Opinion ID: 1237936
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 15

Heading: Defendant's October 1982 Detention

Text: Prosecution witness Janet Myers testified on cross-examination that defendant, after his release from prison, worked with Joseph O'Rourke in a building maintenance and janitorial business located in the Lakewood area of Southern California. Other prosecution evidence identified Joseph O'Rourke as an AB member who sat on its governing council. Asked how long the business association continued, Myers said defendant worked in the business until O'Rourke was arrested, but she was unable to recall the date of his arrest. (45) Over defense objections on grounds of relevance and Evidence Code section 352, Sergeant Barnett of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department later testified that O'Rourke was arrested on October 12, 1982, and that on the evening of the arrest he went to O'Rourke's residence to conduct a parole search and was present when two uniformed deputies found defendant in the back yard of the residence up near a wall amongst the bushes. Defendant, who told the officers he was waiting for O'Rourke, was allowed to leave after a brief detention. The court admonished the jury that this testimony was admitted solely to determine the credibility of other witnesses and that it was not to consider the testimony as evidence of defendant's guilt. Barnett's testimony corroborated Janet Myers's testimony that defendant was in contact with O'Rourke after defendant's release from prison and before O'Rourke's arrest, and Barnett's testimony clarified Myers's testimony by fixing the date of O'Rourke's arrest. Because the defense itself elicited essentially the same evidence from Myers, defendant cannot complain that evidence of defendant's association with O'Rourke at the time of O'Rourke's arrest was irrelevant or unduly prejudicial. Moreover, the jury was instructed that it was not to consider the testimony as independent evidence of defendant's guilt, but only to determine the credibility of other witnesses. Under the circumstances, there was neither error nor prejudice.