Opinion ID: 782567
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Exclusion of Certain Defense Witnesses

Text: 130 The prosecutor theorized that Alcala kidnapped Samsoe on the afternoon of June 20, 1979, some time after she left Wilvert's home and before she should have arrived at her ballet class. Crappa's testimony placed Alcala in the mountains with Samsoe later that very day, suggesting that Alcala killed Samsoe on the same day that he kidnapped her, June 20, 1979. 131 The testimony of Tim Fallen would poke at least one hole in this theory. Fallen testified at Alcala's first trial that he saw Samsoe in Huntington Beach on June 21, 1979 — the day after she disappeared. A police detective showed Fallen a picture of Samsoe on June 21 and asked if he had seen her. Fallen told the detective that he had seen Samsoe just minutes before the detective's arrival. He offered, without prompting, that she was riding a yellow, ten-speed bike. When Samsoe left Wilvert's home the day before, she had borrowed her friend's yellow ten-speed. 132 Late the next night, on June 22, 1979, police officer Gerald Crawford saw a car parked at a turnout just north of Mile Marker 11 on the Santa Anita Canyon Road, about 100 feet from where authorities ultimately found Samsoe's remains. Crawford then saw Raul Vasquez walking toward the car. Crawford questioned Vasquez about his purpose for being in the area. He responded that he had relieved himself in the woods while waiting for his girlfriend. When Crawford asked Vasquez his girlfriend's name, he either did not know her name or did not respond. 133 Crawford patted Vasquez down and found a pair of heavy pliers in his back pocket. Crawford questioned Vasquez about the tool, and he responded, you never know what can happen up here in these mountains. Crawford also searched Vasquez's car, where he found a towel or blanket in the back seat and a six pack of beer on the floorboard of the front seat. Crawford noted that a passenger window was shattered, and broken glass lay strewn across the back seat. Crawford testified that Vasquez seemed upset, extremely nervous, and very shaky; he acted as if he were hiding something. 134 Alcala wanted to offer Crawford and Vasquez to advance his theory that someone other than Alcala kidnapped Samsoe on June 21 — after Fallen saw her — and that Vasquez murdered Samsoe on June 22. Crawford would have testified, as he did at Alcala's first trial, to his encounter with Vasquez, while Vasquez would have testified that he was on parole from a murder conviction. 135 At Alcala's first trial, Fallen had identified a photograph of a different young blond girl as the one he saw; the prosecutor argued at the second trial that Fallen's testimony was neither probative nor reliable. Despite Alcala's arguments to the contrary, and considering only Alcala's offer of proof and the prosecutor's objection, the trial court excluded Fallen's testimony as confusing and irrelevant. 8 136 The trial court also excluded the testimony of Crawford and Vasquez. After stating on the record that [criminals] usually stay away from the scene of the crime, which would be inconsistent with Vasquez go[ing] back on the 22nd to see if he did a good job, 9 the trial judge found that the probative value of this type of evidence is zero and that presenting it would be a waste of time. 137 Even if the trial court erroneously excluded Fallen, Crawford, and Vasquez as a matter of state law, we cannot afford him habeas relief unless the exclusion violated his due process right to a fair trial. See Estelle v. McGuire, 502 U.S. 62, 67-68 & n. 2, 112 S.Ct. 475, 116 L.Ed.2d 385 (1991). We employ a balancing test for determining whether the exclusion of testimony violates due process. Courts should weigh the probative value of the evidence, its reliability, whether the trier of fact can evaluate the evidence, whether the evidence is cumulative, and whether the evidence proves integral to the defense theory in evaluating whether admissible evidence was unconstitutionally excluded. Miller, 757 F.2d at 994. In addition, we must consider California's interest in excluding the evidence. Id. at 994-95. 138
139 While California concedes that the trial court erred in excluding Fallen's testimony, some analysis of whether this exclusion violated Alcala's due process rights is helpful. First, Fallen's sighting of the girl he believed to be Samsoe is probative to a central issue in this case: whether Alcala kidnapped and killed Samsoe on June 20. Fallen's testimony could create reasonable doubt that Samsoe was kidnapped and killed on June 20, the day on which eyewitnesses claimed to have seen Alcala at Huntington Beach, rather than June 21, the day Fallen claimed to have seen Samsoe. Fallen could also rebut Crappa's testimony placing Alcala with the victim close to the murder scene. 