Opinion ID: 2545831
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Prosecution Expert's Comment

Text: Dr. Paul Berg, a clinical psychologist, was a prosecution witness at the penalty phase. Berg testified on rebuttal that defendant's homicidal conduct was attributable to his antisocial personality rather than to brain dysfunction or abnormality. When the prosecutor asked Berg to give examples of the kind[s] of things Berg had considered in reaching that conclusion, Berg responded: Well, first of all, I considered the fact that other than the three smurders that he's been convicted of, that there's been a great deal of other violent behavior: Being hired, for example, to kill Al Redenius, admitting the planning of the killing of Donna Smith; he talks about having killed someone when he was 16 years old. (Italics added.) Defense counsel moved to strike Dr. Berg's reference to defendant's talking about killing someone when he was 16, and also sought a mistrial claiming, in part, that the prosecutor deliberately elicited the comment. The trial court denied the mistrial motion, but admonished the jury: As to the statement about a murder committed by the defendant at the age of 16, you know about that. Not only is there no evidence before you of such an offense, none was ever charged and the defendant has no conviction for such an alleged offense. Defendant now claims reversible error in the trial court's failure to grant a mistrial, and he renews his contention of prosecutorial misconduct. In addition, he argues that the disclosure by Dr. Berg violated Evidence Code section 352 and the Fifth, Sixth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the federal Constitution. We reject these contentions. The comment by Dr. Berg was brief and made in the context of a capital trial at which the jury had already heard voluminous evidence of defendant's propensity for violence and homicidal behavior. The trial court instructed the jury not to consider the comment, so we assume it complied. ( People v. Pride, supra, 3 Cal.4th at p. 240, 10 Cal.Rptr.2d 636, 833 P.2d 643.) Furthermore, the record fails to support defendant's contention that the prosecutor deliberately elicited the comment.