Opinion ID: 2625366
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Rebuttal Evidence of Shooting at Texas Apartment

Text: Defendant asserts the court erred in admitting, at the penalty phase, rebuttal character evidence to the effect that, in 1978, 15 years before the charged offense, defendant and an unidentified man had an armed confrontation outside a Texas apartment. Defendant's half brother, Evarardo Aviles, testified that he heard defendant yelling at and arguing with the other man, who was armed and was interested in seeing Aviles's girlfriend, Andaverde. Aviles knew that defendant was also usually armed with a small pistol. Being afraid for his safety, Aviles went inside his apartment and later heard shots being fired from two different weapons, but evidently no one was hit. Although he never saw who fired the guns, Aviles assumed that defendant and the other man had exchanged shots. Over defense objection based on the unreliability of this evidence, the trial court admitted it after holding a foundational hearing (Evid.Code, § 402) and ruling that, although the evidence would not qualify as aggravating evidence under Penal Code section 190.3, factor (b), it could be used to rebut defense testimony regarding defendant's good character and peaceful nature. We agree with defendant that the court erred in admitting this evidence, although the error was harmless. Although the prosecutor was entitled to rebut the defense's mitigating evidence that defendant was a peaceful person with evidence relating to that character trait (see, e.g., People v. Rodriguez (1986) 42 Cal.3d 730, 791, 230 Cal.Rptr. 667, 726 P.2d 113 [prosecutor allowed to present more balanced picture of the defendant's personality]), Aviles's inconclusive and speculative testimony was wholly insufficient for this purpose. Without Aviles's knowing the circumstances surrounding the shooting incident, or even whether defendant participated in the shooting, evidence was essentially valueless and should have been excluded. But as the Attorney General observes, any error was harmless in light of the inconclusive nature of the evidence and the weight of the other aggravating circumstances in the case, including the charged offense and the prior Texas murder. (Cf. People v. Pinholster (1992) 1 Cal.4th 865, 962, 4 Cal.Rptr.2d 765, 824 P.2d 571 [admission of irrelevant aggravating evidence rarely reversible error]; People v. Wright (1990) 52 Cal.3d 367, 426-427, 276 Cal.Rptr. 731, 802 P.2d 221 [same].)