Court Opinion

ID: 9549418
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 18:18:16.366441+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:20:17.606294
License: Public Domain

PETERS, P. J.
I dissent.
An examination of the record discloses that during the course of this trial at least three serious errors were committed. In my opinion, when these errors are considered in the light of the closeness of the ease on the evidence, they were prejudicial, and warrant a reversal.
The first of these errors relates to some six letters passing *912between Jane and Ernest Epidendio, the two complaining witnesses, while Ernest was in the army. The trial court sustained objections to the admission of these letters on the sole ground that they were privileged communications between husband and wife, even though the evidence disclosed that the letters had fallen into the hands of Mrs. Peak. The majority opinion holds that “all of the letters were admissible when limited to a consideration of that particular section [Code Civ. Proc., § 1881, subd. 1] but not otherwise.” It should be here pointed out, that in the trial court the only objections to these letters were that they were privileged, and that they tended to impeach certain witnesses only as to collateral issues. The trial court overruled this second objection, but excluded the letters solely upon the ground that they were privileged. We are all agreed that the letters were not privileged, and that in this respect the trial court was in error. The majority opinion, however, holds that it was not error for the trial court to exclude these letters because they were “merely evidence of the same character to the same point or, in a word, cumulative. (Code Civ. Proc., § 1938.) Under the circumstances the rejection of some of the letters was not error.” The majority opinion then relies on the well settled rule that a trial court “in its discretion may limit the number of witnesses or the number of documents to prove a particular link in a chain of evidence.” The obvious fallacy in this reasoning is that the trial court, in whom the discretion vests, has never exercised that discretion in this ease. Here the trial judge obviously believed the letters were pertinent, but erroneously believed they were privileged. The majority opinion seeks to substitute the discretion of an appellate court for that of the trial judge.
In an attempt to show that the improper rejection of these letters was not prejudicial, the majority opinion quotes a part of one paragraph from one letter that was admitted, and then concludes that the rejected letters were “merely” cumulative evidence to the same effect. This, in my opinion, is not a fair characterization of these letters. When read as a group, the excluded letters disclose that during Ernest’s absence while in the army, the store was kept open largely because of the initiative and hard work of appellant. They further disclose that there was bitter feeling between the Epidendios and the Peaks; that the divorce between Jane and Ernest had been caused by the unreasonable demands of the Epidendios upon *913their son; that the sister of Ernest had quarrelled with Jane over the management of the store, and had accused Jane of wasting Ernest’s money; that Jane had been forced to fire this girl; that the Epidendios were jealous because Jane’s father was helping to operate the store and because Jane had not turned the very profitable business over to them when Ernest went into the army. One letter told Ernest that if he was going to let his family order him around, as he had in the past, that they had better close up the store and move away.
These letters were most important. They disclose that while Ernest was in the army, both Jane and Ernest were deeply appreciative of appellant’s efforts on their behalf, that the relationship between Jane and Ernest and appellant was then most harmonious, and that appellant had done an outstanding job for them. Ernest had testified on the trial that appellant had done nothing out of the ordinary while Ernest was in the army, and Jane had testified that the business would not have closed even though appellant had not assisted her. Jane testified that neither her brother-in-law nor sister-in-law, while Ernest was in the army, attempted to create trouble between Ernest and her. The letters directly impeach this testimony. Of even greater importance, the jury could have inferred from these letters, had they been admitted, that the Epidendio family must have provoked a feeling of antagonism between appellant and Ernest and Jane after Ernest’s return, and the letters directly show what the motive of the Epidendio family was. It is true that some of these facts appear in the quoted letter. But all of them do not appear in that letter. These letters proved the background of the controversy between the two families by the very words of the two prosecuting witnesses. To refer to such testimony as “merely” cumulative, as does the majority opinion, is to close one’s eyes to the realities of the situation. Had the trial judge attempted to exercise his discretion and excluded these letters on the ground that they were merely cumulative, which he did not,, we would have been compelled to hold that he abused his discretion. In my opinion, this error was most prejudicial.
