Opinion ID: 2575997
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Alleged prosecutorial misconduct in introducing into evidence a photograph of defendant's tattoos

Text: Defendant faults the prosecutor for introducing into evidence a photograph of defendant's torso showing tattoos depicting a swastika, the name of his gang on his chest, and a gun on his abdomen. The Colusa County Sheriff showed this photograph to Janet Madsen before she identified defendant from the videotape of his arrest, and it was a subject of her testimony regarding her identification of defendant. Because defendant did not object at trial, he has not preserved this issue for review. Also, contrary to defendant's claim, the photograph, which was actually introduced into evidence by the defense and not the prosecution, was relevant to Madsen's identification as it was the photograph shown to her at the time of her identification of defendant at the police station. Equally without merit is defendant's assertion that the prosecutor committed misconduct by referring to defendant's gun tattoo in closing argument. In its cross-examination of defendant's friend George Hancock, the defense elicited a statement that Hancock had never seen defendant with a gun. Hancock's testimony gave rise to the inference that defendant did not use and was not around guns. Because the existence of a gun tattoo on someone's body gives rise to the inference that that person may be familiar with and be around guns, the evidence of the tattoo tended to impeach Hancock's testimony. It was thus a proper subject of the prosecutor's closing argument.