Opinion ID: 1249738
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Allegation of Having Weapon in 1975.

Text: In his opening statement the prosecutor mentioned an alleged 1975 incident in which a piece of metal was discovered missing from defendant's toilet. The object was never found and defendant moved to exclude any testimony about its disappearance because the jury might speculate he had taken it for a forbidden purpose. The court agreed, changing its original ruling. After the presentation of evidence concerning the 1976 event, the prosecutor raised the matter of the excluded evidence of the 1975 event outside the jury's presence. He said, the court has put me in an embarrassing situation where I have already made my opening statement on removing the metal from the sink [ sic ].... He again asked to introduce evidence of the item's disappearance; the court again denied the motion. Defendant now contends that he was prejudiced by the prosecution's reference to the uncharged incident in his opening statement. [15] (47) Preliminarily, we address the People's contention that the court erred in denying them the right to introduce evidence of the missing piece of metal. On this record we cannot agree. The People have not shown that the prosecution would have laid a foundation that the toilet was intact before defendant began to occupy the cell and that defendant was the only person who could have tampered with the toilet. Perhaps their witness, a prison guard, could have established the necessary facts, but we cannot assume so. (48) For his part, defendant contends the court erred in permitting the prosecution to mention, in his opening statement, a matter that would later be excluded. We disagree. The court was not asked to hold a hearing before the opening of the penalty phase to decide the admissibility of penalty phase evidence (see People v. Phillips (1985) 41 Cal.3d 29, 72, fn. 25 [222 Cal. Rptr. 127, 711 P.2d 423]). Nor, even had error occurred, would it have been prejudicial. The brief reference to an uncharged act in the midst of a long opening statement may have had some slight effect on the jurors, but the matter was never raised again and the jury was instructed it could consider in aggravation only crimes the prosecution had proved beyond a reasonable doubt. Moreover, defendant himself referred to uncharged incidents involving possession of a knife. Under these circumstances there is no reasonable possibility that the prosecutor's statement prejudiced defendant. ( People v. Brown, supra, 46 Cal.3d 432, 448.) By comparison, in Ex parte Whisenhant (Ala. 1984) 482 So.2d 1247, on which defendant relies, the prosecutor opened his penalty case by stating that the defendant had robbed and murdered  allegations that were never taken up in the evidentiary phase. ( Id. at p. 1248.) Defendant also contends the prosecutor's reference violated his Eighth Amendment right to reliability in the fact-finding process. Because the reference was so unimportant, it cannot have had the effect defendant ascribes to it.