Opinion ID: 2507985
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Jess Martin's testimony

Text: During a sidebar conference outside the presence of the jury, defense counsel sought to proffer the testimony of Jess Martin, Mary Cagle's former boyfriend, (1) that Cagle asked Martin to retaliate against defendant's family after the murders, in an effort to show Cagle's testimony was biased, and (2) that Cagle was prone to manipulating men and committing welfare and other scams in order to get her way. The court properly excluded the evidence as irrelevant. (Evid.Code, § 352.) Martin's proposed testimony about Cagle's behavior after the murders was cumulative and did not help further explain defendant's character, the facts of the offense, or defendant's prior record. ( Frye, supra, 18 Cal.4th at pp. 1015-1016, 77 Cal.Rptr.2d 25, 959 P.2d 183.) The jury had been permitted to view Cagle's record, and Dr. Kormos had testified that defendant's paranoid personality disorder was triggered in part by Cagle's manipulative tendencies. In addition, there is no indication that Cagle's alleged scams had anything to do with defendant or that defendant was even aware of her behavior when he committed the three murders. The court's exclusion of these minor or subsidiary points did not amount to an abuse of discretion. ( Fudge, supra, 7 Cal.4th at p. 1103, 31 Cal.Rptr.2d 321, 875 P.2d 36.)