Opinion ID: 2509517
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Exclusion of Dr. Hatcher's Testimony as Profile Evidence

Text: Defendant argues that Dr. Hatcher's testimony amounted to the improper use of profile evidence. Profile evidence, however, is not a separate ground for excluding evidence; such evidence is inadmissible only if it is either irrelevant, lacks a foundation, or is more prejudicial than probative. ( Id. at pp. 868-869, 19 Cal.Rptr.3d 229.) In arguing the evidence here was inadmissible, defendant relies on two Court of Appeal decisions, People v. Walkey (1986) 177 Cal.App.3d 268, 223 Cal. Rptr. 132 and People v. Robbie (2001) 92 Cal.App.4th 1075, 112 Cal.Rptr.2d 479. In Walkey, the prosecution introduced expert evidence that the most important factor in the profile of a child abuser was that he had himself been abused as a child, elicited an admission from the defendant that he had been abused as a child, then argued that the defendant was guilty because he fit the profile of a child molester. ( People v. Walkey, supra, 177 Cal.App.3d at pp. 276-277, 223 Cal.Rptr. 132.) The Court of Appeal held the evidence inadmissible and the prosecution's argument improper. ( Id. at p. 279, 172 Cal.Rptr. 612.) In People v. Robbie, supra, 92 Cal. App.4th 1075, 112 Cal.Rptr.2d 479, a prosecution expert testified that many rapists use only minimal force, and described in detail a scenario in which the rapist is in effect acting as if he thinks of the sexual acts as consensual. ( Id. at pp. 1082-1084, 112 Cal.Rptr.2d 479.) Not coincidentally, the behavior the expert described matched the testimony of the alleged victim. The expert conceded that the same behavior would be consistent with a truly consensual encounter. The Court of Appeal in Robbie characterized this evidence as inadmissible profile evidence. It explained: [The evidence] implies that criminals, and only criminals, act in a given way. In fact, certain behavior may be consistent with both innocent and illegal behavior, as the People's expert conceded here. ( Id. at p. 1085, 112 Cal.Rptr.2d 479.) Other cases excluding profile evidence include People v. Castaneda (1997) 55 Cal.App.4th 1067, 1072, 64 Cal.Rptr.2d 395 (drug dealer profile), People v. Martinez (1992) 10 Cal. App.4th 1001, 1006, 12 Cal.Rptr.2d 838 (truck thief profile), and U.S. v. Beltran-Rios (9th Cir.1989) 878 F.2d 1208, 1210 (drug courier profile). The evidence here is quite different. Profile evidence is objectionable when it is insufficiently probative because the conduct or matter that fits the profile is as consistent with innocence as guilt. The evidence here, however, does not have this problem. Defendant has pled guilty, and the circumstances of Paul Bailly's murder themselves suggest a pathological cause. Dr. Hatcher's testimony did not suggest that this type of crime is committed with any frequency, or at all, by persons who do not have the pathology he described. Defendant's own penalty phase evidence emphasized his mental retardation, but it offered no alternative explanation why defendant would sodomize and kill an eight-year-old boy.