Opinion ID: 2585503
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Prohibiting Impeachment of P.M. with a Pending Juvenile Criminal Case

Text: Defendant next contends the trial court prejudicially erred, and also violated a number of his rights under the state and federal Constitutions, by prohibiting him from questioning P.M., a prosecution witness, about charges pending in juvenile court accusing P.M. of rape. As we explain, the trial court did not abuse its discretion.
P.M., 15 years old at the time of the crime, was by his own admission the fourth person in the car along with driver Mark Bender, defendant, and Broderick Fields. P.M. testified at the preliminary hearing [8] on February 21 and 24, 1989, and stated he saw defendant shoot the victim, Christina Ramirez, the driver of the red truck. In March 1990, several months after he testified at defendant's preliminary hearing, P.M. was charged in juvenile court with committing rape in January 1990, and that matter was still pending when defendant's trial commenced on November 18, 1991. The question arose at the beginning of defendant's trial whether P.M. could be impeached on cross-examination by asking him whether he expected some benefit in his juvenile rape case as a result of his favorable testimony for the prosecution in defendant's case. The prosecutor, Mr. Pacheco, explained: The rape case came much later, and [P.M.] has an attorney on that matter, and that's Mr. Burns, Michael Burns. I don't know what the disposition of that case is and I have stayed away from that case in all particulars. It's none of my business and I didn't want to do anything for [the witness] on that case. Mr. Burns has inquired about that and I told him I'm not doing anything about it. He then elaborated: I have deliberately not done anything for [P.M.] on that rape case. I was asked by Mr. Burns to do something for Mr. [M.] in some way, and I explained to Mr. Burns that if I did something for [him], then that certainly would be admissible on cross-examination of [P.M.], which would then allow counsel to get into his pending rape charge. [¶] If I didn't do something for [the witness] and he took that as an offense against himself and refused to testify, then, fine, he is unavailable as a witness and I have the opportunity to use his prior testimony. [¶] So I don't lose anything by not doing anything for [P.M.]. And that was the theory that I went through, or the thought process I went through, and nothing has been done for [the witness] in regard to this particular testimony. Nothing has been promised to [P.M.]. I haven't told Mr. Burns I would give him anything and I haven't told [the witness] that either. In fact, I've steadfastly gotten away from that, or stayed away from it. Defense counsel accepted the prosecutor's assertions, but expressed concern that P.M. might subjectively believe he would benefit in his rape case if he cooperated and testified against defendant. In addition, counsel wondered whether P.M.'s attorney, Mr. Burns, his attorney at the preliminary hearing, Mr. Lomazow, or the prosecutor in the rape case, Mr. Hernandez, had promised P.M. anything. The trial court seemed disinclined to order those attorneys into a hearing, so defense counsel proposed a compromise: They would telephone Burns, Lomazow and Prosecutor Hernandez and attempt to discern whether any promises had been made. The court was amenable to that proposal, saying: As I say, I'm not saying I wouldn't [hold a hearing]. And it may be appropriate. Accordingly, the matter was deferred. The parties renewed the issue later in the trial. Before the prosecution called P.M. to the stand, his attorney, Mr. Burns, appeared and, out of the jury's presence, affirmed that no offers have been made to [P.M.] ... with regard to his pending case in juvenile court. Burns explained he had not formally requested any continuances, but had informally waived pretrial proceedings, and that although the 18 months the case had been pending was unusual, good cause had been shown for the continuances. For example, P.M. failed to appear on at least four occasions. Burns asserted that if he thought it would have a positive effect on his client's disposition, he would bring P.M.'s cooperation in defendant's case to the attention of the juvenile court. He affirmed he would do anything in his power to see that his client served the least amount of time. P.M. then testified out of the jury's presence. He confirmed that no one told him his testimony against defendant would benefit him in his own rape case. Similarly, he did not think he would suffer any detriment if he declined to testify against defendant. When asked on cross-examination whether he expected to get a benefit from testifying, he replied in the negative. The trial court eventually ruled that the nature of the pending proceedings against [P.M.] are not relevant to cross-examination on credibility. I will not preclude ... defense counsel from asking [him] ... whether he expects any benefit from his testifying here today, whether he expects any benefit from the People in any respect, if they wish to ask that question. They're not obligated to. [¶] But in terms of getting into the fact that there's a juvenile pending proceeding against him and the nature of the charges and that, I think the probative value on credibility is rather minimal and it's greatly outweighed by possible prejudice in this case to the People, undue prejudice to the People. The court also noted its greatest concern was the consumption of time in proving whether P.M. was correctly charged with rape. The trial court specifically cited Evidence Code section 352 as a basis for its decision. P.M. eventually testified before the jury that he saw defendant shoot through the window of the truck, pull the victim out, get in and drive away in the truck.
