Opinion ID: 2515839
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Cornwell's immunity agreement.

Text: Defendant makes similar arguments concerning Cornwell's grant of immunity, and we reach the same results. As with Kennedy, the defense never objected below that Cornwell's testimony should be excluded because her immunity agreement improperly forced her to testify to a certain version of events regardless of its truth. Hence, the claim is forfeited. It is also meritless. Cornwell's grant of immunity, like Kennedy's, specified that the immunity did not extend to false testimony, which could make the witness subject to prosecution for perjury. The immunity agreement also stated that the witness represented that the testimony of the witness will be truthful and in substance as follows: consistent with the statements and information given to the Fullerton Police Department Investigation Officers in the attached reports. . . . (Italicized words added by handwritten interlineation.) At the suppression hearing on retrial, Cornwell indicated she understood that if she testified falsely, she could be prosecuted for perjury, and she insisted that she had testified truthfully, pursuant to this agreement, at the prior trial. Thus, Cornwell's grant of immunity, like Kennedy's, simply reflected the parties' mutual understanding that the information the witness had previously supplied to the police was truthful, not that the witness had to iterate her prior statements, regardless of their truth. The witness confirmed her understanding that, to retain immunity, she must testify truthfully. As discussed above, at the retrial suppression hearing, Cornwell implied that her testimony was obtained by improperly coercive police and prosecutorial tactics. We have rejected that claim. (See text discussion, ante, 42 Cal.Rptr.3d at pp. 705-706, 133 P.3d at pp. 605-606.) Nothing in Cornwell's assertions on this subject implies she was coerced to testify falsely, or to a particular version of events, in return for immunity. Cornwell's testimony was not subject to exclusion on the ground now asserted. [30]