Opinion ID: 1391736
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: (18) Admissibility of Photograph of Victim Curtis

Text: Defendant urges that the trial court, during the guilt phase, erred in admitting a color photograph of the face of Mrs. Curtis, disclosing multiple bruises. We have said recently that Evidence Code section 352 vests the court with broad discretion to weigh the prejudicial effect of proffered evidence against its probative value. [Citation.] No abuse of that discretion appears: the photograph was not cumulative, and was highly relevant evidence on the issue of malice. ...`[M]urder is seldom pretty, and pictures, testimony and physical evidence in such a case are always unpleasant....' ( People v. Pierce (1979) 24 Cal.3d 199, 211 [155 Cal. Rptr. 657, 595 P.2d 91], italics added; see People v. Cruz (1980) 26 Cal.3d 233 [162 Cal. Rptr. 1, 605 P.2d 830]; People v. Frierson, supra, 25 Cal.3d at p. 171.) Defendant had been charged with first degree murder of Mrs. Curtis with malice aforethought; the jury was instructed on the alternative theories of premeditated murder and felony murder. Accordingly, as in Pierce, the photograph in question bore on the issue of defendant's requisite state of mind toward Mrs. Curtis, i.e., did he possess malice? This fact distinguishes People v. Boyd (1979) 95 Cal. App.3d 577, 589-590 [157 Cal. Rptr. 293], a case which also involved the Curtis murder. In Boyd, the accomplice of defendant was tried under a felony-murder theory only; two color photographs of the victim were introduced. The Court of Appeal held that the trial court erred in admitting these photographs because It cannot be said ... that the photographs had any degree of relevancy on issues such as intent, malice or the degree of the offense since, under the prosecution's theory, defendant was guilty of first degree murder by virtue of the felony-murder doctrine. (P. 589.) Although the photograph which was admitted is unpleasant to view, we conclude that the trial court did not err in admitting it. In addition, it is noteworthy that the Boyd court held that any error in admitting the foregoing photographs was harmless in view of the overwhelming evidence of Boyd's guilt. In our view the evidence of defendant's guilt in the matter before us may be similarly characterized.