Opinion ID: 1237936
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The Prosecution's Cross-examination and Rebuttal

Text: Sheila Yates, defendant's sister, testified as a defense witness. On direct examination, she said she did not want defendant to be given the death penalty because she believed his life was worth saving. Asked to explain, she said, among other things, that she loved him, that she did not believe he was guilty, and that he could provide valuable counselling for younger prison inmates. On cross-examination, the prosecution began to ask about a statement the witness had made to Sergeant Fredrickson in March 1983 after defendant's arrest. The defense objected and the court held a hearing outside the jury's presence. At the hearing, the witness testified that after defendant was arrested she became concerned, as a result of conversations with her sister-in-law, that her mother might get into trouble for attempting to conceal or move certain evidence at defendant's direction. She contacted the police and was referred to Sergeant Fredrickson, who came to her house. Fredrickson told her that defendant had killed Hickey and had been involved in a number of other illegal activities. The witness believed these statements and was badly frightened by them. A few days later she gave a statement that was taken by a court reporter. In this statement, she said, among other things, that she believed defendant was up to no good, that she did not trust him, and that she had heard he had bragged to her sister-in-law about killing six people. The witness said she had since formed the opinion that much of what Sergeant Fredrickson told her about her brother was untrue. The trial court ruled that the prosecution could ask questions designed to show that in March 1983 the witness's opinion of defendant was different from the one she had given on direct examination. The trial court did not rule on specific questions but said it would proceed question by question and rule on objections as they were raised. In the jury's presence, the witness testified that she had contacted the police and had discussed with Sergeant Fredrickson her concern that defendant was attempting to involve family members in the destruction or concealment of evidence. She admitted she then had been of the opinion that her brother was up to no good and that before she contacted the police she had received some information about defendant that had caused her concern. (106) Defendant contends that the court erred in ruling that Yates could be asked about her opinion of defendant in 1983 as reflected in her statement to Sergeant Fredrickson. He argues that the ruling was error because the prosecution could have attacked Yates's credibility by other means. He also argues that the record does not sufficiently establish that the trial court weighed the probative value of the evidence against the risk of undue prejudice to defendant. These arguments are unpersuasive. The credibility of a witness may be challenged with evidence of prior statements by the witness that are inconsistent with the witness's testimony at the trial. (Evid. Code, § 780, subd. (h).) Here, Yates's testimony on direct examination implied an opinion of defendant that was inconsistent with the opinion she had expressed to Sergeant Fredrickson in 1983. Evidence of the 1983 statement was therefore admissible for impeachment. This was all that the trial court ruled. The court deferred other issues, including objections on hearsay grounds and on the ground of undue prejudice (Evid. Code, § 352), for resolution question by question. After this ruling, the defense made a number of objections, particularly on hearsay grounds, and the trial court sustained many of these objections. The defense did not object on the ground of undue prejudice, however, so the question whether the trial court conducted the required weighing process is not presented. (Evid. Code, § 353.)
Another defense witness was Joseph O'Rourke. On direct examination, he testified that he met defendant and formed a favorable opinion of him in 1978 when they were both inmates at San Quentin. Defendant contacted him in September 1982 when defendant was released from the prison in Chino. Defendant had no transportation and no money. O'Rourke arranged for defendant to stay with a friend and gave defendant a job in O'Rourke's handyman business. Defendant worked for O'Rourke until O'Rourke's arrest on October 12, 1982. On cross-examination, the prosecution inquired about the events that led to O'Rourke's arrest. The defense objected that the question was beyond the scope of direct examination. (107) After a conference at the bench, the court ruled that the prosecution could inquire about the circumstances leading to the arrest, but not about O'Rourke's subsequent conviction. Defendant assigns error to this ruling. The ruling was correct. A witness may be cross-examined upon any matter within the scope of the direct examination. (Evid. Code, § 773.) Here, O'Rourke's involvement in illegal activities was relevant to probe the value of the opinions he had expressed. His testimony on direct examination gave the impression that defendant, after his release from prison, had made efforts to reform by engaging in lawful employment. He had also testified that defendant was a person who would discourage other inmates from acts of violence. The incident which led to O'Rourke's arrest, in which he agreed and attempted to furnish an illegal firearm (a sawed-off shotgun), was legitimate impeachment of O'Rourke's testimony. The evidence was not offered to prove defendant's involvement in this criminal activity, but rather to cast doubt on O'Rourke's ability to fairly judge defendant's rehabilitation and propensity for violence.
