Opinion ID: 1113193
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 25

Heading: Family violence; sufficiency of evidence.

Text: (25a) Defendant claims that evidence of his alleged 1969 assault on his sister-in-law Yolanda Estrada, and of alleged violence toward his parents in or before 1968, was inadmissible. In defendant's view, this evidence was legally insufficient to establish that such crimes were committed, and was also barred by the statute of limitations. (26)(See fn. 23.), (25b) However, the points are waived as direct appellate issues, since trial counsel made no effort to exclude or strike the evidence and submitted no request that the jury be instructed to disregard it. [23] Nor can defendant prevail on his claims of ineffective assistance of counsel. We have previously rejected his assertion that evidence about an unadjudicated prior violent crime may not be presented in aggravation once the statute of limitations on the underlying offense has run. (E.g., People v. Pinholster (1992) 1 Cal.4th 865, 973 [4 Cal. Rptr.2d 765, 824 P.2d 571].) His claim of legal insufficiency has more merit, but he fails to demonstrate he was prejudiced by admission of the evidence. As defendant observes, the only clear evidence about his violence against Yolanda and his parents was the statements given by Richard, Sr., Hortencia, and Rachel Montiel when deputies responded to the 1968 and 1969 family disputes. Each such extrajudicial claim of violence had apparently been made by only a single person. [24] At the 1986 trial, all these witnesses repudiated their earlier statements. On the stand, Rachel denied she saw defendant assault Yolanda, and her exculpatory trial version of the 1969 incident was corroborated by Helen Pacheco. Both of defendant's parents testified that he was never violent toward them. (27a) Generally, an extrajudicial statement repudiated at trial cannot form the sole basis for a conviction. ( In re Miguel L. (1982) 32 Cal.3d 100, 106 [185 Cal. Rptr. 120, 649 P.2d 703]; People v. Gould (1960) 54 Cal.2d 621, 631 [7 Cal. Rptr. 273, 354 P.2d 865].) The concern is that where `no evidence' incriminates the accused save a single witness's extrajudicial statement repudiated under oath, the extrajudicial statement lacks the `traditional indicia of reliability' which attach to an accusation made under oath and subject to cross-examination in a formal judicial proceeding.... ( People v. Lucky, supra, 45 Cal.3d 259, 289, quoting Miguel L., supra, at pp. 106-107.) (25c), (27b) We therefore assume, as defendant suggests, that an extrajudicial statement repudiated under oath is also legally insufficient, standing alone, to establish aggravating violent criminal conduct beyond a reasonable doubt (see People v. Robertson (1982) 33 Cal.3d 21, 53-55 [188 Cal. Rptr. 77, 655 P.2d 279]) at the penalty phase of a capital trial. [25] The People argue that the Gould/Miguel L. rule applies only when identification of the perpetrator is the crucial issue. While the rule developed in that context, however, its reach seems broader. The reliability concerns that prompted the rule apply equally when the issue is whether any crime occurred at all. (25d) Even if counsel should have intervened, however, we find no reversible prejudice. These alleged incidents of family violence were by no means trivial, and the prosecutor did identify them as aggravating factors in his closing argument. However, they were both the least serious and the most weakly supported of the various aggravating matters presented for the jury's consideration. Given the brutal nature of the capital murder, and the several other incidents of violence and recidivism of which the jury was aware, counsel's failure to exclude evidence on these matters does not undermine confidence in the penalty judgment. [26]