Opinion ID: 2625337
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Claims of Improper Admission of Evidence

Text: The prosecution introduced evidence that on August 22, 1982, defendant's stepfather, Bergin Mosteller, drove to Reno, Nevada. There, he left his car at the airport and traveled to Boulder City, Nevada, where he told the police he had been robbed that morning of his money and his car. Mosteller then flew to South Carolina, where on August 27, 1982, he made an insurance claim for the loss of his car, stating that he had been on a sales trip to Texas but had detoured to drop off his stepson and a woman named Lisa in Los Angeles and Twentynine Palms, California. Defense counsel objected to this evidence as hearsay and as more prejudicial than probative. The prosecutor argued that the statements were not hearsay because they were not offered for the truth of the matter asserted, and that they were more probative than prejudicial because they showed Mosteller trying to establish an alibi for himself because he was aware that defendant was going to kill Nancy. The trial court, without mentioning the hearsay objection, ruled that the evidence was admissible as more probative than prejudicial, but also that the prosecutor could not introduce evidence of the false statements concerning the facts of the alleged robbery. The evidence in question was not hearsay. A statement is hearsay if it is made other than by a witness while testifying and is offered to prove the truth of the matter asserted. (Evid.Code, § 1200.) The statements were not admitted to prove that Mosteller was the victim of a robbery; they were offered to prove that Mosteller tried to establish an alibi for himself and thus must have known that defendant was going to commit a crime. As defense counsel conceded at trial, the statements were relevant: They had a tendency in reason to prove that Mosteller believed he needed to establish a false alibi, thereby providing circumstantial evidence that he knew that defendant, whom he had just left, intended to engage in a criminal act. Nor did the trial court abuse its discretion in ruling that the prejudicial effect of the evidence did not substantially outweigh its probative value. (Evid.Code, § 352.) The evidence of Mosteller's false reports was not unduly prejudicial because it would not arouse an emotional bias against defendant in the jury.
At a hearing outside the jury's presence (Evid.Code, § 402), the trial court ruled admissible the proposed testimony of Jake Wilhelmi, Nancy's father, regarding a statement Bruce Gant made to him about the location of Nancy's body. Wilhelmi then testified before the jury that on May 9, 1984, he telephoned Gant and asked him for the location of his daughter's body so he could give her a decent burial. At the end of the conversation Gant told him that he might as well forget about trying to find Nancy, that he couldn't get within a hundred yards of her, and that the U.S. Government didn't have enough money to excavate her. Defense counsel objected that the testimony was hearsay and that the risk of undue prejudice outweighed its probative value. The prosecutor argued the statement was admissible under the state of mind exception to the hearsay rule (Evid.Code, § 1250) and as a declaration against interest ( id., § 1230). We need not determine if the statement was hearsay because any error in admitting the statement was harmless. The jury was quite aware that Nancy's body was never found. As the jury already knew that the body was never found, the testimony that Gant said it was useless for Nancy's father to look for her body did not unduly prejudice defendant.
Defendant's stepbrother Doug Crew testified that defendant said to him: Doug, I've done so many things. I think I would like to kill someone, just to see if I could get away with it. Doug Crew further testified that defendant probably made the statement in April, May, or June of 1982. Defendant argues the trial court should have sustained his objection to the statement on the ground it was more prejudicial then probative because the statement made no reference to a specific victim and because it was too remote in time. A generic threat is admissible where other evidence brings the actual victim within the scope of the threat. ( People v. Rodriguez (1986) 42 Cal.3d 730, 757, 230 Cal.Rptr. 667, 726 P.2d 113.) Here, other evidence brings Nancy within the scope of defendant's threat. Richard Elander testified that before May 1982, when he went to work at the ranch in Utah, defendant had talked about killing Nancy. Elander also testified that in August 1982, he and defendant discussed various ways of killing Nancy. The evidence of defendant's statement to his stepbrother, Doug, while damaging to defendant's case, was not unduly prejudicial. Prejudice for purposes of Evidence Code section 352 means evidence that tends to evoke an emotional bias against the defendant with very little effect on issues, not evidence that is probative of a defendant's guilt. ( People v. Karis, supra, 46 Cal.3d at p. 638, 250 Cal.Rptr. 659, 758 P.2d 1189.)
