Opinion ID: 1133622
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Delores Gandara's Testimony

Text: After defendant left the victim's home, he stopped at a grocery store in Mokelumne Hill. The cashier, Delores Gandara, testified that she sold defendant a six-pack of beer and a baseball cap. Defendant wanted to buy Gandara a beer, and she replied that she was working and could not drink beer. Defendant then gave her a dollar, and she told him that she would buy herself a beer when she finished work. Defendant held Gandara's hand and said that he thought Gandara was a pretty girl. Pursuant to Evidence Code section 352, defendant moved to exclude as irrelevant and unduly prejudicial any testimony regarding defendant's holding Gandara's hand and telling her she was pretty. The prosecutor contended that the testimony was relevant to demonstrate defendant's state of mind around the time of the crime, and that his comments to Gandara were relevant to establish whether he was coherent and knew what he was doing. The court denied defendant's motion and stated: I think the witness has a right to state everything that did take place.... [¶] ... [I]t is not going into an area that is going to have an undue consumption of time or it isn't that highly prejudicial. It just shows what happened. And I think that she has a right to testify as to what happened at that precise time. In response to defense counsel's question whether the court was making a finding that the probative value outweighed the prejudicial effect of the evidence, the court responded: Well, I don't find that the testimony would necessitate undue consumption of time, nor create substantial danger of undue prejudice, or of confusing the issues, or of misleading the jury. [¶] It's something that took place at a time that [the prosecutor] has a right to show what the defendant did.... Defendant contends that the court erred, because the record does not show affirmatively that the court actually weighed prejudice against probative value; in particular, according to defendant, the court did not identify the probative value that it weighed against the potential for prejudice. As we have explained, however, the court need make no express statements on these issues so long as the record affirmatively shows that weighing occurred, and there is an adequate basis for appellate review. [Citations.] ( People v. Arias (1996) 13 Cal.4th 92, 155, 51 Cal.Rptr.2d 770, 913 P.2d 980.) In finding that the prosecution had a right to show what defendant did, and what happened, the court implicitly accepted the prosecutor's contention that the evidence was relevant to prove defendant's state of mind at or around the time of the crime. The court also expressly stated that the evidence was not unduly prejudicial. The record demonstrates that the trial court adequately weighed the testimony's probative value against its potential for prejudice. We further conclude that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in overruling defendant's objection pursuant to Evidence Code section 352. Defendant's actions and speech immediately following the crime were probative of his mental condition at the time of the crime, and also of his condition at a time when he claimed he was unable to remember that he had intended to seek help for Cheryl. Gandara's statement that defendant held her hand and told her that she was pretty described relatively innocuous conduct and did not carry an undue risk of prejudice. Defendant contends that prejudice arose from the manner in which the prosecutor used the evidence. According to defendant, the prosecutor did not argue to the jury that this evidence was relevant to defendant's mental state, but rather used the testimony to portray defendant as a predator upon women and chronic womanizer, whose character flaw in this regard motivated the crime. Although during argument the prosecutor posed the rhetorical question, [W]hat type of person are we dealing with here in George Hatton Smithey?, and then mentioned that defendant flirted with Gandara after committing cold-blooded murder, taken in context this reference appears not to have been intended to demonstrate that defendant had a character flaw, but rather to impeach defendant's testimony that something was bugging him at the store because he had intended, but had forgotten, to get help for Cheryl. The circumstance that defendant held Gandara's hand and told her she was pretty was not likely to have led the jury to believe that defendant was a predator upon women or more likely to commit violent crimes against women. The trial court did not abuse its discretion in determining that the probative value of this testimony outweighed any risk of prejudice.