Opinion ID: 2587760
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Impact of DH's reporting of Smith's alleged acts on family relationships

Text: [¶ 19] In this group of instances, Smith identifies the following argument and testimony: 1) During his opening statement, the prosecutor said the testimony would show that DH lost her position in a fairly close-knit-type family and the State would call DH's mother to testify about the effect of DH's reporting on the family; 2) during DH's testimony, she described how her aunt, Smith's wife, used to be her best friend and role model, but now they no longer talked. She testified her grandmother no longer treated her as a granddaughter and would not have much to do with her. She also testified that the extended family had discontinued family get-togethers; 3) during the testimony of DH's mother, she testified that neither her sister, Smith's wife, nor her mother, DH's grandmother, would talk to her; and 4) during the prosecutor's closing argument, he variously mentioned the testimony of both DH and DH's mother concerning the lost family relationships and discontinued family gatherings. [¶ 20] Smith and the State rely on their respective arguments made in connection with the first group of instances. The record is clear as to these instances; the parties disagree about the clear violation of a clear rule of law and whether Smith was materially prejudiced if a clear rule of law was clearly violated. We fail to see the relevance of this group of instances to the issues before the jury and hold, therefore, that these instances clearly violated the clear rule against irrelevant impact evidence. We also hold, however, that Smith was not materially prejudiced by the error. The quantity and quality of these instances was insubstantial in comparison with the quantity and quality of admissible evidence against Smith. In the total context of this case, therefore, we are persuaded that such error was harmless. Admission of evidence of this group of instances did not constitute prejudicial error.