Opinion ID: 1249738
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Issues Regarding Testimony of Inmates Acker and Rooks.

Text: The prosecution notified the defense before the case was called for trial that it would summon inmates Rooks and Acker at the penalty phase to testify about two stabbings defendant allegedly committed  evidence for the prosecution's view that defendant was not fit to live. Prior to trial, defendant asserted a right under section 190.3 to be provided, before the case was called, with a statement of the expected testimony. The prosecution offered to make Acker, then in an out-of-state prison under a witness-protection program, available for questioning in California a week or two before the penalty phase began. The court approved this arrangement and, keeping Acker's whereabouts confidential, refused defendant's request to be allowed to visit Acker where he was confined. Defendant continued to press his demand for Rooks's and Acker's testimony before the penalty phase began. The prosecution did not interview Rooks or Acker  who had said they did not wish to speak to defendant's counsel  until the Friday before the Monday on which the penalty phase began. The prosecutor then turned his notes of the interviews over to the defense, thereby, in his view, exceeding his obligation of disclosure. The court denied defendant's apparent motion to exclude Rooks's and Acker's testimony for want of compliance with section 190.3. At trial Acker testified that defendant had stabbed him; Rooks described defendant's stabbing of another inmate, Fuzzell, who was unavailable to testify. At an in camera hearing held before the penalty phase to discuss Acker's availability for interview by defendant's counsel, the prosecutor mentioned that Acker had informed on fellow inmates 12 times and was liable to be killed if returned to California for very long. This information was not provided defendant for possible impeachment use in the penalty phase.
(42) Defendant first asserts that he had a right both as a matter of state law and under the Sixth Amendment to know the substance of Rooks's and Acker's testimony before the case was called for trial. Under section 190.3, the prosecution must furnish the defense with notice of evidence in aggravation within a reasonable period of time as determined by the court, prior to trial. Section 190.3's plain language gives the court discretion to determine what amount of notice is reasonable, but the evidence must be given to a defendant before the case is called. ( People v. Daniels (1991) 52 Cal.3d 815, 879 [277 Cal. Rptr. 122, 802 P.2d 906].) The statute does not require production of the evidence, however, but notice of it. (§ 190.3.) The prosecutor provided notice that Rooks and Acker would be called to testify about the stabbings. The defense was not entitled to a summation of the witnesses' expected testimony. There was no state law error. Nor was there any Sixth Amendment violation. (See Pennsylvania v. Ritchie, supra, 480 U.S. 39, 52-53 [94 L.Ed.2d 40, 54-55] [pretrial discovery request].)
(43a) Defendant contends the prosecutor's failure to disclose to the defense Acker's record of having informed on others 12 times, including on his own wife, amounted to a violation of defendant's federal constitutional rights to due process, to confront adverse witnesses, and to be present at all stages of the proceedings. We conclude that no constitutional violation occurred. Defendant testified he did not stab Acker, even though he candidly admitted having stabbed inmates Lynch and Fuzzell. If admissible, it is conceivable that Acker's record might have caused the jurors to wonder whether Acker had a grudge against inmates in general and would lie to harm defendant, or had a grudge against defendant in particular and saw an opportunity to use a stabbing committed by another inmate against defendant. The mere fact of his having informed on 12 different people might have caused the jury to wonder whether one person could reliably compile so much information on other inmates. Nevertheless, such hypotheses do not rise to the level of constitutional cognizability. (44) United States v. Bagley, supra, 473 U.S. 667, sets forth the standard of review applicable to defendant's claims of constitutional violations for failure to disclose favorable impeachment information. The holding in Brady v. Maryland [(1963) 373 U.S. 83, 87] requires disclosure only of evidence that is both favorable to the accused and `material either to guilt or to punishment.' ( Id. at p. 674 [87 L.Ed.2d at p. 489].) The evidence is material only if there is a reasonable probability that, had the evidence been disclosed to the defense, the result of the proceeding would have been different. A `reasonable probability' is a probability sufficient to undermine confidence in the outcome. ( Id. at p. 682 [87 L.Ed.2d at p. 494] (lead opn. of Blackmun, J.); accord, id. at p. 685 [87 L.Ed.2d at p. 496] (conc. opn. of White, J.).) (43b) Under the foregoing standard, there was no constitutional violation. [13] Other aggravating factors that weighed against defendant lead almost inescapably to our conclusion that the prosecution's shortcoming on this issue was not of sufficient magnitude to undermine confidence in the outcome of the case. In aggravation, the jury had found that defendant was the actual killer of Gardner and had been previously convicted of first degree murder. And defendant conceded he had attacked another inmate with intent to kill, though he argued he had desisted in the end and that the attack was in response to an attempt on his life. For the revelation of Acker's record to have made a material difference the jury would have had to conclude that as a result of that record (1) Acker was fabricating his testimony, and (2) the balance of other aggravating and mitigating factors was so close that absent proof of an assault on Acker defendant should be given a sentence of life imprisonment without possibility of parole. We believe such a concatenation of conclusions was unlikely in the extreme.