Opinion ID: 1239150
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Denial of motion to exclude witnesses during opening statements

Text: (25) Defendant contends that the trial court erred in denying his motion to exclude from the courtroom, during the opening statements of counsel, three witnesses who were scheduled to testify on behalf of the prosecution  Mara Lyn and David Miller (Shari's mother and brother) and Lida Jane McCabe (Tracey's mother). At the time of trial, section 1102.6 provided, in pertinent part: (a) The victim shall be entitled to be present and seated at the trial. If the court finds that the presence of the victim would pose a substantial risk of influencing or affecting the content of any testimony, the court shall exclude the victim from the trial entirely or in part so as to effect the purposes of this section. [¶] (b) Upon the court's granting of the victim's request, the defendant may object to the order of the victim's testimony, in which case the victim shall testify first, subject to exclusion if the foundation or corpus delicti is not later established by the testimony of other prosecuting witnesses. [¶] (c) Upon the request of either party or upon the court's own motion, the victim shall be excluded from any hearing on a motion pursuant to this section. [¶] ... [¶] (e) As used in this section, `victim' means (1) the alleged victim of the offense and one member of the victim's immediate family and (2) in the event that the victim is unable to attend the trial, up to two members of the victim's immediate family who are actual or potential witnesses. As an initial matter, defendant contends that the trial court erred in failing to grant defendant's request to exclude these three witnesses (who clearly were within the statutory definition of victims) from the hearing held to decide whether they should be excluded from counsel's opening statements. The trial court found, however, that the hearing on the motion was conducted outside the hearing of these individuals, that they were conversing among themselves during the hearing, and that they were unaware of the substance of the hearing. It appears that the trial court complied with former section 1102.6, subdivision (c), because these witnesses essentially were excluded from the hearing on defendant's motion. Defendant next contends that the trial court erred in denying his motion to exclude these witnesses during the opening statements themselves. The applicable version of the statute requires the exclusion of a victim from the trial or a portion thereof if the presence of that victim would pose a substantial risk of influencing or affecting the content of any testimony. Assuming that defendant's interpretation is correct and he was entitled to exclude these victims from opening statements pursuant to the statute, the trial court did not err. Defendant's mere assertion that the victims could or would be influenced by the opening statements was insufficient to establish that the victims' presence posed a substantial risk of influencing or affecting the content of any testimony. Moreover, denial of the motion was not prejudicial. According to defendant, because David Miller previously had not testified at the preliminary hearing, his presence during the opening statements enabled him to tailor his testimony (that he had not located among the personal effects contained in Shari's vehicle the items of clothing Shari had worn in the photographs taken in the desert) to render it consistent with the prosecutor's opening statement suggesting that defendant photographed Shari wearing certain clothing, killed her, and disposed of that clothing. Nothing prevented defendant from inquiring during his cross-examination at trial whether Miller had so tailored his testimony. In addition, Miller merely testified that he had not recovered two items worn by Shari in the photographs. Defendant challenged Miller's credibility by suggesting other explanations for his failure to locate those items of clothing, eliciting Miller's testimony that he had not attempted to locate those items in particular and had not obtained an inventory of the items from the police. Defendant also suggests that Mrs. McCabe altered her testimony to conform to the account given in the prosecutor's opening statement. Defendant points out that at the preliminary hearing, Mrs. McCabe testified that she used her own keys to open the apartment the day Tracey disappeared, but at the trial she testified she did not have the keys that day, and therefore she and Todd had been forced to jimmy the window in order to enter the apartment. Defendant also points out that at the preliminary hearing Mrs. McCabe testified that only family members were present when McCabe questioned defendant about the disappearance of Tracey, but at trial she testified that Bill Scognamillo also was present. In both instances, however, other witnesses at trial who were not present during the opening statement corroborated Mrs. McCabe's testimony at trial.