Opinion ID: 2624500
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Exclusion of Evidence to Rebut Evidence in Aggravation

Text: Defendant next argues the court improperly refused to allow him to introduce evidence of Terry's subsequent marriage, which ended in divorce after six months, and his records from the Navy reporting alcohol-related incidents. Defendant argued this evidence was necessary to refute the prosecution's implication that it was his grief over the loss of Eleanore that caused him to drink himself to death, and to offer additional explanations for his behavior and depression. The trial court found the proffered evidence to be of limited probative value and excluded it under Evidence Code section 352. The court in its discretion may exclude evidence if its probative value is substantially outweighed by the probability that its admission will (a) necessitate undue consumption of time or (b) create substantial danger of undue prejudice, of confusing the issues, or of misleading the jury. (Evid. Code, § 352.) Our review on this issue is deferential. A trial court's decision whether to exclude evidence pursuant to Evidence Code section 352 is reviewed for abuse of discretion. ( People v. Barnett (1998) 17 Cal.4th 1044, 1118 [74 Cal.Rptr.2d 121, 954 P.2d 384].) ( People v. Mendoza, supra, 42 Cal.4th 686, 699.) We see no abuse of discretion. Defendant argued the proffered evidence would have given the jury a more balanced picture of Terry Buchanan's life and offered other factors that might have contributed to his drinking and depression and untimely death. The trial court reasoned that evidence of Terry's drinking and depression was offered by the prosecution not to establish a causal link between the capital crime and his drinking and death, but to show the murder had a significant impact on him. Defendant's evidence would not have refuted this, would have required a mini-trial about the reasons why Terry Buchanan drank, and therefore was of limited probative value and properly excluded under Evidence Code section 352. Even if the court did err, defendant suffered no prejudice. The proffered evidence would not have altered the general picture of Terry Buchanan given to the jury through testimony of Jason and Joseph, who testified that he spoke of their mother the night before his own death, of William Conover, who testified to Terry's drinking habits before and after Eleanore's murder, and Eleanore's mother, who explained that Terry and Eleanore's first marriage ended in divorce because of his drinking.