Court Opinion

ID: 9583254
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 22:36:31.876369+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:38:54.119254
License: Public Domain

CARTER, J., dissenting.
Since the filing of the majority and dissenting opinions in this cause letters have been received from the District Attorney of Alameda County and from counsel for defendant Williams calling attention to certain discrepancies in the majority opinion and in the dissenting opinion prepared by me relative to the seating arrangement of the witness Belle Jarrett and the various attorneys in the courtroom during the trial. Attached to the correspondence of the district attorney is a diagram showing the seating arrangement of the various participants in the trial. The accuracy of this diagram is questioned' in some minor respects by counsel for defendant Williams, but I accept the diagram as being substantially correct. The district attorney concedes in his letter that “it is difficult, if not impossible, to glean from the Eeporter’s Transcript the exact relative positions of the witness and the various attorneys. ” For this reason, I accepted as correct and accurate the statement contained in defendant Bowie’s brief, which statement was not challenged by respondent, and quoted the same verbatim in my dissenting opinion.
*101From the diagram now presented by the district attorney it appears that the two prosecuting attorneys were seated at the left half of the counsel table directly in front of the jury, and counsel for defense were seated at the right half of the counsel table alongside of the prosecuting attorneys, and the defendants were seated directly to the rear of their respective counsel. The witness Belle Jarrett was seated to the left rear of the prosecuting attorneys and to the extreme left of one facing the jury box. It therefore appears from this diagram that in order for counsel for defendants to see the witness it was necessary for them to turn around in their respective chairs and look in the opposite direction from the counsel table. In so doing they could see only the right side of the witness’ face. Likewise, the defendants by turning to their left could see the right side of the witness’ face. Mention is made in the correspondence of the district attorney that counsel for defendant Bowie was offered and accepted a seat at the left end of the counsel table during the cross-examination of the witness. This would place him in a position about 7 feet from and directly in front of the witness.
While the situation disclosed by the diagram submitted by the district attorney with respect to the seating arrangement in the courtroom is somewhat different than that depicted in the quotation from appellant Bowie’s brief contained in my dissenting opinion, I am still of the view that defendants were denied the right of confrontation as provided by section 686 of the Penal Code and that the reasoning and authorities contained in my dissenting opinion are applicable to the seating arrangement in the courtroom as disclosed by the diagram submitted by the district attorney. For this reason I am not disposed to depart from the conclusion there announced.