140 Fallen's testimony also bears indicia of reliability. He identified the girl he saw within five or ten minutes of viewing her; his memory was recent. He also volunteered that the girl was riding a yellow ten-speed bicycle, before the officer could indicate that Samsoe was riding such a bike when she disappeared. Moreover, that the prosecutor impeached Fallen at the first trial did not make his testimony unreliable but instead raised questions about his credibility and the weight his testimony should be accorded. These are issues to be weighed by the jury, not the judge. See, e.g., United States v. Scheffer, 523 U.S. 303, 312-13, 118 S.Ct. 1261, 140 L.Ed.2d 413 (1998). 141 No question exists that the jury could evaluate Fallen's testimony. His insistence that he saw Samsoe the day after the prosecutor argued that she was kidnapped introduces an alternate exculpatory theory. The evidence is inconsistent with the prosecutor's case, but that it conflicts is the very point of presenting Fallen's testimony. If courts prohibit the introduction of any evidence that conflicts with the prosecution's case because it might confuse the jury, the right of the accused to present a defense would exist only in form. In addition, Fallen's testimony was not cumulative; it provided the only evidence that Samsoe was seen alive after June 20. 142 Lastly, Alcala focused on a misidentification theory via his efforts to rebut the various eyewitness identifications, to undermine Crappa's credibility, and to put on an alibi defense. Fallen's testimony would have facilitated this theory by allowing Alcala to undermine the prosecution's assertion that Samsoe was kidnapped and killed on June 20. In other words, if Samsoe were kidnapped on or after June 21, and the prosecution could not link Alcala to the area on June 21, Alcala could further his misidentification defense. 143 The trial court excluded Fallen because his testimony was both confusing and irrelevant. These concerns do not outweigh Alcala's interest in putting on this testimony. That Fallen's testimony weakened the prosecution's case made it probative, not confusing, and that it contradicted California's theory demonstrates its great relevance. 144 Because the factors weigh in Alcala's favor, the trial court committed constitutional error in excluding Fallen's testimony. This error likely affected the jury's verdict. Fallen's testimony would have given the defense an eerie coincidence for the jury to weigh against the many bizarre coincidences that the prosecution presented. It also would contradict the prosecution's theory that Alcala kidnapped and murdered Samsoe on June 20. Regardless of whether this error was sufficiently prejudicial in itself to grant Alcala's petition, the district court correctly included this error in its cumulative error analysis. 145
146 The exclusion of Crawford's and Vasquez's testimony is subject to the same balancing test. See Miller, 757 F.2d at 994. Their combined testimony about the events of June 22, 1979, is arguably more probative than Fallen's testimony to the central issue: Alcala's guilt. Vasquez was found in a remote mountain area, after he literally emerged from the bushes 100 feet from where authorities ultimately discovered Samsoe's body. Crawford testified that Vasquez was upset, nervous, and shaky and acted like he was hiding something. Vasquez provided Crawford with a flimsy excuse for his presence in the area. He possessed a heavy tool, which he suggested he would use as a weapon if necessary. 147 This testimony also is reliable. Crawford was a police officer with no motive to lie. Indeed, he was called by the prosecution to testify about finding the body. As for Vasquez, his testimony only concerned his prior homicide conviction. Even if he did testify to the events of the night of June 22, 1979, California has suggested no reason that Vasquez would lie about that night in order to incriminate himself. 148 Just as Fallen's testimony was capable of evaluation by the trier of fact, so too was the testimony of Crawford and Vasquez. Again, their testimony presented an alternate explanation for Samsoe's murder that the jury could accept or reject. Again, their testimony would not have been cumulative; it provided the sole evidence that Vasquez may have murdered Samsoe. 149 Finally, the exclusion of testimony from Crawford and Vasquez precluded Alcala from presenting a third-party culpability defense; he instead relied on a misidentification theory. Crawford and Vasquez would have helped Alcala pursue a third-party culpability defense, a theory not inconsistent with the defense presented and which — had the evidence been admitted — would have proven a strong defense theory. 150 The trial court excluded Crawford's and Vasquez's testimony as irrelevant and a waste of time, and suggested Alcala's third-party culpability theory was untenable. Even still, the above factors clearly weigh in favor of Alcala's interest in having the testimony admitted. The testimony was relevant, and no record evidence indicates that it would have consumed an undue amount of time. 151 This evidence helps demonstrate reasonable doubt as to Alcala's guilt by suggesting that Vasquez may have murdered Samsoe. The exclusion of this evidence prejudiced Alcala and belongs in the cumulative error analysis.