Opinion ID: 1237936
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: The Motion to Prohibit Reference to Aryan Brotherhood

Text: Before trial, the defense made two motions under Evidence Code section 352 [6] to preclude the prosecution from introducing any evidence of the name Aryan Brotherhood. The defense argued that the name was inherently prejudicial because the word Aryan was popularly associated with Nazism and other racist ideologies. The trial court denied the motion each time, ruling that the prosecution could not effectively present its case without using the name and that undue prejudice to defendant could be avoided by excusing for cause any potential jurors whose responses indicated they would be unduly prejudiced by the name. (12) We reject defendant's contention that the ruling was an abuse of discretion and denied him his state and federal constitutional rights to an impartial jury, to due process of law, and to reliable verdicts in a capital case. In ruling on the pretrial motions, the court was guided by the preliminary hearing evidence. That evidence showed that defendant's membership in the AB was central to the prosecution's case, under which all of the charged offenses originated with a conspiracy by the AB leadership to murder the father of a defecting member. (See People v. Frausto (1982) 135 Cal. App.3d 129, 140-141 [185 Cal. Rptr. 314], and cases there cited.) The defense, on the other hand, appeared to dispute the AB's very existence, defendant's membership, and the AB's character as a gang rather than a mere social club. To litigate the existence and character of an organization without naming it would have been a practical impossibility and might have caused the jury to speculate about why the name was being withheld. Also, voir dire provided an effective means to remove any jurors who might be so prejudicially influenced that they could not fairly try the case.