Opinion ID: 2623595
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Admission of Jailhouse Correspondence

Text: Overruling Coffman's objection on grounds of Evidence Code section 352, the trial court granted Marlow's motion to admit into evidence seven letters Coffman wrote to him while both were incarcerated before trial. Coffman contends the court abused its discretion and violated her state and federal constitutional rights in so ruling. She argues the correspondence, in which she expressed love and erotic desire for Marlow and which she occasionally illustrated with swastikas, lightning bolts and drawings of a sexual nature, as well as a map showing the location of her son's residence, was so prejudicial as to require reversal of her conviction. We find no abuse of discretion and no denial of constitutional rights in the admission of the letters. Evidence Code section 352 permits a trial court, in its discretion, to exclude evidence if its probative value is substantially outweighed by the probability that its admission will necessitate undue consumption of time or create the substantial danger of undue prejudice, of confusing the issues, or of misleading the jury. The court's ruling is reviewed for abuse of discretion. ( People v. Arias (1996) 13 Cal.4th 92, 155, 51 Cal.Rptr.2d 770, 913 P.2d 980.) As the trial court reasoned, the letters were probative of the nature of defendants' relationship and relevant to rebut Coffman's defense that she participated in the offenses only because of her fear that otherwise Marlow would harm her or her son. That the letters might have been, as Coffman argues, cumulative of Dr. Walker's testimony pertaining to the cyclic nature of a battering relationship does not mean their introduction into evidence necessarily would take up too much time or confuse the issues. Consequently, the trial court did not abuse its discretion in admitting the letters. Inasmuch as Coffman fails to identify a meritorious ground for their exclusion, she fails to establish that her trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance in this regard.