Opinion ID: 2623194
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Admission of Ballistics Evidence

Text: Over defendant's objection, the court permitted Criminalist Michael Giusto to testify that he compared the bullets obtained in this case with the gun barrel found on defendant's parents' property, and that the testing showed both bullets could have been fired from the gun of which the barrel was a part but that, due to their condition, he could not say for sure and could not quantify the probabilities. [6] Defendant contends the court should have excluded the evidence as irrelevant and unduly prejudicial. We disagree. The trial court has broad discretion both in determining the relevance of evidence and in assessing whether its prejudicial effect outweighs its probative value. ( People v. Rodrigues (1994) 8 Cal.4th 1060, 1124-1125, 36 Cal.Rptr.2d 235, 885 P.2d 1; People v. Green (1980) 27 Cal.3d 1, 19, 164 Cal.Rptr. 1, 609 P.2d 468.) We see no abuse of discretion. Obviously, if Giusto had been able to state positively that the fatal bullet either did or did not come from the gun barrel on the Horning property, the evidence would have had greater probative value. But sometimes scientific examination of evidence is inconclusive. (E.g., People v. Burgener (1986) 41 Cal.3d 505, 515, 224 Cal.Rptr. 112, 714 P.2d 1251.) That circumstance does not make it irrelevant. It was relevant for the jury to learn that the evidence was tested, and that similarities among the items showed that both bullets might have been fired from the barrel, but that it was impossible to say for sure. ( People v. Cooper (1991) 53 Cal.3d 771, 813, 281 Cal.Rptr. 90, 809 P.2d 865 [relevant for the jury to learn that two cigarette butts found in the victims' car were tested scientifically even though the results were inconclusive].) Defendant objects that Giusto's testimony was merely speculation. It was not. It was based on a scientific examination of evidence and the results of that examination. The evidence was also not unduly prejudicial. The jury could easily understand that similarities among the objects indicated the bullets might have been fired from that particular gun, but that, due to their condition, Giusto could not be certain. Defendant was permitted to cross-examine Giusto extensively on the point. Indeed, excluding the evidence might have been unfairly prejudicial to the prosecution. The jury would naturally wonder if anyone had tested the bullets and barrel. If told nothing on the question, some jurors might have assumed no one had bothered to test the evidence, to the prosecution's substantial  and unfair  detriment. It would have been truly odd, and would only have puzzled the jury, to tell it that testing had been done, but withhold the results.