Opinion ID: 1170008
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Alleged improper admission of details of prior robbery.

Text: We point out that since the cross-examination upon the details of the prior robbery possessed sufficient probative value to outweigh its obviously prejudicial effect, the trial court properly admitted it. We show that the prosecution, in order to overcome defendant's claim that he did not participate in the robbery that actually occurred, presented evidence of a common modus operandi to prove defendant's guilty knowledge, his intent, and his state of mind during the killing of Officer McKnight. [7] We begin with the basic premise that, save for certain recognized exceptions, evidence of other offenses may not be introduced in a criminal prosecution. [4] Obviously such evidence of other conduct should be excluded if it does not substantially tend to prove any fact other than the criminal character of the accused. [8] [T]he defendant can be tried for no other offense than that [with] which he is charged. ( People v. Albertson, supra, 23 Cal.2d 550, 576.) He should not be confronted with attempted proof of other offenses interjected only to prove a criminal propensity that might have led him to the commission of other crimes. [5] General bad character ... has not yet become a criminal offense in our scheme. ( Michelson v. United States (1948) 335 U.S. 469, 489 [93 L.Ed. 168, 180, 69 S.Ct. 213] (Rutledge, J., dissenting).) We exclude such evidence of other crimes not because it lacks probative value but because its prejudicial effect outweighs its probative value. [6] We have thus reached the conclusion that the risk of convicting the innocent by the admission of evidence of other offenses is sufficiently imminent for us to forego the slight marginal gain in punishing the guilty. [7] We recognize, however, exceptions to the basic rule. [9] If a defendant chooses to testify, the People may impeach his credibility by showing that he has previously been convicted of a felony. Even here, however, impeachment evidence of prior felony convictions must be limited to identification of the conviction, and the courts will be zealous to insure that the prosecuting attorney is not permitted to delve into the details and circumstances of the prior crime ( People v. David (1939) 12 Cal.2d 639, 646 ...).... ( People v. Smith (1966) 63 Cal.2d 779, 790 [48 Cal. Rptr. 382, 409 P.2d 222].) The prosecutor in the instant case, by inquiring into the details of the prior robbery, sought to take advantage of a broader exception to the basic rule of exclusion. [10] Generally stated, this exception permits the People to adduce as circumstantial proof of the crime charged evidence encompassing the commission of a similar or related offense when the probative value of such evidence outweighs its prejudicial effect. ( People v. Haston, supra, 69 Cal.2d 233, 243; People v. Cramer, supra, 67 Cal.2d 126, 129; People v. Kelley, supra, 66 Cal.2d 232, 238; People v. McCaughan, supra, 49 Cal.2d 409, 421; People v. Sykes, supra, 44 Cal.2d 166, 175 (Traynor, J., dissenting); People v. Westek, supra, 31 Cal.2d 469, 476; Evid. Code, § 352.) This balancing test is necessarily particularistic, depending not upon mechanically automatic rules, but upon the trial court's consideration of the unique facts and issues of each case according to the guidelines which we summarize below. Admissibility depends not merely on whether the evidence comes within certain categories which constitute exceptions to the rule of exclusion ( State v. Goebel (1950) 36 Wn.2d 367, 379 [218 P.2d 300]; see also Adkins v. Brett (1920) 184 Cal. 252, 255-256 [193 P. 251]) because most of the many kinds of traits common between offenses  modus operandi, peculiar behavior, victim, plan, scheme, design, time, and geographical proximity, for example,  may be used in different cases to prove one of any number of issues: identity, commission of an act, intent, knowledge, motive, premeditation, etc. (1 Wigmore, Evidence (3d ed. 1940) §§ 215-217, pp. 710-719.) If both justice and predictability of decision are to be served, rigidity of tests of admission and exclusion, in our opinion, is not the answer. We believe that whenever the quarrel is between relevancy and the policy of the law to protect the accused against bias and prejudice likely to be engendered from the admission of relevant evidence, a balancing process must take place  a weighing of the probative value of the evidence offered against the harm it is likely to cause. [11] When its probative value, addressed to the crime charged, is great to prove a vital issue as compared with the lesser likelihood that a jury will be led astray and convict an innocent man because of his bad record, the evidence should be admitted. ( People v. Sheets (1967) 251 Cal. App.2d 