Opinion ID: 844251
Heading Depth: 6
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Assertedly cumulative evidence

Text: Next, defendant argues evidence of Robin's threat should have been excluded under Evidence Code section 352 as cumulative of other evidence that Hunt was concerned about the consequences he might suffer for implicating defendant as Coder's killer. [34] Hunt testified that on the day after the Coder murder, defendant threatened to kill him if he talked about the crime. In addition, the audio recording of Hunt's initial police interview, which was played to the jury as part of the prosecution's case, also revealed that Hunt feared defendant would retaliate against him and his family if he testified at defendant's trial. (15) Evidence that is identical in subject matter to other evidence should not be excluded as `cumulative' when it has greater evidentiary weight or probative value. ( People v. Mattson (1990) 50 Cal.3d 826, 871 [268 Cal.Rptr. 802, 789 P.2d 983], citing People v. Carter (1957) 48 Cal.2d 737, 748-749 [312 P.2d 665].) Here, as defendant concedes, evidence that Robin threatened and assaulted Hunt was similar in kind to that of defendant's threat and was additionally probative of Hunt's credibility because it established that Hunt testified notwithstanding multiple threats to harm him if he did so. In addition, evidence Robin violently attacked Hunt in making the threat also proved her sincerity and ability to harm Hunt. The evidence of Robin's threat, accompanied by a violent assault, was more powerful in that defendant used only his voice to threaten Hunt. (16) Moreover, defendant was placed in custody after he made the threat and, absent evidence to the contrary, no longer reasonably posed a threat of physical harm to Hunt. Under these circumstances, evidence that Robin threatened and violently attacked Hunt in an effort to dissuade him from testifying demonstrated a more serious threat to Hunt, and thus was more probative of his credibility than evidence that defendant merely verbally threatened him in an effort to achieve the same result. (Cf. Hinton, supra, 37 Cal.4th at p. 888 [proof of a series of crimes relevant to character for truthfulness is more probative of credibility than a single lapse].) The evidence was not excludable on this ground. [35]