Opinion ID: 2625366
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Evidence of Defendant's Conduct in Texas Prison

Text: Defendant next complains of testimony by a Texas correctional officer, Raymond Sandoval, that he lost confidence in defendant as a result of two incidents which resulted in defendant's being given the lowest of three prisoner classifications. In one incident, defendant was involved in a nonviolent sit-down strike in the prison gym. The other incident arose when defendant was found in an unauthorized area where some inmates went to obtain bakery yeast to make alcoholic beverages. Sandoval admitted he knew of no other negative information regarding defendant and he thought defendant was a quiet person. Following a foundational hearing (Evid. Code, § 402), the trial court admitted Sandoval's testimony to rebut defendant's own good character evidence, which included family testimony regarding his trustworthiness and reliability, and Bautista's testimony that defendant was released from Mexican prison due to his good conduct. Although defendant contends otherwise, we see no abuse of discretion in admitting Sandoval's testimony. In any event, in light of the remaining aggravating evidence in the case, Sandoval's testimony regarding defendant's relatively minor infractions could not have affected the jury's penalty verdict. (See, e.g., People v. Silva (1988) 45 Cal.3d 604, 636, 247 Cal.Rptr. 573, 754 P.2d 1070 [evidence of defendant's threat to kill guards deemed harmless].)