject to any hearsay exception. (13) As defendant notes, multiple hearsay is admissible for its truth only if each hearsay layer separately meets the requirements of a hearsay exception. (Evid. Code, งง 1200, 1201.) Defendant complains that although the court ruled Judy N.'s statement to McCord admissible as a spontaneous declaration, the court made no separate finding about the admissibility of defendant's statement to Ms. N. However, during the in limine hearing, defendant's counsel disputed only the admissibility of Ms. N.'s statement to McCord. Counsel never asserted that defendant's statement to Ms. N. was inadmissible hearsay. Any such claim was therefore waived. In any event, defendant's statement was clearly admissible under the exception for admissions by a party (Evid. Code, ง 1220), and he makes no contrary argument on appeal. (14a) Defendant's principal contention is that Ms. N.'s statement about defendant's claim to be the Beacon killer could not be admitted as a spontaneous declaration, because it did not [purport] to narrate, describe, or explain an act, condition, or event perceived by the declarant.  (Evid. Code, ง 1240, subd. (a), italics added.) Defendant posits that Ms. N. was not a percipient witness to the Beacon robbery/murder and therefore was not spontaneously recounting an incident she had observed in person. The argument lacks merit. Ms. N. was describing an act or event, i.e., defendant's incriminating statement, which she personally perceived during the course of the kidnapping, robbery, and sexual assaults to which he had just subjected her. One may infer that defendant's boast was used to threaten and control Ms. N. during her ordeal. Nothing in the words or purpose of the spontaneous declaration exception makes it inapplicable when the act or event perceived and recounted is a statement implicating its declarant in another crime. Defendant suggests Ms. N.'s statement to McCord lacks indicia of reliability because Ms. N. herself neither testified nor told anyone else that defendant specifically claimed to be the Beacon murderer. (15) However, if a hearsay statement meets the requirements of spontaneity and lack of opportunity for reflection (see, e.g., People v. Farmer (1989) 47 Cal.3d 888, 903 [254 Cal. Rptr. 508, 765 P.2d 940]), it does not become inadmissible because the declarant failed to mention, recall, or confirm it on later or calmer occasions. A spontaneous declaration is admissible, despite its character as hearsay, because of its particular reliability as the immediate product of direct perception, before fading memory or the opportunity for fabrication has intervened. (14b) Of course, where the spontaneous declarant is available as a witness, as Ms. N. was, the existence and truth of the declaration may be explored in an examination under oath. Defendant next asserts that the trial court violated its duty to explicitly weigh the merits of his Evidence Code section 352 objection. (Citing, inter alia, People v. Armendariz (1984) 37 Cal.3d 573, 588-589 [209 Cal. Rptr. 664, 693 P.2d 243].) However, in the in limine hearing, defense counsel had argued only that McCord's hearsay report of her conversation with Judy N. would be cumulative to Ms. N.'s own testimony. As the court indicated, it could not evaluate that claim until it knew what Ms. N. would testify. By stating that the motion under Evidence Code section 352 was thus premature, the court made clear that it could be renewed at an appropriate time. In so concluding, the trial court committed no abuse of discretion. Indeed, the motion was never renewed, and subsequent developments indicated that the McCord testimony was not cumulative. Defendant's claim must therefore fail. (16a) Finally, defendant urges the prosecutor committed misconduct, and misused witness McCord's testimony, because he misled defense counsel about what that testimony would be. Defendant argues that even if the prosecutor had just found out McCord would give testimony implicating him in the Beacon murder, the prosecutor committed misconduct by deliberately failing to disclose this development during the in limine hearing when defense counsel's remarks indicated counsel was unaware of it. We see no basis for reversal. (17) At the outset, defense counsel's failure to timely seek appropriate sanctions for prosecutorial misconduct, or a continuance on grounds of unfair surprise, is fatal to a direct claim of error on appeal. (Cf. People v. Rodrigues (1994) 8 Cal.4th 1060, 1153 [36 Cal. Rptr.2d 235, 885 P.2d 1]; People v. Price, supra, 1 Cal.4th 324, 447.) (16b) Moreover, we cannot conclude that counsel's omissions undermine confidence in the trial outcome. (See Strickland v. Washington (1984) 466 U.S. 668, 694-695 [80 L.Ed.2d 674, 697-698, 104 S.Ct. 2052].) In the first place, the record fails to establish deception or unfair surprise. By remarking, during the in limine hearing, that [ a ] s I indicated to counsel, I just found out about this (italics added), the prosecutor implied that he had advised defense counsel, off the record, about any new information McCord would supply. Counsel did not dispute the suggestion that the prosecutor had indicated to him whatever the prosecutor had just found out. The impression that counsel was not actually surprised is reinforced by his inaction when the prosecutor later elicited McCord's incriminating testimony. In any event, there appears no cognizable prejudice. That McCord would testify defendant told Ms. N. he was the Beacon killer made McCord's testimony no less admissible on its merits. In fact, to the extent McCord's Beacon killer testimony would not duplicate testimony given by Ms. N. herself, it was even less vulnerable to the defense's trial argument that it was merely cumulative. Because counsel sought no continuance and also failed to cross-examine McCord, a claim that any surprise enhanced the damaging effect of her testimony is speculative. Most fundamentally, the remaining evidence that defendant was the person who robbed the Beacon store and killed John Waltrip was overwhelming. Hence, there is no reasonable probability that if McCord's testimony on this subject had been excluded or effectively attacked on cross-examination, the result of the proceeding would have been different. ( Strickland v. Washington, supra, 466 U.S. 668, 694 [80 L.Ed.2d 674, 697-698].)