Opinion ID: 1175478
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 12

Heading: prediction by prosecution psychologist of defendant's future dangerousness

Text: (20) As explained earlier, one of the two witnesses called by the prosecution in its case in chief at the penalty phase was a prison psychologist, Dr. Macomber, who had evaluated defendant's suitability for release from DVI. Macomber testified that defendant had a passive-aggressive, antisocial personality and was criminally oriented, immature, and defensive. He recommended that defendant be retained in prison, and if not retained, released only under strict supervision. This testimony might have been subject to exclusion, upon proper objection, under two holdings of this court which were rendered after the trial. One of these is the holding in People v. Murtishaw, supra, 29 Cal.3d 733, 767-775, that penalty phase testimony by a prosecution expert predicting that the defendant will commit future acts of violence must be excluded as unreliable. The other is the holding in People v. Boyd (1985) 38 Cal.3d 762, 772-776 [215 Cal. Rptr. 1, 700 P.2d 782], that evidence of the defendant's character and background, not relevant to any of the aggravating or mitigating factors listed in section 190.3 other than factor (k), must not be introduced by the prosecution as part of its case in chief at the penalty phase. Defendant did not object to Macomber's testimony but contends that he did not thereby waive claims of error based on unforeseen changes in the law. The Attorney General replies that inasmuch as the relevant holdings were unforeseen, they should not be retroactive. We need not resolve these questions (see People v. Montiel, supra, 39 Cal.3d 910, 929) since even if error be assumed, defendant was not prejudiced. In Murtishaw, the erroneously admitted testimony, which was the prosecution's principal penalty phase evidence, predicted that Murtishaw would be violent and homicidal in prison. (29 Cal.3d at pp. 767, 775.) Macomber's prediction, in contrast, was that defendant would engage in criminal conduct if released from prison. On cross-examination, Macomber was asked how he reconciled his prediction with the absence of violent acts by defendant in prison; the answer was that since there are guards in prison, defendant would know he could not control the situation, whereas on the outside, defendant would take advantage of persons he knew he could control. Thus, Macomber corroborated the testimony of the defense psychiatrist, Dr. Aaron, that defendant would make a satisfactory adjustment to prison life. Since the only question before the jury at the penalty phase was whether defendant should be sentenced to death or to life imprisonment without possibility of parole, Macomber's prediction of future criminality should defendant be released was of little importance compared to his concession that defendant could adjust, at least in a rough way, to prison life. Even if Macomber's testimony had been excluded from the prosecution's penalty phase case in chief, it would have been admissible as rebuttal to the testimony of the defense experts, Dr. Podboy and Dr. Aaron. ( People v. Boyd, supra, 38 Cal.3d 762, 776.) Moreover, Macomber's testimony cannot be deemed prejudicial on the theory it necessitated the presentation, in response, of Podboy's and Aaron's testimony regarding defendant's psychological makeup and propensities, including his adaptability to prison life. This is so because Podboy's and Aaron's testimony was clearly favorable to defendant, and therefore it is not reasonably possible that withholding both their testimony and Macomber's testimony from the jury would have affected the penalty verdict.