Opinion ID: 6105748
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Admission of defendant's threats against Kerr's husband

Text: Defendant's fellow AA member Mark Harvey testified for the prosecution. At one point while he was on the witness stand, the court excused the jury and conducted a hearing to decide the admissibility of Harvey's expected testimony regarding a lengthy conversation he had with defendant about seven months before Kerr's death. Harvey testified at the hearing that, during their conversation, defendant disclosed that he was  having an affair with Kerr, who was married and living with her husband at the time. According to Harvey, defendant made threats against Kerr's husband, saying he wanted to stab him or get rid of him.  Defense counsel objected to the anticipated testimony, but it was the court that articulated the basis of the objection, asking counsel if his position was that the evidence of the threat should be excluded as more prejudicial than probative under Evidence Code section 352 because the threat was directed at someone other than Kerr. Although counsel indicated that the court had correctly stated the basis of the defense objection, the court was not persuaded by the argument and overruled the objection. In the court's view, the probative value of the evidence-that months before Kerr's death, defendant had told Harvey he wanted to kill Kerr's husband-substantially outweighed its prejudicial impact. In accordance with the court's ruling, Harvey testified that defendant told him that he wanted to stab Kerr's husband or get him out of the picture.  Defendant contends the court erred in admitting this evidence. The evidence was inflammatory, he asserts, because it involved death threats. And it lacked probative value because the threat was uttered some seven months before Kerr's death, which meant it had no relevance to whether defendant had killed Kerr in the heat of passion. The People assert that defendant cannot raise such grounds for exclusion under Evidence Code section 352 because defense counsel did not present these particular objections to the trial court during the hearing on the admissibility of the evidence. This court has explained that an objection must  'fairly inform the trial court, as well as the party offering the evidence, of the specific reason or reasons the objecting party believes the evidence should be excluded, so the party offering the evidence can respond appropriately and the court can make a fully informed ruling.'  ( People v. Geier (2007) 41 Cal.4th 555 , 609, 61 Cal.Rptr.3d 580 , 161 P.3d 104 ; see Evid. Code, § 353, subd. (a) [a judgment cannot be reversed on the basis of erroneously admitted evidence unless the defendant made a timely objection that make[s] clear the specific ground of the objection or motion].) The People's call for forfeiture is not well taken here, however, because the record indicates that the grounds for exclusion defendant now advances on appeal were before the court at the time of its ruling. In response to defense counsel's objection to the evidence, the prosecutor pointed out that the evidence of the alleged threats would show that seven months before Kerr's death, defendant was contemplating the notion of homicide and violence in connection with his relationship with her. As the prosecutor argued, such evidence was highly relevant to the issues of defendant's intent to kill and premeditation, particularly because the defense theory was that defendant killed during an explosion of rage. Although the court's articulation of the defense position emphasized that the alleged death threats were directed at someone other than Kerr, the court also would have considered the prosecutor's points, which fairly included a response to the basis for exclusion of the evidence that defendant presents for our review. Defendant's arguments are properly raised here.  Although we conclude that defendant has not forfeited his claim of error, we nonetheless reject his contention that the court abused its discretion in admitting Harvey's testimony that defendant told him he wanted to stab Kerr's husband and get him out of the picture. The evidence was highly probative of defendant's frustration with the affair and Kerr's attempt to reconcile with her husband. It also was relevant to show the progression of defendant's growing obsession with Kerr, which included contemplating violence or even homicide against someone who was coming between him and Kerr. Defendant argues that the evidence was too remote to be relevant to whether he made a spur-of-the-moment decision to kill while in the heat of passion. But this argument ignores the relevance of the evidence with regard to the other theory of homicide, that defendant premeditated and deliberated Kerr's killing. And, contrary to defendant's assertion, evidence of a death threat against a person other than Kerr was not unduly prejudicial in that it suggested to the jury that he would  have killed other people if necessary to get to Kerr. The evidence was more probative than prejudicial in that it showed both that defendant wanted Kerr's husband out of the picture because he was obstructing defendant's relationship with Kerr, and the extent of defendant's obsession with Kerr.  Rulings under Evidence Code section 352 come within the trial court's broad discretion and will not be overturned on appeal absent a showing of an abuse of that discretion. ( People v. Clark (2016) 63 Cal.4th 522 , 586, 203 Cal.Rptr.3d 407 , 372 P.3d 811 .) On this record, we conclude that the court did not abuse its discretion in rejecting defendant's Evidence Code section 352 challenge to the admission of evidence of defendant's threats against Kerr's husband.