Opinion ID: 1162168
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: evidence of escape plans

Text: (6) Equally unavailing is Leach's contention that in view of his concession of guilt save for his diminished capacity defense (see ante, p. 427 & fn. 3), evidence of his admissions to Hagler was inadmissible at least insofar as the admissions concerned his desire to escape because the prejudicial effect of such evidence outweighed its probative value. (See Evid. Code, § 352.) The gist of this objection is hard to fathom. The argument appears to be premised principally on Leach's concession to the jury that he was guilty of second degree murder. It is thus contended that the inference of consciousness of guilt which might be drawn from Leach's aspirations of escape was of no probative value in light of this concession of guilt. This is a make-weight argument if ever there was one. For one thing, despite repeated assertions to the contrary by Leach's separate counsel at trial and on appeal (see fn. 3, ante ), we have been unable to find any statement in the record in which Leach explicitly conceded to the jury any degree of guilt in the killing of Howard Kramer prior to his counsel's closing argument subsequent to the introduction of all the evidence in the entire case. In any event, the invocation of Evidence Code section 352 is entirely unpersuasive. Section 352 does confer on the trial court discretion to exclude evidence when its probative value is substantially outweighed by the probability that its admission will (a) necessitate undue consumption of time or (b) create substantial danger of undue prejudice, of confusing the issues, or of misleading the jury. These goals would have been disserved by the exclusion of the evidence in question. Rather than minimize confusion, it would have increased it to have had the trial court constantly monitoring Hagler's testimony to exclude the few references to Leach's escape plans from the matrix of Leach's admissions as to the murder conspiracy. Leach's hopes for an escape were an integral part of Hagler's relation of Leach's confidence in him and the incentive for Leach to recount to Hagler the circumstances of his crime. It was Leach's intention that Hagler use the money to be extorted from the Kramers to free Leach, either through retention of counsel or by an escape from custody. As such, Hagler's testimony concerning Leach's escape plans was properly admitted in evidence notwithstanding Leach's ostensibly prior, partial concession of guilt.