Richard Elander and Richard Glade both testified that near the end of May 1982, they discussed disposing of a woman's body in the rugged Utah mountains. Defendant did not object to either Elander's or Glade's testimony. Defendant now contends that the evidence was irrelevant because it was not tied to defendant, was not within the coconspirator exception to the hearsay rule, and was more prejudicial than probative. Because he did not object to the testimony, defendant has failed to preserve the issue for appeal. ( People v. Medina (1995) 11 Cal.4th 694, 740, 47 Cal.Rptr.2d 165, 906 P.2d 2.) In any event, the testimony was admissible. Elander testified that he believed he gave Glade the name of the person who wanted to kill a woman. Glade testified that he recalled Elander's mentioning defendant's name in the conversation. Thus, contrary to defendant's contention here, both Elander and Glade linked defendant to the conversation.
Marion Mitchell testified that in the fall of 1982, he bought a yellow Corvette from defendant, that the car was part of a divorce settlement, and that defendant promised to give Mitchell title to the car after that divorce was final. Mitchell repeatedly asked Elander where defendant was. Elander eventually told Mitchell that defendant was not coming back to South Carolina because he had killed his wife, that defendant shot her but when he went back to the scene she had crawled off, and that defendant cut off her head, put her body in a barrel filled with cement, and buried her in someone's backyard. Defense counsel objected to the testimony as hearsay. Defendant contends Mitchell's testimony should not have been admitted. Not so. The testimony was admissible as a prior consistent statement of Elander's. Evidence of a previous statement made by a witness is admissible under the prior consistent statement exception to the hearsay rule if there has been an express or implied charge that the witness's testimony is recently fabricated and the prior consistent statement was made before the motive for fabrication is alleged to have arisen. (Evid.Code, §§ 1236, 791.) In evaluating the admissibility of prior consistent statements, the focus is on the specific agreement or other inducement suggested by cross-examination as supporting the witness's improper motive. ( People v. Noguera, supra, 4 Cal.4th at p. 630, 15 Cal.Rptr.2d 400, 842 P.2d 1160.) In his opening brief, defendant relies essentially on his attack on Elander's credibility during cross-examination in light of Elander's immunity agreement with the prosecution. In response, the Attorney General pointed out that Mitchell's testimony referred to a time before the immunity agreement. In his reply brief, defendant relies on cross-examination challenging Elander's credibility based on lies Elander told police, and on his claim that Elander had a motive to fabricate when Elander made the statements to Mitchell because he knew the police were then looking for defendant and Elander was concerned about the police investigation. Defendant's cross-examination of Elander sought to impeach Elander's testimony implicating defendant based on false statements Elander had made to the police during the investigation. Because Elander's statement to Mitchell preceded the police inquiries and investigation, Mitchell's testimony was admissible as a prior consistent statement by Elander. Defendant does not cite any challenge at trial to Elander's purported motive to fabricate based on knowledge that the police were investigating. Accordingly, Mitchell's testimony was admissible. Because Mitchell's testimony served to rehabilitate an impeached prosecution witness, Elander, the trial court did not abuse its discretion in determining that the probative value of the testimony outweighed its prejudicial effect.
Kathy Harper, who lived in a house trailer with defendant between October and December 1982, testified that she once entered the trailer when defendant and Elander were there. They abruptly stopped talking, but not before she heard one of them, although she could not recall which one, mention a bloody blue blanket and say I got sick. At an in camera hearing, defense counsel stated we have no problem with Harper's testimony about the conversation. Defendant now contends the testimony concerning the blanket was irrelevant and unduly prejudicial. By not objecting, defendant failed to preserve the issue for appeal. ( People v. Medina, supra, 11 Cal.4th at p. 740, 47 Cal.Rptr.2d 165, 906 P.2d 2.) In any event, the admission of the testimony was harmless. Elander testified that defendant said he covered Nancy's body with a blanket after he shot her. Harper's testimony was brief and added very little to the evidence against defendant.