Opinion ID: 1377787
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Judd Theft

Text: Terry Judd testified that on Saturday afternoon, September 30, he noticed that his Beretta semiautomatic, a rifle, a pellet gun, a router, a hammer, and a reciprocating saw were missing from the shed in his shop area. The objection was to the relevancy of the evidence to an issue in the trial. [4] Although the objection did not specify that, as prior crimes evidence, the theft was inadmissible under Evidence Code sections 352 and 1101, subdivision (b), unless it satisfied the admissibility criteria summarized in Thompson, supra, 27 Cal.3d 303, we believe that it was sufficiently specific to encompass a Thompson objection, i.e., that the People were offering evidence of uncharged criminal conduct by the defendant, that defendant had not put in issue any element of the offense or issue necessary to the People's case-in-chief to which that crime was relevant, and that any relevance the evidence might have if admissible was outweighed by its inherently prejudicial nature. (3) A verdict may not be set aside on the basis of the erroneous admission of evidence, even if prejudicial, unless the party asserting error has preserved the question by a timely and specific objection to the admission of the evidence, or by a motion to strike or exclude the evidence. (Evid. Code, § 353; People v. Green (1980) 27 Cal.3d 1, 22, fn. 8 [164 Cal. Rptr. 1, 609 P.2d 468]; see also People v. Collie (1981) 30 Cal.3d 43, 49, fn. 1 [177 Cal. Rptr. 458, 634 P.2d 534, 23 A.L.R.4th 776].) A general objection on grounds of relevancy is not adequate to preserve an issue with respect to admission of other-crimes evidence for appeal. ( People v. McDaniel (1976) 16 Cal.3d 156, 176 [127 Cal. Rptr. 467, 545 P.2d 843].) If the defendant objects that the evidence to be offered will show the commission of an uncharged offense, the People bear the burden of demonstrating admissibility. ( People v. Schader, supra, 71 Cal.2d 761, 772, fn. 4.) While no particular form of objection is required ( People v. Gibson (1976) 56 Cal. App.3d 119, 137 [128 Cal. Rptr. 302]), the objection must be made in such a way as to alert the trial court to the nature of the anticipated evidence and the basis on which exclusion is sought, and to afford the People an opportunity to establish its admissibility. (See Bundy v. Sierra Lumber Co. (1906) 149 Cal. 772, 776 [87 P. 622]; Cramer v. Morrison (1979) 88 Cal. App.3d 873, 886 [153 Cal. Rptr. 865].) Although defendant did not identify the specific nature of his objection or state that the evidence would show an uncharged crime, and the People made no offer of proof, the prosecutor's opening statement to the jury had already made clear the nature of the evidence to be introduced. [5] The circumstances in which an objection is made should be considered in determining its sufficiency. (See People v. Golden (1961) 55 Cal.2d 358, 369-370 [11 Cal. Rptr. 80, 359 P.2d 448].) (4) When, as here, the People have already made it clear that the evidence will show the commission of an uncharged crime, and the defendant objects on grounds that the People have not shown that the evidence is relevant to any issue in the case, the objection is sufficient to alert the court that admissibility must be determined under the criteria of Evidence Code sections 1101, subdivision (b), and 353, and People v. Thompson, supra, 27 Cal.3d 303, 314-318. [6] (5) The People now argue that the evidence of the Judd thefts was relevant to establish intent, an element of the charged offenses put in issue by defendant's anticipated diminished capacity defense. [7] Under the People's theory the Judd thefts marked the beginning of a crime spree that included the camper robbery and culminated in the murders. They suggest that evidence of defendant's need for money and the series of acts designed to obtain money, including the Judd theft and the camper robbery, demonstrated that the defendant's drug and alcohol intoxication did not affect his ability to engage in purposeful conduct  that is, if he was mad there was method to his madness. Alternatively they suggest that the evidence was admissible to show a common scheme or plan, arguing that as evidence of a larger plan of which these offenses were part it was unnecessary to show that the offenses were similar. Without question defendant's mental state was in issue during this trial. He was charged with murder in which malice is an element. (§§ 187, 188.) The information alleged that the murder was of the first degree in that it was willful, deliberate, premeditated, and that it was committed with express malice, i.e., that an express intent to kill was present. (§ 188.) Each of these specific mental states is an element of the offense on which the People