Defendant contends he was denied his constitutional right to cross-examine P.M. by the trial court's ruling prohibiting him from raising the pending rape charges as evidence of the witness's motive for testifying. As a general matter, a defendant is entitled to explore whether a witness has been offered any inducements or expects any benefits for his or her testimony, as such evidence is suggestive of bias. ( People v. Duran (1976) 16 Cal.3d 282, 294, 127 Cal.Rptr. 618, 545 P.2d 1322; Evid.Code, § 780, subd. (f) [the court or jury may consider in determining the credibility of a witness any matter that has any tendency in reason to prove or disprove the truthfulness of his testimony at the hearing, including ... [¶] ... [¶] (f) The existence or nonexistence of a bias, interest, or other motive].) Contrary to defendant's assertion, however, his right to cross-examination is not a matter of absolute right. Although we have said that [c]ross-examination to test the credibility of a prosecuting witness in a criminal case should be given wide latitude ( Curry v. Superior Court (1970) 2 Cal.3d 707, 715, 87 Cal.Rptr. 361, 470 P.2d 345), such latitude does not prevent the trial court from imposing reasonable limits on defense counsel's inquiry based on concerns about harassment, confusion of the issues, or relevance ( People v. Box (2000) 23 Cal.4th 1153, 1203, 99 Cal.Rptr.2d 69, 5 P.3d 130; see Delaware v. Van Arsdall, supra, 475 U.S. at p. 679, 106 S.Ct. 1431). Moreover, reliance on Evidence Code section 352 to exclude evidence of marginal impeachment value that would entail the undue consumption of time generally does not contravene a defendant's constitutional rights to confrontation and cross-examination. (See generally People v. Ramos (1997) 15 Cal.4th 1133, 1166, 64 Cal.Rptr.2d 892, 938 P.2d 950.) The trial court held a hearing on the question whether promises had been made to P.M. Prosecutor Pacheco persuasively denied any such promises. The witness's attorney, Mr. Burns, also denied anyone had made such promises. P.M. himself denied the existence of such promises and also denied entertaining the subjective belief that he would enjoy any benefits. The decision on admissibility had been deferred to allow defense counsel time to inquire of the prosecutor in the rape case about any promises of leniency, but defense counsel produced no such evidence at the renewed hearing. No doubt the trial court was also aware that P.M. had testified against defendant at the preliminary hearing, before P.M. had allegedly even committed the rape. At that hearing, he would have had no incentive to seek a benefit for a case that did not yet exist. Under the circumstances, we find the trial court did not abuse its discretion in concluding that, under Evidence Code section 352, any slight impeachment effect of the remote possibility the witness was testifying in hopes of leniency was outweighed by the undue consumption of time such questioning would entail. This routine application of state evidentiary law does not implicate defendant's constitutional rights. [9] [U]nless the defendant can show that the prohibited cross-examination would have produced `a significantly different impression of [the witnesses'] credibility' ( Van Arsdall, supra, 475 U.S. at p. 680 [106 S.Ct. at p. 1436]), the trial court's exercise of its discretion in this regard does not violate the Sixth Amendment. ( People v. Frye (1998) 18 Cal.4th 894, 946, 77 Cal.Rptr.2d 25, 959 P.2d 183.) Even were we to assume the trial court erred, we find any error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. ( Delaware v. Van Arsdall, supra, 475 U.S. at p. 684, 106 S.Ct. 1431 [applying the reasonable doubt standard]; People v. Price (1991) 1 Cal.4th 324, 423, 3 Cal.Rptr.2d 106, 821 P.2d 610 [same].) P.M.'s testimony was largely consistent with that of other witnesses, and defendant's guilt was also supported by evidence of his involvement with the stolen truck, the attempt to remove the locked rims, and his admissions to other persons. For example, he told a group of people how he smoked that bitch, shot through the truck window, pulled a woman out and threw her to the ground, and then drove off in her truck. Under the circumstances, we find any error in excluding evidence of P.M.'s rape charges harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.