759, 764-765 [59 Cal. Rptr. 777]; see also People v. Sykes, supra, 44 Cal.2d 166, 174-175 (Traynor, J., dissenting).) Probative value and prejudice obviously are not commodities subject to quantitative measurement. Nonetheless, we may identify some of the guidelines which courts follow in performing the balancing process described generally above. The chief elements of probative value are relevance, materiality and necessity. [8] [12] Before permitting the jury to hear evidence of other offenses the court must ascertain that the evidence (a) tends logically, naturally and by reasonable inference to prove the issue upon which it is offered; [9] (b) is offered upon an issue which will ultimately prove to be material to the People's case; [10] and (c) is not merely cumulative with respect to other evidence which the People may use to prove the same issue. [11] [13] In determining relevance, the trial court must look behind the label describing the kind of similarity or relation between the other offense and the charged offense; it must examine the precise elements of similarity between the offenses with respect to the issue for which the evidence is proffered and satisfy itself that each link of the chain of inference between the former and the latter is reasonably strong. [12] [14] In order to assess materiality, the court must consider not merely the elements of the offense, but also the defendant's testimonial admissions. [13] Some commentators have suggested that if the People propose to introduce evidence of another offense in its case in chief, the court should permit the defendant to stipulate the truth of the issue which the People seek to prove. [14] [1c] In the instant case, the prosecuting attorney stated the purposes of his inquiry into the details of defendant's prior robbery as follows: to show common scheme, plan, or design; and most particularly, to show intent at the time of the offense charged. We conclude that the evidence could have been properly admitted as proof of a common modus operandi offered to show the fact of defendant's participation in the instant robbery; his knowledge of, and subsequent joinder in, a robbery initiated by his codefendant; and his awareness of apprehension by a police officer and hence his premeditation in committing the killing. It is immaterial that the court's ruling, at the time it was made, rested on an insufficient basis, since the prosecuting attorney did not explain, and the court did not inquire into, the nature of the similarity of the prior offense and the precise issue for which it was offered. It is also immaterial that the court erred in permitting the prosecutor to explain the purpose of the evidence within the hearing of the jury before ruling on its admissibility. The evidence having been properly received against [the defendant], the ground of the court's ruling is immaterial. ( Wilcox v. Berry (1948) 32 Cal.2d 189, 192 [195 P.2d 414].) The cross-examination revealed that defendant had played the role of the active partner in a prior supermarket robbery committed with his uncle. The uncle, like defendant in the instant offense, remained unobtrusively in the general area of the checkstands, armed with a pistol, presumably prepared to assist the active partner in case of difficulty. The evidence thus presented the probative inference that (1) defendant had previously participated in a robbery, (2) he was aware of this method of committing robbery, and therefore, since (3) the instant offense was characterized by the same circumstances, either (4) his involvement in these circumstances was not innocent as he claimed, but that of an active accomplice, or (5) his previous experience caused him to know that a robbery was in progress and he joined in the commission of the crime, playing the role of covering that his uncle played previously. The evidence presented another probative inference: since at the time he left the supermarket his previous experience caused him to know that a robbery had been committed, he knew that when he was stopped in the parking lot he had been apprehended, and as a suspected accomplice he killed with deliberation and premeditation in order to effectuate his escape. In impeaching defendant's testimony, the People could properly have adduced the fact that defendant had been convicted of a prior robbery. The prejudice caused by the additional inquiry into the details of the robbery was outweighed by its probative value. Defendant's testimony denying active participation in the robbery, and his assertion that the killing occurred accidentally, did not deprive the evidence of its materiality. The evidence was not merely cumulative of other proof on the same issues, but necessary to the People's case. We therefore conclude that the trial court properly admitted the cross-examination.