Opinion ID: 2586281
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Asserted Errors in Rulings on Admissibility of Evidence of Mary Magoon's Alleged Propensity for Violence and Use of Firearms

Text: Defendant contends that the court abused its discretion in excluding evidence of Mary Magoon's alleged propensity for violence and use of firearms. Defendant claims the exclusion violated his rights to due process, to present a defense, and to a reliable penalty determination under the Fifth, Sixth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. As discussed below, defense counsel did not seek to admit this evidence, and, even if he had, it would not have been an abuse of discretion for the trial court to have excluded the evidence. Before trial commenced, the court denied the prosecution's motion in limine to exclude, as irrelevant, evidence of Daniel Magoon's propensity for violence and prior firearm use. The court agreed with defense counsel that the presence of the Ingram Mac 10 semiautomatic pistol at the entryway of the Magoon house supported the defense theory that Daniel Magoon may have brandished that weapon in a confrontation with defendants, and that his propensity for violence and prior use of firearms was therefore relevant. But the parties did not discuss the relevance of evidence pointing to Mary Magoon's propensity for violence or prior firearm use. During the cross-examination of prosecution witness Jimmy Johnson, defense counsel asked Johnson about statements Johnson made to the police concerning Mary Magoon's propensity for violence and prior firearm use. The prosecution objected to the question on relevance grounds, but the court overruled the objection. Later, outside the presence of the jury, defense counsel told the court that Johnson had made a prior statement to police that Johnson believed Mary Magoon was heading to the bathroom to get a gun before she was murdered. The court did not rule that the statement was inadmissible. Instead, it observed that the evidence presented at trial thus far provided no foundation for questions concerning Mary Magoon's propensity for violence and firearm use. Continuing his cross-examination of Johnson, defense counsel asked about a statement that Johnson had made to the police that Mary Magoon was on a runaway ... train with Dan. The court sustained the prosecution's objection on relevance grounds. The issue of Mary Magoon's propensity for violence resurfaced later in the trial, when defense counsel asked the court to rule on defendant's pending motion in limine to admit the testimony of Detective Coleman. That testimony would discuss Daniel Magoon's 1982 arrest in order to show his propensity for being armed during drug transactions. The court was concerned that because Mary Magoon had also been present at the arrest, the testimony could confuse the issues under Evidence Code section 352, particularly because there was no evidence establishing Mary Magoon's propensity for violence. Defense counsel made a narrower offer of proof limited to Daniel Magoon's past gun use, and stated he was willing to sacrifice any testimony about Mary Magoon in order to present the jury with the evidence concerning Daniel Magoon. In light of the narrowed offer of proof, the court admitted Detective Cole's testimony, and defendant's counsel did not object to the ruling. Although the record shows that defense counsel failed to seek a ruling on the admissibility of evidence concerning Mary Magoon's propensity for violence and prior use of firearms, defendant contends that any further attempts by trial counsel to admit such evidence would have been futile after the court appeared to indicate that it believed such evidence to be inadmissible. Even assuming defendant's argument to be true, the trial court would not have abused its discretion in excluding such evidence under Evidence Code section 352 on the ground that it would have created a substantial danger of confusing the issues at trial. (See People v. Wright (1985) 39 Cal.3d 576, 587-88, 217 Cal.Rptr. 212, 703 P.2d 1106 [court may exclude under Evidence Code section 352 evidence of the aggressive and violent character of the victim.]) During the pretrial discussions of the relevance of admitting evidence of Daniel Magoon's propensity for violence and gun use, the trial court pointed out that, in order for a murder victim's propensity for violence to be relevant, there must be some evidentiary support for a self-defense-type theory that the defendant perceived the murder victim as presenting an immediate threat. As the trial court noted, even if the murder victim were the most violent person in the world, that fact would not be relevant if the evidence made it clear that the victim was taken by surprise and shot in the back of the head. There was no evidence indicating that Mary Magoon could have presented a threat to defendant. Mary Magoon was killed in the hallway bathroom, which was a significant distance away from the living room, where investigators found the two rifles, or the entryway, where investigators found the Ingram Mac 10 semiautomatic pistol. The evidence indicated that she had been shot while holding three-year-old J. in her arms, beaten, and then finished off with a bullet to the back of her head. Defendant's sole basis for arguing that Mary Magoon might have been perceived as a threat to defendant is Johnson's statement to the police that Mary Magoon might have been going for a gun in the hallway bathroom, which was sheer speculation. [24] Given this record, it would have been within the trial court's discretion to have excluded the admission of evidence pertaining to Mary Magoon's alleged propistol was found in a hidden compartment in the master bedroom bathroom, not in the hallway bathroom where investigators found Mary Magoon's body. pensity for violence and prior use of firearms.