Opinion ID: 1237936
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: The Interview Tapes

Text: The police interviewed Petry on the day he discovered Hickey's body and again a few days later. These interviews were recorded on tape and transcripts were prepared. During cross-examination of Petry at the trial, the defense asked the court to make a finding that Petry was being untruthful when he testified he did not remember many details about his relationship with Hickey. A finding to this effect would have permitted the defense to use the interview tapes as prior inconsistent statements whenever Petry claimed lack of memory of a fact he had related during the interviews, rather than only in those instances when he testified to facts inconsistent with his interview statements. (See People v. Green (1971) 3 Cal.3d 981, 988 [92 Cal. Rptr. 494, 479 P.2d 988].) (31a) After reviewing the tapes and transcripts, and comparing them to defendant's testimony at trial, the trial court found that Petry's inability to recall was not feigned but genuine. Defendant challenges this finding. (32) When the admissibility of evidence depends upon determinations of fact, the trial court's findings, and in particular its credibility determinations, are reviewed under the substantial evidence standard. (See People v. Leyba, supra, 29 Cal.3d 591, 596.) (31b) Here, substantial evidence supports the trial court's determination that Petry was truthful when he testified he could not remember many facts about his relationship with Hickey. As the trial court remarked, Petry's lack of memory was neither total nor suspiciously selective, and his testimony in general outline was consistent with the interview tapes and with his testimony at the two preliminary hearings. Although his lack of memory of so many facts was unusual, the trial court attributed this to Petry's limited intellect and the emotional trauma he suffered as a result of Hickey's brutal murder. We perceive no basis to disturb the trial court's finding. Eventually, near the end of the guilt phase, the trial court ruled that copies of the interview tapes, edited to remove references to polygraphs, would be received in evidence. The tapes were not played for the jury on the record, although portions of them were played by counsel during argument to the jury. When the jury requested the tapes during its deliberations, the court sent the tapes and a tape player into the jury room. (33) Defendant contends the trial court erred in not playing the entire tapes on the record and in not notifying counsel of the jury's request for the tapes. Under the facts presented here, the court was not required to have the tapes played on the record. During the cross-examination of Petry, defense counsel requested that the entire tapes be received in evidence and played for the jury, but the trial court properly denied this request because the defense had not then established that the entire tapes, as opposed to particular inconsistent statements, were admissible. At a later point, for reasons not clear from the record, the trial court placed edited copies of the tapes in evidence as court's exhibits. The record does not show that either party requested the playing of the tapes after they were received in evidence. Absent such a request, we infer that the procedure adopted was acceptable to the parties. (34) When a jury during deliberations requests an exhibit, the trial court must notify counsel of the request before giving the exhibit to the jury, because the request is a critical stage of the prosecution during which the right to counsel applies. ( People v. Hogan (1982) 31 Cal.3d 815, 849 [183 Cal. Rptr. 817, 647 P.2d 93]; see § 1138.) Although the record does not show that the trial court advised defense counsel before sending the interview tapes to the jury, the record does show that the next day, in response to a jury request to hear testimony about where in the Hickey residence a rifle barrel had been found, the court told the jury in open court, with counsel present, that this matter was mentioned in one of the interview tapes on the second side near the beginning. Counsel was therefore made aware by the next day at the latest that the jury had been given the interview tapes. Because counsel did not object to the court's failure to provide earlier notice or to the manner in which the court responded to the jury's request, we conclude that the defense waived the trial court's apparent error in failing to notify counsel before sending the interview tapes to the jury. (See People v. Chagolla (1983) 144 Cal. App.3d 422, 432-433 [193 Cal. Rptr. 711].)