To understand the seriousness of this, and the other errors to which reference will hereafter be made, some reference must be made to the evidence. This is so, because to ascertain whether a particular error is or is not prejudicial the entire *914record must be. considered, including the evidence favorable to the defense. While an appellate court has no power to weigh the evidence, under section 4% of art. VI of the Constitution, in determining whether an error is prejudicial, the appellate court must make an examination “of the entire cause, including the evidence” in order to ascertain whether “the error complained of has resulted in a miscarriage of justice.” I have no doubt that the evidence recited in the majority opinion supports the judgment. But if' error has been committed, as I believe it has, then the court is under a duty not only to consider the prosecution’s evidence, but to consider the evidence as a whole, in order to ascertain the seriousness of the error. It is obvious that if the evidence is overwhelming in favor of the prosecution, or even if the weight of the evidence strongly favors the prosecution, a particular error may properly be held to be nonprejudicial. But if the case is a close one, with the evidence about evenly divided, it is equally obvious that the identical error may then be found to be prejudicial. ■
It will be noted that the majority opinion does not expressly hold that the evidence is .overwhelming, or that it even preponderates in favor of the prosecution. However, towards the end of the opinion, it is stated “that the jury could not conscientiously have returned any other verdict.” Such statement, in my opinion, is totally unwarranted by the record. It is not supported by any analysis of appellant’s testimony. An examination of the record, far from showing that no other verdict could “conscientiously” have been returned, demonstrates to a certainty that the case was a very close one on the facts. Stated another way, there was ample, substantial evidence, which, if believéd by the jury, would have compelled a “conscientious” jury to acquit the appellant.
The evidence produced by the prosecution, and recited in part in the majority opinion, supports the implied findings of the jury that appellant was an irascible man and a troublemaker, who, without lawful cause, committed an unjustifiable and most serious assault with a deadly weapon on his daughter and her husband. On the other hand, there is some evidence that bad feeling existed between the Epidendio family and that of Peak, and that such feeling was the fault of the Epidendios. The whole basis of the defense was that Peak knew of this ill feeling, and that when seven men and his daughter,
*915in a loud and boisterous manner, attempted to secure access to the house, he was in fear of injury to his wife or to himself; that he fired only after Willie Bpidendio had kicked in the door and after threats had been made against his life. There is substantial evidence to support this defense. It is an admitted fact that on the morning of November 14th, seven men and Jane Bpidendio arrived at 12 Sycamore Avenue in two trucks. The prosecution claimed, and offered evidence to prove, that they came only to remove the furniture and personal effects belonging to Jane and Ernest. The evidence shows that the only furniture Jane and Ernest had in the house was a living room set, two bedroom sets, a breakfast room set, and some kitchen furniture. The balance of the furniture belonged to appellant and his wife. Jane and Ernest admitted that they had made no arrangements for the storage of the furniture, and that it could not have been taken to the place in which they were then living. Incidentally, after the shooting, and up to the time of trial, the furniture had not been moved, and Jane and Ernest had not moved into the house, although the Peaks had moved out. There was evidence that when the crowd first arrived on the porch Jane yelled that they had come to move the furniture and the Peaks out of the house and that “she had been told she had a perfect legal right to use any force whatever to come in the house” to accomplish these results. Under such circumstances, the appearance of seven grown men to move this small amount of furniture, particularly in view of the threats made and the past relationship of the parties, might well have led a reasonable man to believe that this large group was there for some other purpose than merely to move the furniture.
There was substantial evidence not only of appellant, his wife, and their son, but also of a neighbor, Mrs. Campbell, that the seven men approached the house in a loud and tumultuous manner, swearing and making threats to injure Mr. Peak. According to this evidence, the men threatened to break in and “hang” or “kill” appellant. It is certainly a reasonable inference that appellant must have been fearful of injury because, at his request, his wife telephoned the sheriff and asked for help, and, when he refused to act because the house was located within an incorporated town, she telephoned the chief of police, but he refused to come to their assistance. The evidence produced by the prosecution shows that Jane brought a gun to the scene. Appellant testified that *916he saw one of the crowd with a gun, and another with an iron bar.
The defense also produced evidence of threats made by-Jane against her mother and father, and there was evidence that only a few days before the shooting Jane had choked her mother and threatened to kill her.