bear the burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt. (§ 1096; Mullaney v. Wilbur (1975) 421 U.S. 684 [44 L.Ed.2d 508, 95 S.Ct. 1881]; In re Winship (1970) 397 U.S. 358 [25 L.Ed.2d 368, 90 S.Ct. 1068]; People v. Montalvo, supra, 4 Cal.3d 328, 333.) In addition it was alleged that the murders had been committed during the commission of a robbery, and that the Meza murder had also been committed during a rape and kidnapping. The elements of robbery include a specific mental state  the intent to deprive another of his property ( People v. Green, supra, 27 Cal.3d 1, 54; People v. Butler (1967) 65 Cal.2d 569, 572-573 [55 Cal. Rptr. 511, 421 P.2d 703])  while any of these special circumstances could be satisfied by evidence that the murders were intentional and occurred during an attempt to commit those offenses. The specific intent to commit the target offense is an element of an attempt. ( People v. Martinez (1980) 105 Cal. App.3d 938, 942 [165 Cal. Rptr. 11].) To meet their burden of proof it was necessary that the People introduce evidence of all of these specific mental elements of the charged offenses and special circumstances. Not only were these elements in issue by virtue of the charges, but it was clear that the People knew that defendant contemplated a diminished capacity defense based on mental defect or deficiency, and drug and alcohol intoxication, any of which could negate the specific mental elements of the charged offenses and special circumstances. However, no evidence was offered to suggest that defendant had ingested drugs and/or alcohol at the time of the Judd thefts, or that if he had used such substances at those times, the amount was similar to the amount ingested in the hours prior to the charged offenses. Thus, if the proposed basis for admissibility was to demonstrate that defendant's tolerance to drugs was so high that his capacity to achieve the specific mental states that were elements of the charged offenses would not have been affected by his ingestion of large quantities of alcohol and drugs at the time they were committed, the argument fails. There was simply no evidence that defendant's mental state was the same at the time he committed the theft as it was at the time the murders were committed, or that if it was the same, it was so notwithstanding the ingestion of similar quantities of drugs and alcohol at both times. The probative value of the evidence was minimal and was clearly outweighed by its potential prejudicial effect. The conclusion does not differ if a common scheme or plan is offered as the basis for admission of the Judd thefts. It is not enough to identify an admissible purpose such as common plan or scheme as the People now do. They must also show that such a plan actually existed, that the uncharged offense was a part thereof ( People v. Tassell, supra, 36 Cal.3d 77, 84), that the evidence of the uncharged offense is not cumulative, and that the evidence is sufficiently probative to outweigh its prejudicial effect. ( People v. Alcala, supra, 36 Cal.3d 604, 631-632; People v. Thompson, supra, 27 Cal.3d 303, 318; People v. Guerrero (1976) 16 Cal.3d 719, 724 [129 Cal. Rptr. 166, 548 P.2d 366]; People v. Schader, supra, 71 Cal.2d 761, 774-775.) The evidence does not support a conclusion that defendant was engaged in a series of offenses that were part and parcel of a single conception or plot, or grand design. ( People v. Tassell, supra, 36 Cal.3d at p. 84.) It establishes nothing more than a series of random crimes directed against targets of opportunity and committed whenever financial necessity dictated. Furthermore, even were the Judd theft part of a larger planned course of criminal conduct, this common scheme evidence is not shown to have been relevant to an issue in the case. The ability to engage in purposeful conduct, the issue to which the People argue the evidence was relevant, was not an issue in the People's case-in-chief. Such an ability could not establish any of the mental elements of the crimes and/or special circumstances charged in the information. The ability to engage in purposeful conduct would be relevant only to rebut a defense of drug- or alcohol-induced unconsciousness. (See People v. Conley (1966) 64 Cal.2d 310, 323-324 [49 Cal. Rptr. 815, 411 P.2d 911].) The People may not in their case-in-chief anticipate fanciful defenses in order to create an issue as a basis for introduction of highly prejudicial evidence of uncharged offenses. ( People v. Schader, supra, 71 Cal.2d 761, 775-776, fn. 13.) Because we shall conclude that the evidence of the camper robbery and arson was admissible, however, and because the other evidence of guilt was overwhelming, we are satisfied that the erroneous admission of evidence regarding the Judd theft was not prejudicial.