Opinion ID: 4521869
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Pamela’s bloody clothes, eyeglasses, and

Text: purse During the direct testimony of LAPD Detective Eric Spear, the prosecution displayed photographs of the crime scene, including a picture of Pamela’s bloody shirt and pants. Based on the amount of blood at the crime scene, Detective Spear opined it was a “violent attack, and just brutal.” He further concluded that because Pamela’s purse, wallet and money were still at the crime scene, it was not a robbery. The prosecution asked Detective Spear to show the actual shirt Pamela was wearing when she was killed, which he described as a shirt “which was white at one time that is obviously soaked in blood.” Detective Spear also showed the pair of pants Pamela was wearing at that time. Objecting under Evidence Code section 352, defense counsel pointed out there was no dispute that Pamela was stabbed to death and offered to stipulate that the bloody items belonged to Pamela, so that the prosecution would not “parade one bloody item after another.” He also maintained the evidence was cumulative and served only to inflame and prejudice the jury. The prosecution countered that the manner in which Pamela was killed was significant and showing the jury the actual blood-soaked items instead of pictures of them would “mak[e] the viciousness of the murder, premeditation, the deliberation, the intent to kill much more real to the jury by way of three or four minutes of testimony.” The trial court permitted the prosecution to demonstrate the remaining two items to the jury—Pamela’s eyeglasses and purse—during Detective Spear’s testimony. On appeal, defendant argues that the photographs of these bloody items were more prejudicial than probative under 65 PEOPLE v. FAYED Opinion of the Court by Chin, J. Evidence Code section 352 because they were superfluous and served no purpose but to appeal to the jury’s emotions. Though the actual blood-stained items were presented in court and introduced into evidence through Detective Spear’s testimony, defendant’s focus is on the prejudicial effect of the admitted photographs. “ ‘As a rule, the prosecution in a criminal case involving charges of murder or other violent crimes is entitled to present evidence of the circumstances attending them even if it is grim’ (People v. Osband (1996) 13 Cal.4th 622, 675 [55 Cal.Rptr.2d 26, 919 P.2d 640]), and even if it ‘duplicate[s] testimony, depict[s] uncontested facts, or trigger[s] an offer to stipulate.’ ” (People v. Boyce (2014) 59 Cal.4th 672, 687.) Here, the prosecution explained that the blood-soaked shirt and pants depicted in the photographs showed the brutality of Pamela’s killing, which suggested she was killed by a hitman. We conclude the trial court did not abuse its considerable discretion in admitting the photographs of Pamela’s personal effects found at the murder scene. (See People v. Panah (2005) 35 Cal.4th 395, 477; People v. Boyce, supra, 59 Cal.4th at p. 687 [trial court abuses its discretion by acting “ ‘in an arbitrary, capricious, or patently absurd manner’ ”].)