Opinion ID: 1237936
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Testimony of Ricky Carpenter and Evidence of 1971 Robbery

Text: (108) Defendant contends that the trial court erred in permitting the prosecution to call Ricky Carpenter as a rebuttal witness and to cross-examine defendant about a 1971 robbery. In January 1985, before the guilt trial commenced, the prosecution notified the defense of its intent, if there was a penalty phase, to present evidence that defendant had fatally stabbed inmate Leroy Banks at San Quentin in 1978. The prosecution provided the names of correctional officers it intended to call for this purpose, and provided a copy of defendant's prison file, or C-file, which contained reports about the incident. Ricky Carpenter was an inmate who was present when defendant stabbed Banks. At the time, he had declined to discuss the matter with law enforcement authorities. After the jury returned its guilt verdicts in this case on May 9, 1986, Paul Tulleners, a Department of Justice investigator who worked with the prosecution in this case, contacted Carpenter, who was then on parole. On May 27, 1986, Carpenter met with Tulleners and gave a statement explaining how and why defendant had killed Banks. On May 29, 1986, the prosecution informed the defense for the first time that it would call Carpenter as a penalty witness. The defense sought a protective order to preclude him from testifying, claiming it had received inadequate notice. The court ruled that Carpenter could not testify during the prosecution's case-in-chief, but that he could testify in rebuttal if the defense questioned, challenged, or refuted the testimony of the correctional officer about defendant's involvement in the Banks killing. The penalty trial began on June 9, 1986. During the prosecution's case-in-chief, Rodney Perryman testified that he was working as a correctional officer in San Quentin on May 29, 1978, when he saw defendant with his arms around Banks making jabbing motions and then saw a knife drop from defendant's hand. When he arrived at the scene defendant was drenched with blood. Perryman was impeached with evidence that in his report describing the incident he had not mentioned seeing defendant make jabbing motions or drop a knife. During the defense case, defendant testified on direct examination that he was never prosecuted for stabbing Banks, although the correctional authorities did place him in the adjustment center for three years as a result of the incident. Defendant also testified that he did not kill Hickey. He explained: I  I'm not personally capable of doing what  whoever did that to Elizabeth. I couldn't have done that. Thereafter, the trial court ruled that, in light of the cross-examination of Perryman about omissions in his report and defendant's testimony that he was not charged with stabbing Banks, and in light also of defendant's denial that he was capable of a brutal murder, the prosecution could use Carpenter in rebuttal. Carpenter then testified, on June 25, 1986, that defendant told him he would kill Banks for disrespecting another AB member, and that he then saw defendant stab Banks 10 to 15 times. The trial court did not err in admitting Carpenter's testimony on rebuttal. Section 190.3, fourth paragraph, generally bars the prosecution from presenting evidence in aggravation at the penalty phase if it did not give the defendant notice of the evidence within a reasonable time before trial. But nothing in the language of the provision requires exclusion of evidence that the prosecution became aware of only after the trial began. As we have explained: Such a construction would be inconsistent with the purpose of section 190.3 that the jury be made aware of all of the factors bearing on the penalty decision. ( People v. Jennings (1988) 46 Cal.3d 963, 987 [251 Cal. Rptr. 278, 760 P.2d 475].) Because defendant had been notified before the guilt trial that the Banks killing would be used in aggravation at the penalty phase, because the prosecution gave the defense prompt notice when it first became aware that Carpenter would be a witness, and because the defense had sufficient additional time to prepare to meet Carpenter's testimony, defendant was not denied any rights under the notice provision of section 190.3, and the trial court should have permitted the prosecution to use Carpenter's testimony during its case-in-chief. This error by the trial court did not prejudice the defense. The ruling put the defense on notice that Carpenter was a likely witness in rebuttal, and it gave the defense additional time to prepare to meet that evidence. (109) On cross-examination of defendant, the prosecution inquired about a robbery defendant had committed in Humboldt County in 1971. Defendant contends that the trial court erred when it overruled an objection to this question as being beyond the scope of direct examination. We find no error. Having placed his capacity for violence in issue by his testimony on direct examination that he was incapable of the murder of Hickey, defendant may not complain about cross-examination on specific instances of violent behavior. Although a robbery is admittedly violence of a different order than a brutal murder, this consideration goes to weight rather than admissibility. We find no abuse of the broad discretion vested in the trial court to control the scope of relevant cross-examination. ( People v. Wissenfeld (1951) 36 Cal.2d 758, 765 [227 P.2d 833].)