Opinion ID: 844251
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Investigator Buchanan's Memorandum to the Prosecutor

Text: Defendant contends the trial court violated state law, as well as his rights under the Sixth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments, by denying his request to introduce evidence of a memorandum written by district attorney investigator Buchanan to the prosecutor in support of his defense of evidence fabrication. Specifically, he argues the evidence is relevant to (1) Buchanan's intent to threaten to charge Kimiya Gamble as an accessory and his conduct in conformity, (2) Gamble's motive to testify falsely against defendant, and (3) Buchanan's intent to interview Harold Black and Johnnetta Hawkins for the purpose of pressuring them to change their stories about their knowledge of defendant's involvement in the murders. As we explain below, the trial court may have erred, in part, but no reversible prejudice resulted.
As stated, one week after the murder of Martin, a deputy sheriff stopped Gamble for driving too slowly. A loaded gun was found in Gamble's purse. Defendant was a passenger in the car. Gamble initially told police that she owned the gun. In May 1996, after ballistics testing revealed the gun was the Martin murder weapon, district attorney investigator Buchanan sent a memorandum to the prosecutor about the progress of the investigation (the Buchanan memorandum). The first paragraph of the memorandum acknowledged that defendant did not possess the murder weapon when he was arrested, but expressed Buchanan's belief that defendant probably stuck it in [Gamble's] purse at the time the couple was stopped. The second paragraph, noting that Gamble had already pled guilty to a concealed-weapons charge in the matter, indicated Buchanan's intent to find Gamble and make a [witness] out of her, or to arrest her as an accessory to Martin's murder. The third paragraph stated Buchanan's intent to interview Harold Black (then in Folsom Prison) and to find and interview Johnnetta Hawkins (then believed to be in Las Vegas). [29] On May 30, 1996, Buchanan interviewed Gamble, who stated that the gun belonged to defendant and that he told her to put it in her purse as police approached the car. At trial, Gamble testified consistently with this statement. She also testified that, during her interview with Buchanan, he explained to her that if she had anything to do with the crime, she could be charged as an accessory. Gamble denied that Buchanan threatened or pressured her in any way to state that defendant owned the gun and testified that she freely gave him her statement. Out of the presence of the jury, trial counsel moved to introduce the Buchanan memorandum into evidence as relevant to prove that, before trial, Buchanan interviewed Gamble with the intent to threaten to charge her as an accessory in the Martin murder unless she recanted her statement to police that she owned the gun and instead stated it belonged to defendant. The prosecutor objected that the memorandum contained irrelevant material, but he agreed that the second paragraph was relevant to impeach Buchanan regarding any threats he may have made to Gamble. The trial court ruled that only the statements contained in the second paragraph of the memorandum were relevant and that the defense could impeach Buchanan with them if Buchanan denied on the stand that he threatened Gamble or discussed the possibility she could be charged as an accessory if she was involved in the murder. Counsel then stated that, in light of the court's ruling, and for tactical reasons, the defense would not call Buchanan as a witness and attempt to impeach him on this point. On appeal, defendant contends the trial court erroneously confined use of the Buchanan memorandum to impeachment of any testimony Buchanan might give on the witness stand. Defendant asserts that the statements in the first two paragraphs were independently admissible under the state-of-mind exception to the hearsay rule as substantive proof that Buchanan intended to, and did, pressure Gamble to recant her statement to police and testify the gun belonged to defendant. (Evid. Code, § 1250, subd. (a)(2).) Defendant also contends the memorandum was admissible for the nonhearsay purpose of showing Gamble relented under Buchanan's pressure and stated falsely that defendant owned the gun. Finally, defendant contends the memorandum was admissible to show Buchanan intended to interview Harold Black and Johnnetta Hawkins with the similar intent to pressure those witnesses to change their stories about their knowledge of defendant's involvement in the Coder and Martin murders. We review a trial court's ruling on the admissibility of evidence for abuse of discretion. ( People v. Riggs (2008) 44 Cal.4th 248, 290 [79 Cal.Rptr.3d 648, 187 P.3d 363] ( Riggs ).)
The People urge at the outset that defendant forfeited any claim the contents of the Buchanan memorandum were relevant, not simply to impeach Buchanan's denials of improper pressure, but as substantive proof of such pressure, because defendant did not present this theory to the trial court. Defense counsel was hardly articulate on the point, and the issue of forfeiture is thus close, but we conclude the claim was not forfeited. Counsel did advise the court that the defense intended to call Buchanan, question him about his interview of Gamble, and confront him with the memorandum. Counsel's argument for use of the memorandum centered primarily around this theory. However, counsel also advised that this is [not] merely and should [not] be merely relegated to the theory of impeachment. [¶] We believe this goes to Mr. Buchanan's intent .... And it indicates he has documented his intent and it is at least circumstantial evidence of what attempts, perhaps, were made .... We believe it is relevant on more than just the theory and issue of impeachment. The obvious relevance of circumstantial evidence that Buchanan improperly pressured Gamble was to refute Gamble's claims that she was not pressured, and to raise the inference that the pressure applied influenced her admission, at odds with her prior statements, that defendant told her to hide the gun. Accordingly, we conclude, the issue was adequately preserved. On the other hand, we agree defendant has forfeited his appellate challenge to the trial court's refusal to admit the third paragraph of the Buchanan memorandum, which expressed Buchanan's intent to find and interview Harold Black and Johnnetta Hawkins. The trial court ruled that this paragraph was totally irrelevant. But defense counsel made no attempt whatever to challenge or rebut the court's conclusion. Indeed, counsel's argument for use of the Buchanan memorandum focused exclusively on the Kimiya Gamble interview, and did not mention Black or Hawkins at all. Under such circumstances, defendant did not preserve for appeal his current claim that the third paragraph was relevant and admissible because it indicated an intent to pressure Black and Hawkins, like Gamble, to change their stories. Notwithstanding our conclusion that defendant has forfeited certain of the arguments he now raises, we proceed to the merits of these claims.