(108) Defendant contends that the trial court erred in permitting the prosecution to call Ricky Carpenter as a rebuttal witness and to cross-examine defendant about a 1971 robbery. In January 1985, before the guilt trial commenced, the prosecution notified the defense of its intent, if there was a penalty phase, to present evidence that defendant had fatally stabbed inmate Leroy Banks at San Quentin in 1978. The prosecution provided the names of correctional officers it intended to call for this purpose, and provided a copy of defendant's prison file, or C-file, which contained reports about the incident. Ricky Carpenter was an inmate who was present when defendant stabbed Banks. At the time, he had declined to discuss the matter with law enforcement authorities. After the jury returned its guilt verdicts in this case on May 9, 1986, Paul Tulleners, a Department of Justice investigator who worked with the prosecution in this case, contacted Carpenter, who was then on parole. On May 27, 1986, Carpenter met with Tulleners and gave a statement explaining how and why defendant had killed Banks. On May 29, 1986, the prosecution informed the defense for the first time that it would call Carpenter as a penalty witness. The defense sought a protective order to preclude him from testifying, claiming it had received inadequate notice. The court ruled that Carpenter could not testify during the prosecution's case-in-chief, but that he could testify in rebuttal if the defense questioned, challenged, or refuted the testimony of the correctional officer about defendant's involvement in the Banks killing. The penalty trial began on June 9, 1986. During the prosecution's case-in-chief, Rodney Perryman testified that he was working as a correctional officer in San Quentin on May 29, 1978, when he saw defendant with his arms around Banks making jabbing motions and then saw a knife drop from defendant's hand. When he arrived at the scene defendant was drenched with blood. Perryman was impeached with evidence that in his report describing the incident he had not mentioned seeing defendant make jabbing motions or drop a knife. During the defense case, defendant testified on direct examination that he was never prosecuted for stabbing Banks, although the correctional authorities did place him in the adjustment center for three years as a result of the incident. Defendant also testified that he did not kill Hickey. He explained: I  I'm not personally capable of doing what  whoever did that to Elizabeth. I couldn't have done that. Thereafter, the trial court ruled that, in light of the cross-examination of Perryman about omissions in his report and defendant's testimony that he was not charged with stabbing Banks, and in light also of defendant's denial that he was capable of a brutal murder, the prosecution could use Carpenter in rebuttal. Carpenter then testified, on June 25, 1986, that defendant told him he would kill Banks for disrespecting another AB member, and that he then saw defendant stab Banks 10 to 15 times. The trial court did not err in admitting Carpenter's testimony on rebuttal. Section 190.3, fourth paragraph, generally bars the prosecution from presenting evidence in aggravation at the penalty phase if it did not give the defendant notice of the evidence within a reasonable time before trial. But nothing in the language of the provision requires exclusion of evidence that the prosecution became aware of only after the trial began. As we have explained: Such a construction would be inconsistent with the purpose of section 190.3 that the jury be made aware of all of the factors bearing on the penalty decision. ( People v. Jennings (1988) 46 Cal.3d 963, 987 [251 Cal. Rptr. 278, 760 P.2d 475].) Because defendant had been notified before the guilt trial that the Banks killing would be used in aggravation at the penalty phase, because the prosecution gave the defense prompt notice when it first became aware that Carpenter would be a witness, and because the defense had sufficient additional time to prepare to meet Carpenter's testimony, defendant was not denied any rights under the notice provision of section 190.3, and the trial court should have permitted the prosecution to use Carpenter's testimony during its case-in-chief. This error by the trial court did not prejudice the defense. The ruling put the defense on notice that Carpenter was a likely witness in rebuttal, and it gave the defense additional time to prepare to meet that evidence. (109) On cross-examination of defendant, the prosecution inquired about a robbery defendant had committed in Humboldt County in 1971. Defendant contends that the trial court erred when it overruled an objection to this question as being beyond the scope of direct examination. We find no error. Having placed his capacity for violence in issue by his testimony on direct examination that he was incapable of the murder of Hickey, defendant may not complain about cross-examination on specific instances of violent behavior. Although a robbery is admittedly violence of a different order than a brutal murder, this consideration goes to weight rather than admissibility. We find no abuse of the broad discretion vested in the trial court to control the scope of relevant cross-examination. ( People v. Wissenfeld (1951) 36 Cal.2d 758, 765 [227 P.2d 833].)
