Opinion ID: 2590272
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Admission of autopsy and crime-scene photographs and contents of victim's wallet

Text: Defendant contends the trial court committed error by overruling his objection to the admission of crime-scene photographs and the contents of the victim's wallet. He claims the asserted error violated his rights under the Fifth, Sixth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the federal Constitution and parallel provisions of the California Constitution, requiring reversal of the guilt and penalty judgments. This claim is without merit. Defendant objected to the admission of two photographs, People's exhibits 6 and 8, and to the admission of the contents of the victim's wallet, claiming this evidence was unduly prejudicial within the meaning of Evidence Code section 352. The photograph designated as People's exhibit 6 depicted a bullet being held in a glove and either an open skull or at least open flesh. The photograph designated as People's exhibit 8 showed the victim's wound and his hair, with blood dripping from the gunshot wound. The contents of the victim's wallet included a photograph of two small children, a photograph of a small child seated on a horse, the victim's identification, and a $1 bill on which the words I love you were written. Defendant's counsel contended such evidence properly was admissible only at the penalty phase of the trial. The trial court overruled defendant's objection to the admission of the photographs, concluding they were probative and not particularly ghastly. The court also overruled defendant's objection to the admission of the wallet's contents, finding the evidence was not inflammatory. (10) We find no error in the admission of either photograph. A trial court has wide discretion to admit autopsy photographs. ( People v. Riel (2000) 22 Cal.4th 1153, 1193 [96 Cal.Rptr.2d 1, 998 P.2d 969]; People v. Ochoa (1998) 19 Cal.4th 353, 415 [79 Cal.Rptr.2d 408, 966 P.2d 442].) Neither photograph in the present case was unduly prejudicial. Although photographs of murder victims often are graphic and disturbing, neither photograph here was so gruesome as to have impermissibly swayed the jury. ( People v. Smithey (1999) 20 Cal.4th 936, 974 [86 Cal.Rptr.2d 243, 978 P.2d 1171].) The photographs also had substantial probative value. In his statement, defendant informed the detectives that he shot the victim without aiming and did not believe, at the time of the shooting, that he had hit him. The photographic evidence indicated that the victim had been shot in the head at close range while holding his hand in front of his head, and was probative on the issue of malice and intent to kill. ( People v. Loker (2008) 44 Cal.4th 691, 705 [80 Cal.Rptr.3d 630, 188 P.3d 580]; People v. Crittenden (1994) 9 Cal.4th 83, 133 [36 Cal.Rptr.2d 474, 885 P.2d 887]; People v. Box, supra, 23 Cal.4th 1153, 1199.) The prosecution was not obligated to `accept antiseptic stipulations in lieu of photographic evidence' on these issues. ( People v. Loker, supra, 44 Cal.4th at p. 705.) There also was no error in admitting the contents of the victim's wallet. The prosecution referred to the photographs and the contents of the victim's wallet in both its opening statement and its closing argument at the guilt phase. During the closing argument, the prosecutor urged that the circumstance that the billfold section of the victim's wallet was empty of any money suggested that cash had been taken from the wallet during the charged crimes. Defendant refers to this circumstance, contending that the admission of the wallet improperly allowed the prosecution to treat evidence that linked the codefendants to the taking of the victim's wallet during the robbery as proof of defendant's guilt of that offense, despite his statement that he did not participate in the taking of the wallet. The contents of the wallet had probative value, and were not unduly prejudicial. Although defendant claimed to the police that he did not participate in the taking of the victim's wallet, the uncontroverted facts establish that defendant was guilty as an aider and abettor of any theft of money from the wallet. Defendant tricked the victim into rolling down his window by asking him the time, and thereafter he and his two codefendants forced the victim from his vehicle at gunpoint and eventually into the trunk of the automobile. The codefendants evidently demanded the victim's wallet before forcing him into the trunk, but the circumstance that defendant did not make the demand or personally take the wallet does not obviate his culpability for the offense of robbery, in light of the events described above. Although the wallet contained family photographs and a notation on the dollar bill apparently indicating that someone loved the victim, these items were unlikely to provoke such a strong emotional response from the jury as to interfere with its duty to rationally decide the issue of defendant's guilt. The admission in evidence of the contents of the wallet at the guilt phase was not erroneous.