Opinion ID: 2599941
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Testimony of Jona Cardona

Text: Defendant argues that several of the trial court's various rulings regarding defense counsel's attempts to impeach prosecution witness Jona Cardona were erroneous and denied him his right to confront and cross-examine the witness under the confrontation clause of the federal Constitution. Trial judges retain wide latitude insofar as the Confrontation Clause is concerned to impose reasonable limits on such cross-examination based on concerns about, among other things, harassment, prejudice, confusion of the issues, the witness' safety, or interrogation that is repetitive or only marginally relevant. ( Delaware v. Van Arsdall (1986) 475 U.S. 673, 679-680, 106 S.Ct. 1431, 89 L.Ed.2d 674; see People v. Jennings (1991) 53 Cal.3d 334, 372, 279 Cal.Rptr. 780, 807 P.2d 1009.) A trial court's ruling to admit or exclude evidence offered for impeachment is reviewed for abuse of discretion and will be upheld unless the trial court exercised its discretion in an arbitrary, capricious, or patently absurd manner that resulted in a manifest miscarriage of justice. ( People v. Rodriguez (1999) 20 Cal.4th 1, 9-10, 82 Cal.Rptr.2d 413, 971 P.2d 618.) As explained below, we find no abuse of discretion in the trial court's rulings. First, defendant challenges the trial court's ruling sustaining objections to defense counsel's questions regarding burglary charges that were pending against Cardona in 1980, at the time she made an anonymous telephone call to the police to report discussions she had heard about the murder. The trial court ruled that the information sought to be elicited by defense counsel was not relevant to establishing that she had a motive to lie in order to curry favor with the police, because the call was anonymous; she could not have received favorable treatment had the police not known who she was. This conclusion is reasonable, and the trial court did not abuse its discretion. Likewise, the trial court did not abuse its discretion in sustaining objections to defense counsel's questions concerning Ms. Cardona's involvement in a variety of criminal activities, including prostitution and the use and distribution of drugs. To the extent evidence of such activities was relevant to her credibility, it was cumulative. Cardona testified that she had felony convictions for burglary and petty theft with a prior, that she had been arrested and went to jail many times, that she had served time in prison, and that she had used drugs, including PCP and heroin. Second, defendant challenges the trial court's ruling sustaining objections to a line of questions asked by defense counsel regarding Cardona's hospitalization for psychiatric treatment in 1972. Defense counsel attempted to inquire whether, when she was in the mental hospital, she had expressed violent feelings toward her child or other violent fantasies, whether she was told that she was a person who manipulated other individuals and had a psychopathic streak, and whether she had told anyone she had delusions, hallucinations, confusion, and poor memory. The trial court sustained objections to these questions on the grounds of relevance and, in some instances, privilege, and ordered counsel to discontinue this line of questioning. The trial court did not abuse its discretion. The hospitalization occurred in 1972, more than 16 years before her testimony at trial, and thus had little bearing on Cardona's credibility at the time she testified. (See People v. Rodriguez (1986) 42 Cal.3d 730, 749, 230 Cal.Rptr. 667, 726 P.2d 113 [trial court did not err in excluding testimony regarding the witness's psychiatric treatment five years before trial, when she was only 15 years of age, because the evidence did not have sufficient bearing upon the credibility of her testimony at the trial, when she was 20].) Third, defendant contends the trial court erred in refusing to permit him to establish, through the testimony of Mary Perez, that Cardona could have been motivated by jealousy and revenge to falsely implicate Jesse and George Perez. The trial court did not abuse its discretion in excluding this evidence, the relevance of which was minimal. The testimony did not provide any motive for Cardona to falsely implicate defendant. Defendant also contends the trial court should have instructed the jury, on its own motion, on the rule that an accomplice's testimony should be viewed with distrust and must be corroborated. (See CALJIC Nos. 3.10-3.18.) Defendant's theory is that the jury could have believed that Cardona did not actually hear defendant confess to the crimes, and that her testimony was based instead on information she received from George Perez, one of defendant's accomplices in the murder. Instructions on accomplice testimony must be given if there is evidence to support the conclusion that a prosecution witness was an accomplice. ( People v. Guiuan (1998) 18 Cal.4th 558, 564-565, 76 Cal.Rptr.2d 239, 957 P.2d 928.) No accomplice testified at defendant's trial, and defendant's theory that Cardona indirectly testified based upon information obtained from an accomplice amounts to nothing more than conjecture.