Opinion ID: 1196295
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Eliciting Testimony of Gang Affiliation

Text: (21) During cross-examination of James Kennedy, counsel inquired into defendant's involvement in gang activity. Counsel also raised the subject of prison gangs in questioning Joey Upland about conditions of incarceration. Defendant contends these devastating lines of inquiry prejudiced his defense at both the guilt and penalty phases because the evidence unfavorably portrayed him as an intransigently violent person. When offered by the prosecution, we have condemned the introduction of evidence of gang membership if only tangentially relevant, given its highly inflammatory impact. (See generally People v. Cardenas (1982) 31 Cal.3d 897, 904-905 [184 Cal. Rptr. 165, 647 P.2d 569]; see also Williams v. Superior Court (1984) 36 Cal.3d 441, 450, fn. 8 [204 Cal. Rptr. 700, 683 P.2d 699].) On the other hand, the defense may be pursuing a legitimate strategy in placing such information before the jury. For example, in People v. Frausto, supra, 135 Cal. App.3d 129, counsel had a tactical reason for not objecting to testimony of gangs and gang-related activity that showed the victim and his companions in an unfavorable light because of the definite admission of the victim that he was a gang member in another gang's territory. As such, evidence of gangs was a twin sword which could be utilized by the defense in attacking the credibility of the victim. ( Id., at p. 141.) Here, we perceive a different but equally reasonable tactical decision in broaching the subject. As discussed more fully below, counsel's strategy was to forgo a strenuous guilt phase attack and focus the jury's attention at the penalty phase on possible lingering doubt over the identity of the actual killer. Crucial support for this theory lay in depicting defendant as a follower, who operated under the influence and at the direction of more sophisticated and dominant gang members such as Darren Williams. During the penalty phase, counsel emphasized this point several times, alluding as well to the pervasive gang activity and attendant peer pressure in defendant's neighborhood while he was growing up. As a gang member himself, Kennedy's testimony enhanced the credibility of this argument. Upland's testimony also provided the foundation for the claim that life in prison without possibility of parole would be a horrible punishment, sufficient to redress defendant's moral culpability. Given the few viable appeals for clemency, we cannot fault the defense strategy or find any deficiency in its implementation. (Cf. People v. Miranda, supra, 44 Cal.3d at pp. 119-121 [decision not to introduce evidence of defendant's long-standing gang involvement was reasonable tactical choice given possibility of damaging cross-examination and rebuttal testimony].) Defendant has failed to meet his threshold burden on this issue.