Opinion ID: 2637056
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Auto mechanic course certificates excluded as hearsay

Text: Defendant sought to introduce into evidence certain certificates he claimed to have received upon his completion of several courses in auto mechanics. The trial court sustained the prosecutor's objection on grounds of hearsay. Defendant contends this ruling constituted error under state evidentiary law, as well as a denial of his state and federal constitutional rights to due process, a fair trial, trial by jury, confrontation and cross-examination, presentation of a defense, effective assistance of counsel, equal protection, and reliable guilt and penalty phase verdicts. (U.S. Const, 5th, 6th, 8th & 14th Amends.; Cal. Const, art. I, งง 7, 15, 17.) Defendant first argues the certificates were relevant for a nonhearsay purpose. That is, he asserts their admission would have been proper not to prove he actually had completed the courses, but as circumstantial evidence of his state of mind (familiarity with automotive systems and repair) and that he acted in conformity with it (i.e., that defendant disdained Martinez's car because of his understanding of its mechanical problems, and thus did not intend to steal it). The Attorney General contends defendant failed to preserve the claim of error by not advancing this nonhearsay basis for the certificates' admission before the trial court, and that the certificates were in fact hearsay not qualifying for the business records exception. (See Evid.Code, งง 354, 1271 [exception to hearsay rule for written records created in the regular course of business at or near the time of the relevant act, condition, or event, when the custodian or other qualified witness testifies to the record's identity and the mode of its preparation, and the sources of information and method and time of its preparation were such as to indicate its trustworthiness].) Finally, assuming the exclusion of the certificates was error, the Attorney General argues, defendant was not prejudiced thereby because he testified, without contradiction, that he had taken several auto mechanics courses at Soledad State Prison. Thus, had the trial court admitted the certificates, a different outcome was not reasonably probable. ( People v. Watson (1956) 46 Cal.2d 818, 836, 299 P.2d 243.) In our review, defendant sufficiently preserved the argument he now advances by urging that the certificates should be admitted to prove his expertise. Nevertheless, we conclude the trial court did not abuse its discretion in excluding the certificates. Even insofar as they were relevant to prove defendant was familiar with auto mechanics, the certificates were hearsay: They tended, in essence, to demonstrate that he had acquired such familiarity by completing the courses in question. Moreover, defendant made no effort at trial to authenticate the documents or otherwise meet the foundational requirements for their admission as business records. (See Evid.Code, ง 1271.) In any event, in view of the minimal probative value of the certificates and the absence of any conceivable prejudice resulting from their exclusion, any possible error would have been harmless under the circumstances.