Opinion ID: 1133414
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Prosecutor's purported harassment of defense witnesses

Text: According to defendant, the prosecutor harassed defense witnesses. In one instance, the prosecutor recalled Cindy Doshier, baby Amanda's mother, to the witness stand to clarify a statement she had made, in response to a question by defense counsel, that the prosecutor had told her that semen was found in the course of a medical examination of baby Amanda that matched defendant's. Because the weight of the medical evidence showed that semen was not found in or on Amanda, Doshier's testimony implied that the prosecutor had somehow misled her about the state of the evidence. When recalled as a witness, however, Doshier testified that she had been mistaken and that it was her ex-husband who had told her the story about the semen. Defendant points to nothing in the record suggesting that improper tactics by the prosecutor prompted Doshier to recant her earlier testimony. Defendant bases his claim of prosecutorial harassment of Virginia MacNair on a comment the prosecutor made outside the jury's presence in the courthouse hallway after both sides had rested in the guilt phase trial when he told MacNair: You are foolish and you know it. When defense counsel heard of the incident, he reported it to the trial court, asserting it was witness tampering. The trial court chided the prosecutor for making the comment, but concluded that because the prosecutor had not in any manner threatened MacNair, there was no harassment or witness tampering. (See In re Martin (1987) 44 Cal.3d 1, 30-31, 241 Cal.Rptr. 263, 744 P.2d 374 [prosecutorial misconduct to threaten defense witnesses when the threat interferes with the defendant's compulsory-process right].) Even if the comment could be construed as prosecutorial misconduct, defendant suffered no prejudice. The comment had no effect on the guilt phase of the trial, which had already been completed, and it did not deter Mac-Nair from later testifying at the penalty phase as a defense witness. Defendant also mentions a comment the prosecutor allegedly made at sidebar, but not heard by the trial court, calling one of the defense lawyers sleaze or sleazy. Defendant fails to explain how this comment, even if heard by the jury, constituted prosecutorial harassment of defense witnesses.