In essence, defendant argues, with respect to Buchanan's interview of Gamble, that the first two paragraphs of Buchanan's memorandum were relevant, and were admissible under the state-of-mind exception to the hearsay rule (Evid. Code, § 1250), [30] not only to impeach any disclaimers Buchanan might assert on the witness stand, but also to prove circumstantially that Buchanan acted in conformity with his expressed intent by pressuring Gamble to say that the Martin murder gun was defendant's, and that defendant told her to put it in her purse when the police stopped her car. In turn, defendant asserts, evidence that Buchanan exerted such pressure on Gamble was relevant to impeach her trial testimony by suggesting, contrary to her denials, that she experienced such pressure, succumbed to it, and thus falsely incriminated defendant. Contrary to the trial court's ruling, defendant insists, he was not limited to using the contents of Buchanan's memorandum to impeach testimonial denials by Buchanan that he improperly pressured Gamble. Defendant's claim that the first two paragraphs of the Buchanan memorandum were thus admissible as substantive proof he acted on the intent therein expressed has probable merit. (See People v. Griffin (2004) 33 Cal.4th 536, 575-579 [15 Cal.Rptr.3d 743, 93 P.3d 344] [under state-of-mind exception to hearsay rule, 12-year-old murder victim's statement to friend that she intended to confront the defendant if he molested her again was admissible to prove she did confront him prior to the murder]; see also, e.g., People v. Majors (1998) 18 Cal.4th 385, 404-405 [75 Cal.Rptr.2d 684, 956 P.2d 1137] [murder victim's statement of intent to conduct drug deal with people from Ariz. on the night he was killed was admissible, under state-of-mind exception to hearsay rule, to prove he carried out such intent].) As defendant suggests, the first two paragraphs of the memorandum, read together, permit the reasonable inference that Buchanan followed through on his stated intent to threaten her with prosecution as an accessory in order to get her to admit that defendant hid, or told her to hide, the murder weapon in her purse. We need not finally resolve the issue, however, for any error in failing to admit this evidence was harmless by any applicable standard. As we have indicated elsewhere, the admissible evidence that defendant was Martin's killer was extremely strong. Lloyd Marcus, an eyewitness to the fatal shooting of Martin, identified the killer by defendant's nickname of Popeye. Defendant admitted to Harold Black that he crept up on Martin and shot Martin in the head. The ballistics evidence was consistent with Marcus's eyewitness account of two bullets fired at close range. One week after the killing, the murder weapon was found in a car driven by defendant's girlfriend, and in which he was a passenger. Given the other evidence, the fact that the gun was in his girlfriend's purse, rather than on his person, and that she initially sought to protect him by claiming ownership, was not likely to persuade a rational jury that defendant was not associated with the weapon. Moreover, aside from any support the Buchanan memorandum might have provided, the defense was able to cross-examine Gamble effectively about the truthfulness of her claim that the murder weapon belonged to defendant. In particular, the defense elicited that at the time she and defendant were arrested, Gamble claimed the gun was hers, and that she subsequently pled guilty to possession of the weapon. Counsel questioned Gamble closely on why she was willing to enter such a plea if the gun was not hers. She answered that the judge told her she would need a lawyer to contest the charge, but was then confronted with her signed plea waiver form indicating that she was entitled to a free appointed attorney if she could not afford to retain one. She finally admitted she was seeking to purchase a firearm at the very time the murder weapon was found in her purse. Under these circumstances, it appears clear that introduction of the Buchanan memorandum would not have altered the jury's perception of Gamble's credibility, or otherwise undermined its acceptance of the powerful evidence that defendant was Martin's killer. No basis for reversal appears.
Defendant also contends the trial court erred in ruling that the third paragraph of Buchanan's memorandum, in which he expressed his intention to interview Harold Black and Johnnetta Hawkins, was irrelevant. As in the preceding argument, he contends the paragraph was relevant to establish his defense of evidence fabrication. Assertedly, jurors could infer from the evidence that Buchanan intended to pressure both witnesses to change their stories about their knowledge of defendant's involvement in the crimes, and accordingly, that their testimony was unreliable. But Buchanan's memorandum did not suggest any intent to pressure Black or Hawkins to make any particular statements. It simply recited that Buchanan intended to locate and interview these witnesses. Hence, the trial court ruled correctly that this paragraph of the memorandum was irrelevant and thus, inadmissible.