There was a direct conflict over whether the appellant and his wife paid rent for the premises. All admit that before appellant and his wife moved to 12 Sycamore Avenue, Jane and Ernest paid them $35 a month to care for their child. The grandparents had cared for the child from his birth. Appellant and his wife testified that the agreement was that if they came to stay at 12 Sycamore Avenue, the $35 per month payment should cease and that the $35 per month for the care of the child should be considered rent. Jane testified she continued to pay her parents $35 a month after they came to live with her, and that they paid no rent. There was no record of such payments kept by Jane.
There was a direct conflict as to whether Jane had paid appellant for his services at the store. Jane testified she first paid him $35 per week, and later $50 per week for such services. Peak denied receiving any payments. Jane testified that she made the payments in cash, and admitted that no record was kept in the store books of such payments. She testified that the reason the transaction was so handled was because if her father was an employee he would have to get a Social Security card, that he had none, and did not want to get one. Appellant, however, produced his Social Security card which he had had for at least two years.
Jane testified that many quarrels occurred between Ernest and her father, and that her father swore at and threatened Ernest on many occasions. Ernest testified that he had never heard appellant swear at him, nor had they quarrelled.
As to the actual shooting, appellant testified that he was fearful that the men intended to harm him and his wife. He testified, and his story is corroborated by his wife and son, and partially by Mrs. Campbell, that he did not get the shotgun until he saw someone in the group outside with a pistol and another one with an iron bar; that the crowd called him vile names and dared him to come out; that they threatened to beat him up, to hang him, and to kill him; that just before the shooting, Willie Epidendio was standing beside the front door pounding on the door; that Willie yelled “I am going— *917you God damned son-of-a-biteh—to kill you”; that with that he kicked in the glass of the lower panel of the door; that a cúrtain was drawn over the door so that all that could be seen were Willie’s legs; that when Willie kicked in the glass, appellant turned the shotgun away from Willie and fired onto the porch; that he did not want to hit Willie and aimed at the porch to scare him; that he did not know Jane and Ernest were then coming up on the porch; that they walked into the line of fire; that he had not intended to hit anyone.
This evidence is not recited for the purpose of indicating that it is stronger evidence than that produced by the prosecution. The credibility of the witnesses was, of course, for the jury. But the above evidence is recited for the purpose of showing that there was substantial evidence in support of the defense, that the case was a very close one on the facts, and that the statement appearing in the majority opinion quoted above is not borne out by the record. Under such circumstances, any substantial error takes on added significance. If error is committed, and if reasonable minds may reasonably differ over whether it is prejudicial, the benefit of the doubt should be accorded the accused, and the case reversed.
There was another serious error committed at the trial in connection with the unreasonable and improper limitation placed by the trial court on the cross-examination of the witness Miller. Miller was one of the group outside the house. The prosecution did not produce him as a witness in presenting its main case. Appellant testified that he saw Miller on the porch with an iron bar in his hand, and that this was one of the reasons he was afraid to let the group into the house. The prosecution thereupon called Miller as a rebuttal witness. He was asked if, on the morning of November 14, 1943, he was at the premises at 12 Sycamore Avenue in Larkspur. He answered that he had been, and in response to another question stated that he had been on the front porch of the premises that day. He then testified that at no time that morning did he have an iron bar or any other kind of weapon in his hand or possession.
On cross-examination he testified that he was on the porch of the house for about fifteen minutes, and then left. He was "then asked: “Tell me everything you did from the time you ~"‘got there until you left. ’ ’ He was not permitted to answer This question, the trial court-siistaining an objection that this - *918was beyond the scope of the direct examination. A like objection was sustained to the questions: “What were you doing? What did you go there for?”
