Opinion ID: 2621193
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 15

Heading: Mention of prior trials

Text: During cross-examination by defense counsel, two witnesses volunteered a reference to prior trials. Seeking to suggest flaws in the chain of custody, defense counsel asked histotechnician Ruby Torres whether, at any time between 1976 and 1985, she had seen tissue blocks that had been gathered from Joyce during the autopsy, and the witness volunteered that she had seen them once before in Fresno when I was in the trial there. Defense counsel asked the witness to clarify that she was referring to a preliminary hearing. In another instance, defense counsel was attempting to impeach Dr. Kilburn with prior statements regarding the cause of Joyce's death that the witness had made under oath at a prior hearing. (Apparently the preliminary hearing in this case.) Dr. Kilburn explained that he had received additional expert opinion evidence subsequent to the autopsy and also that he had learned of defendant's connection with the paraquat murders of two other women. Defense counsel asked who had told the witness of defendant's connection with those murders, and the witness stated: Well, it came out in a previous trial for the death of Glenna and Martha Catlin that I was a participant in Monterey. Counsel stated that this was not the import of his question, but that he was asking whether anyone outside the courtroom had explained the police investigation of the other crimes to the witness, and whether this explanation had affected the witness's opinion regarding the cause of Joyce's death. In a third instance, under direct examination by defense counsel, investigator Johansen was asked questions relating to informant Hardin's refusal to answer a defense investigator's questions. The questions evidently were intended to attack the credibility of the informant. The prosecutor asked further questions regarding the time of the meeting between the informant and the investigator, and elicited testimony that when the two met, the informant already had testified under oath and had answered questions by defense counsel. On redirect examination, defense counsel asked whether the officer remembered whether informant Hardin had met the defense investigator on November 18, 1985. When the witness expressed uncertainty, defense counsel asked whether Hardin had testified in court before at any hearing before November 19 of 1985? The witness responded: I don't remember what the trial dates were. Defendant contends that defense counsel provided ineffective assistance in failing to move to strike the testimony referring to a prior trial and to seek an admonition of the jury. On several occasions during trial, witnesses properly were asked questions regarding their prior testimony. On most occasions, the prior testimony was referred to not as trial testimony but as testimony in a prior proceeding, a prior hearing, or a prior appearance. The jury was aware, as a general matter, that there had been previous proceedings, but every effort was made not to disclose the fact that defendant previously had been convicted of the murder of Glenna. We do not believe that the comments defendant now complains of would have disclosed to the jury that defendant previously had been convicted of murder in connection with the death of Glenna. In any event, the decision whether to object, move to strike, or seek admonition regarding such testimony is highly tactical, and depends upon counsel's evaluation of the gravity of the problem and whether objection or other responses would serve only to highlight the undesirable testimony. (See People v. Williams (1997) 16 Cal.4th 153, 215, 66 Cal.Rptr.2d 123, 940 P.2d 710; People v. Bradford, supra, 14 Cal.4th at p. 1052, 60 Cal.Rptr.2d 225, 929 P.2d 544.) On this record, we cannot conclude that counsel's inaction could not have had any legitimate tactical basis. (See People v. Lucas, supra, 12 Cal.4th at p. 437, 48 Cal.Rptr.2d 525, 907 P.2d 373.)