Opinion ID: 1180863
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Assertions of misconduct to which defendant objected at trial

Text: We turn first to those four situations in which trial counsel objected below. Our review of the record reveals there was no misconduct. (20) a. Talking with witnesses in the hallway. After the first day of trial, defense counsel complained to the court that the prosecutor was meeting with witnesses in the hallway frequented by the jurors because the jury room was being used by a different jury. It appears that the jury could hear the prosecutor and the witnesses talking, but could not specifically hear what was being said. The court advised the prosecutor to be cautious about interviewing witnesses in the corridor and later asked the jury to try to stay out of the hallway. Trial counsel apparently saw no need to bring the matter to the court's attention again. We cannot conclude that misconduct occurred. (21) b. Qualifications of a witness. Trial counsel objected to the testimony of witness Adolph Goehring on the ground that he was unqualified to testify about sperm counts and acid phosphatase testing. Goehring, a medical technologist and toxicologist, was the clinical administrator of Northern Laboratories; he had been trained in both acid phosphatase testing, and sperm identification and analysis. The court ruled that defendant's complaints [went] to the weight of the testimony rather than to its admissibility and denied the motion to strike Goehring's testimony. Defendant renews this claim on appeal. We agree that, in light of Goehring's training, he was a competent witness. The fact that Goehring said he was not qualified to answer certain questions, such as the life expectancy of sperm cells following the death of a rape victim, in no way reflects on his ability to test for the presence of sperm and acid phosphatase. The court correctly ruled that any such deficiencies went to the weight of Goehring's testimony and not its admissibility. (22) c. Questioning of Dr. French. After Dr. Axelrad testified for the defense, Dr. French was recalled as a prosecution rebuttal witness. He was asked to comment on Dr. Axelrad's report. Trial counsel objected on the ground that the report was not in evidence. The prosecutor responded that Dr. Axelrad had already testified and that he wanted Dr. French to comment on what Dr. Axelrad said in his report. Trial counsel conceded that comment on Axelrad's testimony was appropriate, but questioned whether comment on the report was equally appropriate. The court noted that there had been many references to the report during the course of the trial and overruled the objection. A prosecutor is not guilty of misconduct when he questions a witness in accordance with the court's ruling. (23) d. Questioning of Dr. Axelrad. During cross-examination, the prosecutor questioned Dr. Axelrad about the large number of cases in which he had testified for the defense that various defendants were insane or suffered from diminished capacity. We reject defendant's claim that this constituted prosecutorial misconduct, because it is proper to elicit testimony tending to show bias. (Evid. Code, § 780, subd. (f).) Defendant also claims that Dr. Axelrad was improperly questioned over [defendant's] objection concerning a brief submitted by the American Psychiatric Association in [an unrelated] case. After Dr. Axelrad admitted he was aware of the brief in question, the prosecutor asked him about the contents of the brief. Defense counsel objected on the grounds that Dr. Axelrad had not said he was familiar with the contents of the brief. Because further questioning disclosed that Dr. Axelrad was not familiar with the brief's contents, the court refused to allow the prosecutor to question him about it. Thus, Dr. Axelrad was not questioned over objection; the objection was sustained, and no misconduct occurred.