Opinion ID: 1179776
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Use of Kill in Prison Statement to Dr. Globus.

Text: (43) As noted above, the defense presented several witnesses on the issue of defendant's ability to adjust to long-term prison life. Several jail guards testified that his behavior in custody was no worse than average. Jerry Enomoto, a former Director of the Department of Corrections, testified as an expert witness for the defense. After reviewing defendant's prison file, Enomoto predicted that defendant probably would not present unusual behavioral problems while in life confinement. Dr. Globus expressed similar views. In his argument, the prosecutor asked rhetorically whether Enomoto knew, when forming his opinion, that defendant had told Dr. Globus a term of life without parole would give him nothing to lose or look forward to, and he believes he'll kill within five years. Later, over a defense objection, the prosecutor challenged the jurors whether, given defendant's statement, they were willing to trust predictions of his adjustment in prison, thereby risking the safety of numerous prison guards and employees by sentencing defendant to life imprisonment without possibility of parole. Defendant urges that the prosecutor's references violated the rule against using a defendant's incriminating statements to his forensic psychiatrist for their truth. (E.g., People v. Williams, supra, 45 Cal.3d 1268, 1327.) We disagree. It was not improper for the prosecutor to disparage Enomoto's expert opinion by contrasting it with defendant's statement to Dr. Globus. An expert may rely on hearsay in forming his opinion. (Evid. Code, ง 801, subd. (b).) Hence, it is permissible, and indeed common, to argue that an opposing expert's opinion is compromised by incomplete information, even where the information the expert failed to consider would not have been directly admissible for its truth. The prosecutor was entitled to suggest that Enomoto's ignorance of defendant's homicidal prediction undermined the reliability of Enomoto's optimism that defendant would adjust without violence in prison. [38] For similar reasons, it was permissible to ask the jurors whether they wanted to risk the safety of prison personnel by relying on these expert opinions in light of defendant's statement. Here, as before, the prosecutor took care to argue only that the statement undermined the reliability of assessments by defense experts that defendant presented no danger in confinement. The prosecutor never suggested that the statement should be considered directly as evidence that defendant would kill in prison. [39] No misconduct occurred.