Opinion ID: 2625337
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: False statements of Bergin Mosteller

Text: The prosecution introduced evidence that on August 22, 1982, defendant's stepfather, Bergin Mosteller, drove to Reno, Nevada. There, he left his car at the airport and traveled to Boulder City, Nevada, where he told the police he had been robbed that morning of his money and his car. Mosteller then flew to South Carolina, where on August 27, 1982, he made an insurance claim for the loss of his car, stating that he had been on a sales trip to Texas but had detoured to drop off his stepson and a woman named Lisa in Los Angeles and Twentynine Palms, California. Defense counsel objected to this evidence as hearsay and as more prejudicial than probative. The prosecutor argued that the statements were not hearsay because they were not offered for the truth of the matter asserted, and that they were more probative than prejudicial because they showed Mosteller trying to establish an alibi for himself because he was aware that defendant was going to kill Nancy. The trial court, without mentioning the hearsay objection, ruled that the evidence was admissible as more probative than prejudicial, but also that the prosecutor could not introduce evidence of the false statements concerning the facts of the alleged robbery. The evidence in question was not hearsay. A statement is hearsay if it is made other than by a witness while testifying and is offered to prove the truth of the matter asserted. (Evid.Code, § 1200.) The statements were not admitted to prove that Mosteller was the victim of a robbery; they were offered to prove that Mosteller tried to establish an alibi for himself and thus must have known that defendant was going to commit a crime. As defense counsel conceded at trial, the statements were relevant: They had a tendency in reason to prove that Mosteller believed he needed to establish a false alibi, thereby providing circumstantial evidence that he knew that defendant, whom he had just left, intended to engage in a criminal act. Nor did the trial court abuse its discretion in ruling that the prejudicial effect of the evidence did not substantially outweigh its probative value. (Evid.Code, § 352.) The evidence of Mosteller's false reports was not unduly prejudicial because it would not arouse an emotional bias against defendant in the jury.