As we have noted, the prosecution presented evidence at the guilt phase that Rebecca Williams attempted to have a gunsmith repair a pistol that lacked a serial number, and that she later told a police officer she had been acting for defendant. The owner of the company that manufactured the gun testified that it must have been stolen from the factory before it was imprinted with a serial number. During the penalty phase cross-examination of defendant, the prosecutor asked defendant where he had obtained this stolen gun. The trial court overruled a defense objection that the question exceeded the scope of direct examination, and defendant answered that he had obtained it from Janet Myers in Los Angeles in December 1982. (110) Defendant contends that the court erred in overruling the defense objection because defendant did not mention the gun on direct examination and because his possession of an apparently stolen firearm was not relevant to any aggravating factor. The trial court did not err in its ruling. On direct examination, defendant made general claims of innocence and rehabilitation. For example, he testified that when he was released from prison in 1982, his plan had been to reintegrate himself into society. Referring to his emotions as he listened to the testimony of the witnesses about the Montana incident, he said: It made me feel like I had been insensitive and less than I'd like to be. Defendant flatly denied he was guilty of the crimes he had been convicted of. This claim of innocence encompassed a claim that he was not guilty of a conspiracy with AB leaders to assassinate Richard Barnes and to accumulate guns for the AB. To challenge these claims of rehabilitation and innocence, the prosecution could properly cross-examine defendant about his illegal possession (see § 12021 [a convicted felon's possession of a firearm is a felony]) of an apparently stolen firearm shortly after his release from prison in September 1982. (Evid. Code, § 773.)
Defendant testified that a man named Kenny gave him the guns from the Hickey residence on February 18, 1983, in Lakeport. He said he drove from Rebecca Williams's residence in Auburn to Redding on February 17 to meet Kenny, but Kenny was not there. He said he then called Hickey, who told him Kenny had been delayed by road and weather conditions and would meet him the following morning in Lakeport, which he did. On cross-examination, the prosecutor asked defendant about a Texaco credit card receipt showing he had purchased gasoline in Upper Lake on February 18, 1983. Defendant testified that he drove from Redding past the Lakeport turnoff to the gas station, then doubled back and proceeded to Lakeport. (111) On rebuttal, investigator Paul Tulleners testified that he had reviewed Department of Transportation records containing photographs of the signs at the Lakeport turnoff. After the trial court overruled a defense objection on hearsay and best-evidence-rule grounds, Tulleners testified about the size and appearance of the signs as shown in the records. Defendant contends the trial court erred in this ruling. The point is trivial. Assuming error, defendant could not have been prejudiced. The size and condition of the signs at the Lakeport turnoff was never an issue. Defendant admitted that he went out of his way to purchase gasoline, but he never claimed he did so because inadequate signs caused him to miss the turnoff. Rather, his testimony plainly implied that he intentionally detoured from the most direct route to patronize a gas station that would accept his Texaco credit card. Finally, defense counsel later testified to his own personal observations of the signs, which were apparently consistent with the testimony of Tulleners.