These questions were vital to the defense. The entire defense was predicated on the theory that appellant was fearful of his life, and one of the reasons given was that Miller had come up on the porch with an iron bar in his hand. The prosecution elected on Miller ’s direct examination to ask him questions that placed the witness on the porch on the day in question. That opened up the question as to everything he did there on that- day. Under section 2048 of the Code of Civil Procedure appellant had the right on cross-examination, to examine the witness “as to any facts stated in his direct examination or connected therewith. ’ ’ As was held in People v. Flores, 15 Cal.App.2d 385, 401. [59 P.2d 517] : “A full cross-examination is not a matter of privilege; it is a matter of ‘absolute right.’ ” (See, also, Code Civ. Proc., §1854, and People v. Teshara, 141 Cal. 633, 636 [75 P. 338] ; People v. Mammilato, 168 Cal. 207, 213 [142 P. 58]; People v. Roach, 139 Cal.App. 384, 385 [33 P.2d 895].) It certainly was pertinent to inquire about everything Miller did during his stay on the porch, and to ascertain why he had come. It was appellant’s word against that of the witness on the vital question as to whether the witness had an iron bar in his hand. Certainly the defense should have been accorded the fullest opportunity to check the witness’ activities while on the porch so that the jury could have the opportunity of determining who was telling the. truth.
The majority opinion holds that the sustaining of the objection to the first question above quoted was not error for the reason that the “question is rather broad and might call for a lengthy dissertation on irrelevant and immaterial matters. ” No objection was made to the form of the question. The objection was sustained on the sole ground that it went beyond the scope of the direct examination. Nothing that Miller could have done from his arrival on the porch to his departure therefrom could be irrelevant or immaterial on the vital issue under discussion. As to the sustaining of the objection to the question “What did you go there for?” the majority opinion, states “the answer ... . appears numerous times.” If by that statement it is meant to imply that the answer appears “numerous times” in the testimony of Miller,' it is a misinterpretation of the record. Miller at no time testi*919fied as to why he had gone to the Peak home that morning. If the statement in the majority opinion means that other witnesses testified that all of the group went to the house to move the furniture, it is a correct statement of the record, but it has no relevancy at all to the point under discussion. Just because several witnesses have testified to their purpose in doing an act, that does not warrant the court in prohibiting an inquiry into the purpose of a witness who is under examination when that purpose is relevant to the issue under discussion. Miller’s purpose was of great importance. If he went there to assault appellant, the fact that the others were there to move the furniture would be immaterial. Under the circumstances, the limitation on the cross-examination was unwarranted, was not within any lawful discretion of the trial court, and when considered with the other errors, warrants a reversal.
The trial court, in my opinion, also committed prejudicial error in the instruction quoted on page 1036 of the majority opinion. By that instruction the court told the jury that if they should find that appellant was a licensee, then he had no right “to exclude” Jane and Ernest from the premises, “nor did he have the right to use any force or violence to prevent them, or either of them, from entering said premises together, and any assault with a deadly weapon by the defendant upon said Ernest Epidendio and Jane Epidendio, while they, or either of them, were entering or attempting to enter the said premises together, would not be justified(Italics added.) That is not the law. By that instruction the jury were told that if they found that the Peaks were licensees and not tenants entitled to the exclusive use of the premises, then, under no circumstances could appellant use any force or violence to prevent, Jane and Ernest from entering, regardless of how that right was sought to be exercised, and regardless of the purpose of the entry, and that, under such circumstances, any assault committed by appellant “would not be justified.” The basic issue presented to the jury was whether the shooting, which was admitted, was justified. By this instruction the jury were told that if they found certain facts to be true, then the assult was not justified. Inasmuch as this was the only issue before the jury, there can be no escape from the conclusion that such an instruction amounted to a direction to the jury to find the defendant guilty if they found he was a licensee. The instruction is obviously incomplete in that it disregards completely *920the manner in which the right of entry, assuming it to exist, was attempted to be exercised, disregards the purpose of the entry, and completely disregards the entire defense of self-defense. It would have been simple enough to have placed the proper limitations in this instruction so as to present a proper picture of the law to the jury. It is no answer to say that the jury was properly instructed on self-defense. The challenged instruction was given immediately after the instructions on self-defense. As I read the instructions, the one under consideration reads as if it were a limitation on the self-defense instructions. To say the least, the jury may reasonably have believed that self-defense was available only if appellant was a tenant, not if he were a licensee. This error was obviously prejudicial.
In view of these several errors it is my opinion that the judgment and orders appealed from should be reversed, and a new trial ordered.
A petition for a rehearing was denied December 7, 1944. Peters, P. J., voted for a rehearing. Appellant’s petition for a hearing by the Supreme Court was denied December 21, 1944. Carter, J., and Schauer, J., voted for a hearing.