Opinion ID: 1374541
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Exclusion of Evidence of Klaess's Drug Connections

Text: (8) On redirect examination, appellant was asked whether Klaess knew, or said she knew, persons in the Sacramento area from whom she could obtain drugs. The prosecutor's objections to both questions were sustained. The bench conference on the ruling is not reported, but according to a stipulation and order for settlement of the record, the stated ground for exclusion was that such questioning would elicit evidence of criminal activity on the part of Klaess already held inadmissible by prior rulings of the court. At the time of those prior rulings, however, appellant had not yet presented his theory that Klaess had committed, or been involved in, the charged crimes without his participation. He testified that he and Klaess drove from Crockett to West Sacramento between 1:30 and 2:30 a.m. on December 22 without encountering the highway patrol, and that when he parked the Camaro at the end of that trip, Klaess said she wanted more cocaine and drove off alone in the Camaro. He also testified that his temporary driver's license, later found at the crime scene, was then in Klaess's purse, and that when he saw her on awaking at the motel at 7:30 a.m., she refused to say where she had been and demanded that appellant say they had been together all night. In light of appellant's testimony, evidence that Klaess had drug connections in Sacramento would have been relevant to corroborate his statement that she had left for the purpose of obtaining more cocaine by showing that she had the means and opportunity to do so. There was no danger of undue prejudice since Klaess had already admitted to drug abuse and to commission of robberies and other crimes. We conclude, however, that the court's erroneous exclusion of that evidence is not ground for reversal. Klaess testified to living with several people in Sacramento at various times in October and November of 1978, while she was separated from appellant. She was an admitted cocaine user and it was uncontradicted that she had used cocaine the evening before the crimes in Crockett as well as on the next day in Sacramento. There was a conflict of testimony as to whether appellant and Klaess possessed cocaine when they returned to West Sacramento: appellant testified that all the cocaine he purchased in Crockett was used up there, while Klaess and Engel said he took some of it with him when he left. A finding that appellant still had some cocaine when he and Klaess arrived in West Sacramento would tend to discredit his claim that Klaess left him to forage for more cocaine. But in light of the evidence of Klaess's background, it appears most unlikely that the jury would have rejected that claim simply on the theory that she did not know where or how to obtain the cocaine in Sacramento. Accordingly, we find no reasonable probability that admission of the evidence would have led to a result more favorable to appellant and conclude that exclusion of the evidence is not ground for reversal. ( People v. Watson (1956) 46 Cal.2d 818, 836 [299 P.2d 243].)