Opinion ID: 1122547
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Other criminal activity and victim-impact evidence

Text: Defendant contends that the judgment of death must be reversed because the trial court, over defendant's objection, admitted the testimony of Diane Sems, who, as described above, related to the penalty phase jury that in 1982 she had been forced into a pickup truck by an acquaintance named Terry Fabricant, blindfolded, and driven by another man to a house she did not recognize. After a few hours, she escaped and contacted the police. The following day, she identified the driver in a photo lineup. At trial, she recalled making a photo identification and, when asked on direct examination whether defendant appeared to be the same man who had driven the pickup truck, she replied, I think so. On cross-examination, however, she acknowledged she was unsure who had driven the truck. Her identification of defendant (on direct examination) subsequently was corroborated by Philip Quartararol, the police detective employed by the City of Los Angeles who had shown her the photo lineup, and who testified at trial that Sems had selected defendant's photograph. Relying upon People v. Phillips (1985) 41 Cal.3d 29 [222 Cal. Rptr. 127, 711 P.2d 423], defendant argues that insufficient evidence supported the trial court's ruling admitting Sems's testimony. Defendant also argues that Sems's testimony was irrelevant and inflammatory. (See Booth v. Maryland (1987) 482 U.S. 496 [96 L.Ed.2d 440, 107 S.Ct. 2529]; see also South Carolina v. Gathers (1989) 490 U.S. 805 [104 L.Ed.2d 876, 109 S.Ct. 2207].) We reject each of these contentions.
(34a) Prior to the admission of Diane Sems's testimony, at defendant's request the trial court conducted a preliminary inquiry outside the presence of the jury to ascertain whether there was substantial evidence to establish that defendant had kidnapped Sems. (See People v. Phillips, supra, 41 Cal.3d 29, 72-73, fn. 25.) Defendant argued that Sems's inability at trial to identify defendant positively as the driver of the pickup truck, and the prosecution's reliance on a prior, out-of-court photo identification, rendered her testimony legally insufficient, because the evidence did not establish, beyond a reasonable doubt, defendant's involvement in the alleged kidnapping. The trial court overruled defendant's objection and, on appeal, defendant reiterates his challenge. Notwithstanding Diane Sems's uncertain identification of defendant at trial, her prior photo identification of defendant, made one day after the alleged kidnapping, constituted sufficient evidence to support the trial court's ruling that the prior incident properly could be considered by the jury. (See People v. Lucky (1988) 45 Cal.3d 259, 287-290 [247 Cal. Rptr. 1, 753 P.2d 1052].) The trial court correctly ruled that Sems's photo identification of defendant was admissible under the prior identification exception to the hearsay rule, codified in Evidence Code section 1238. [31] Contrary to defendant's assertion, the admissibility of evidence pertaining to the alleged kidnapping did not turn upon whether the prosecution could establish beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant was the driver of the pickup truck. ( People v. Hendricks (1988) 44 Cal.3d 635, 648 [244 Cal. Rptr. 181, 749 P.2d 836].) Rather, the question whether defendant's other criminal activity (including the Sems incident) was proved beyond a reasonable doubt presented a question of fact for the jury. (Evid. Code, § 312; People v. Phillips, supra, 41 Cal.3d at p. 72, fn. 25.) (35) At the conclusion of the penalty phase, the trial court correctly instructed the jury that, before it could consider defendant's other criminal activity, the jury had to be satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant did, in fact, commit such activity. (34b) The trial court's ruling as to Sems's testimony was correct, and the evidence properly was admitted.
(36) Defendant's challenge to the trial court's admission of Diane Sems's testimony on the ground that her testimony constituted impermissible victim-impact evidence is misplaced. We previously have rejected the argument that Booth v. Maryland, supra, 482 U.S. 496, and South Carolina v. Gathers, supra, 490 U.S. 805, bar the introduction of evidence relating to the nature and circumstances of other criminal activity involving the use or threat of force or violence or the effect of such criminal activity on the victims.... ( People v. Benson (1990) 52 Cal.3d 754, 797 [276 Cal. Rptr. 827, 802 P.2d 330]; see also People v. Edwards (1991) 54 Cal.3d 787, 832-837 [1 Cal. Rptr.2d 696, 819 P.2d 436].) The prosecution was entitled to present testimonial evidence of defendant's violent criminal activity. (§ 190.3, factor (b); People v. Belmontes (1988) 45 Cal.3d 744, 808-809 [248 Cal. Rptr. 126, 755 P.2d 310].) Moreover, the proscription against the use of victim-impact evidence at the sentencing stage largely has been overruled. ( Payne v. Tennessee (1991) 501 U.S. 808 [115 L.Ed.2d 720, 734-734, 111 S.Ct. 2597, 2608-2611]; see also People v. Thomas, supra, 2 Cal.4th 489, 535.) We therefore conclude that the trial court did not err in admitting Sems's testimony.