Opinion ID: 2624305
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Admission of Testimony of Domestic Violence

Text: Defendant contends the trial court erred in admitting evidence of domestic violence he inflicted on Elaine and on his former wife, Glenna Day. He contends that admitting this evidence was both state law error, because the evidence was outside the scope of section 190.3, factor (b) or any other statutory aggravating factor, and violated the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution because it permitted the judgment of death to be imposed based on conduct that does not warrant such a harsh penalty. We conclude these claims are without merit. Before trial, the prosecution gave notice of its intent to introduce evidence that defendant had committed several violent acts against Elaine and Glenna Day. Defense counsel objected, but the trial court ruled the evidence admissible under section 190.3, factor (b), [t]he presence or absence of criminal activity by the defendant which involved the use or attempted use of force or violence or the express or implied threat to use force or violence. At trial, Elaine's daughter, Tanya, testified that Elaine and defendant fought a great deal, that defendant would slap Elaine and that he once threw a plate at her during dinner that missed her. More than once, during Elaine's pregnancy, defendant put his hands on Elaine's throat and pushed her into a wall. Defendant grabbed Elaine's shoulders and pushed her into a wall when she came home late and had not fixed defendant's dinner. Earlin Popham and Randy Johnson (the latter through the introduction of his former testimony) testified they saw defendant strike Elaine several times. Defendant, in response to questions by the prosecution, testified that he had probably slapped his first wife, Glenna Day, and that he hit her and that he might have grabbed her by the neck and shoved her against a wall. He also admitted hitting Elaine on several occasions. The prosecution highlighted these incidents in its closing argument. (7) Section 190.3, factor (b) pertains to violent criminal activity other than the crimes for which a capital defendant is on trial. ( People v. Osband (1996) 13 Cal.4th 622, 716 [55 Cal.Rptr.2d 26, 919 P.2d 640].) Its purpose is to `show the defendant's propensity for violence' ( People v. Avena (1996) 13 Cal.4th 394, 426 [53 Cal.Rptr.2d 301, 916 P.2d 1000]), which is pertinent to determining a capital defendant's individual moral culpability. Its language regarding express or implied threat[s] to use force or violence (§ 190.3, factor (b)) has a `common-sense core of meaning' that requires no further elucidation in the jury instructions. ( People v. Dunkle (2005) 36 Cal.4th 861, 922 [32 Cal.Rptr.3d 23, 116 P.3d 494].) As defendant concedes, section 190.3, factor (b) applies to misdemeanor violent activity as well as felony activity. (See People v. Phillips (1985) 41 Cal.3d 29, 71 [222 Cal.Rptr. 127, 711 P.2d 423] [interpreting identically worded provision in 1977 death penalty statute].) Nonetheless, defendant argues that incidents such as hitting or throwing plates are too trivial to be included in a penalty phase determination, and must be out of the scope of what was intended by factor (b). We disagree. Even assuming that factor (b) can be interpreted to exclude certain violent activity as too minor to be within the scope of the evidence to be considered by a jury in arriving at a penalty phase judgment, the present activity would not qualify as part of that exception. The testimony demonstrated a course of conduct of domestic violence that defendant engaged in against both his former wives. The seriousness of each of the acts, i.e., their potential injurious effect, varied, but the course of conduct taken as a whole was relevant to showing `defendant's propensity for violence' ( People v. Avena, supra, 13 Cal.4th at p. 426), rendering such evidence admissible under factor (b). The proper weighing of such evidence, of course, was for the jury to decide. We therefore conclude neither state law nor constitutional error was committed. [7]