Opinion ID: 2594480
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 23

Heading: Cross-examination of Sandra Farfan regarding break-in

Text: Defendant's sister, Sandra Farfan, testified about her upbringing with defendant. On cross-examination, the prosecutor focused on her credibility, asking generally about her efforts to conceal defendant's crimes and get him out of trouble. Then he asked her about a break-in at her next-door neighbor's house, which allegedly occurred just a few weeks before the Converse and Hickman murders. Farfan answered that she was not home that weekend but had heard about it, and the prosecutor asked: Somebody broke in and attacked her? Farfan did not answer because of defendant's objection. At a sidebar conference, the prosecutor asserted that defendant had broken into Farfan's neighbor's house, and that he (the prosecutor) was trying to elicit from Farfan whether she had done anything to cover it up. The court agreed the questioning might be relevant to the issue of the credibility, and allowed the prosecutor to question the witness outside the presence of the jury. Farfan then stated that she had heard about the incident from her children but did not know whether defendant was involved. The court decided, that without any evidence in the record of defendant's involvement in the break-in, the questioning of Farfan lacked foundation. The court denied defendant's mistrial motion but admonished the jury as follows: [A] subject came up before I excused you about some other activities with some other named woman. [¶] I'm going to make a ruling at this time that whatever information came to your attention while you were here before, you are to disregard it completely. [¶] It isn't germane or relevant to this lawsuit. Defendant challenges the trial court's ruling on his mistrial motion, asserting that the prosecutor's questioning with respect to this break-in constituted misconduct. On account of defendant's objection and the court's ruling, the prosecutor's questioning did not go further than confirming that Farfan had heard about the break-in, and asking if the person who broke in had attacked the neighbor. In proceedings before the jury, the prosecutor did not connect defendant with the incident, and the court later admonished the jury to disregard the testimony about the incident. Therefore, if the prosecutor's questioning of Farfan was improper, it was not prejudicial. ( People v. Watson, supra, 46 Cal.2d at p. 836, 299 P.2d 243.) Defendant argues the court's admonishment to the jury to disregard the questioning was ambiguous. We find the admonishment sufficiently clear; a more specific statement would have only drawn the jury's attention to the testimony, perhaps reinforcing it in the jurors' minds.