Opinion ID: 1237936
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Cross-examination About Stolen Gun

Text: As we have noted, the prosecution presented evidence at the guilt phase that Rebecca Williams attempted to have a gunsmith repair a pistol that lacked a serial number, and that she later told a police officer she had been acting for defendant. The owner of the company that manufactured the gun testified that it must have been stolen from the factory before it was imprinted with a serial number. During the penalty phase cross-examination of defendant, the prosecutor asked defendant where he had obtained this stolen gun. The trial court overruled a defense objection that the question exceeded the scope of direct examination, and defendant answered that he had obtained it from Janet Myers in Los Angeles in December 1982. (110) Defendant contends that the court erred in overruling the defense objection because defendant did not mention the gun on direct examination and because his possession of an apparently stolen firearm was not relevant to any aggravating factor. The trial court did not err in its ruling. On direct examination, defendant made general claims of innocence and rehabilitation. For example, he testified that when he was released from prison in 1982, his plan had been to reintegrate himself into society. Referring to his emotions as he listened to the testimony of the witnesses about the Montana incident, he said: It made me feel like I had been insensitive and less than I'd like to be. Defendant flatly denied he was guilty of the crimes he had been convicted of. This claim of innocence encompassed a claim that he was not guilty of a conspiracy with AB leaders to assassinate Richard Barnes and to accumulate guns for the AB. To challenge these claims of rehabilitation and innocence, the prosecution could properly cross-examine defendant about his illegal possession (see § 12021 [a convicted felon's possession of a firearm is a felony]) of an apparently stolen firearm shortly after his release from prison in September 1982. (Evid. Code, § 773.)