Opinion ID: 2515770
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 10

Heading: Evidence of Why Tiffany Frizzell Was in Long Beach

Text: The defense objected at the guilt phase of trial to evidence that Tiffany Frizzell was in Long Beach to attend Brooks College, arguing that the purpose of her presence in Long Beach was irrelevant to any material issue. The prosecution argued that the evidence was relevant on the rape charge to establish that Tiffany Frizzell did not consent to sexual intercourse with defendant. The trial court overruled the objection but cautioned the prosecutor not to go into great detail on it. Joan Frizzell, Tiffany's mother, then testified that Tiffany's purpose in traveling to Long Beach was to attend college. We apply the deferential abuse of discretion standard when reviewing a trial court's ruling on a relevance objection. ( People v. Waidla (2000) 22 Cal.4th 690, 717-718, 94 Cal.Rptr.2d 396, 996 P.2d 46; People v. Sanders (1995) 11 Cal.4th 475, 554-555, 46 Cal.Rptr.2d 751, 905 P.2d 420.) We discern no abuse of discretion here. Evidence is relevant if it has any tendency in reason to prove or disprove a disputed fact at issue. ( People v. Mayfield (1997) 14 Cal.4th 668, 749, 60 Cal. Rptr.2d 1, 928 P.2d 485; see Evid.Code, § 210.) In a prosecution for forcible evidence is relevant if it establishes any circumstance making the victim's consent to sexual intercourse less plausible. (See, e.g., People v. Rowland (1992) 4 Cal.4th 238, 264, 14 Cal.Rptr.2d 377, 841 P.2d 897 [evidence that victim had a terrible headache and had to get to work early the next morning was clearly probative of rape].) In determining whether Tiffany Frizzell had consented to intercourse with defendant, with whom she had no prior acquaintance, the jury might be assisted by the information that she was not traveling on a holiday or vacation, but had arrived to begin her college education. This information also prevented any speculation by the jury that a young woman alone in a motel room might be a prostitute who consented to intercourse with defendant on a promise of compensation. Although the probative value of the evidence was not great, we cannot say that it lacked any tendency in reason to prove that Frizzell did not consent to sexual intercourse with defendant. Defendant also contends the trial court should have excluded the evidence of the reason for Tiffany Frizzell's presence in Long Beach under Evidence Code section 352 because the probative value of this evidence was substantially outweighed by the probability that its admission would create a substantial danger of undue prejudice. Because the defense did not object on this ground at trial, the issue is not preserved for appellate review. (Evid. Code, § 353, subd. (a).) Although defense counsel made two isolated references to the evidence being inflammatory, counsel neither mentioned Evidence Code section 352 nor argued that the probative value of the evidence was substantially outweighed by a risk of undue prejudice. Instead, counsel argued consistently and exclusively that the evidence was entirely irrelevant and immaterial. This was insufficient to preserve a claim of error under Evidence Code section 352. (See People v. Barnett (1998) 17 Cal.4th 1044, 1130, 74 Cal. Rptr.2d 121, 954 P.2d 384; People v. Champion (1995) 9 Cal.4th 879, 913, 39 Cal.Rptr.2d 547, 891 P.2d 93; People v. Kirkpatrick (1994) 7 Cal.4th 988, 1014-1015, 30 Cal.Rptr.2d 818, 874 P.2d 248.) Were the claim preserved for our review, we would reject it on the merits. Although the probative value of the evidence was relatively slight, this probative value was not substantially outweighed by the risk of undue prejudice. The testimony about Tiffany Frizzell's purpose in traveling to Long Beach to attend college was brief and apparently without any display of emotion. The trial court could reasonably conclude, in the exercise of its broad discretion, that this testimony would not so inflame the jurors' emotions as to interfere with their fair and dispassionate assessment of the evidence of defendant's guilt. Defendant argues that admission of the testimony that Tiffany Frizzell was in Long Beach to begin her college studies denied him various rights under the state and federal Constitutions, but he did not object on these grounds in the trial court, and thus these constitutional issues are not preserved for appellate review. ( People v. Earp, supra, 20 Cal.4th at p. 878, 85 Cal.Rptr.2d 857, 978 P.2d 15.) We reject also defendant's related contention that his trial counsel, by failing to base his objection on constitutional grounds, denied him his constitutional right to the effective assistance of counsel. Defendant does not argue here that there are constitutional standards of admissibility more exacting than the statutory standards imposed by the Evidence Code. Because the evidence satisfied applicable statutory admission standards, an objection on constitutional grounds would have lacked merit. Accordingly, defendant was not denied his right to effective assistance of counsel by counsel's failure to cite constitutional grounds in making his objection.