Opinion ID: 2508322
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Procuring Richard Johnson as a witness

Text: Defendant contends the prosecution frustrated his efforts to call Richard Johnson as a defense witness. He asserts the prosecution behaved irresponsibly by stating before trial that it would call Johnson as a witness, only to tell the defense, after jury selection had been completed and four days before opening statements, that it would not call him after all. At this point the defense, which wanted to call Johnson as a witness, began an unsuccessful effort to locate him. After the evidentiary portion of trial was under way, the parties stipulated that they each had exercised due diligence in attempting to locate Johnson to testify at trial, and that he was an unavailable witness under Evidence Code section 1230. As further evidence that Johnson was unavailable the trial court noted that Johnson had failed to appear at a probation revocation hearing, as a result of which the superior court had issued a no-bail bench warrant for his arrest. Defendant's contention that the prosecution frustrated his efforts to call Johnson lacks merit. Before trial began, the parties and the court discussed potential evidence pertaining to Johnson. At that time the prosecutor noted that Johnson could not be found, that he had received information as to where Johnson might be staying, and that he had given this information to the defense. The prosecutor did nothing to prevent defendant from attempting to find and subpoena Johnson. Although defendant claims the prosecutor acted in bad faith by waiting until after jury selection to say he would not call Johnson to testify, we see no evidence of bad faith. The defense was responsible for securing the presence of any witness it wanted to call at trial, regardless of whether the prosecution would also be using that witness. If the defense wanted to ensure that Johnson would be available to testify, it could have begun looking for him at any time, without waiting to see whether the prosecution would also call him. Defendant also claims that the prosecution had a duty to undertake reasonable good faith efforts to locate Johnson, and that it violated this alleged duty. But defendant made no such claim at trial. Indeed, as explained above, he stipulated that both parties had exercised due diligence in attempting to locate Johnson. Defendant therefore has not preserved the issue for appeal. (See People v. Thornton (1974) 11 Cal.3d 738, 763, 114 Cal.Rptr. 467, 523 P.2d 267 [involving discovery rights].)