Court Opinion

ID: 9720353
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 08:27:22.105142+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:24:16.478605
License: Public Domain

*838DALSIMER, J.
—I respectfullydissent. The erroneous denial of appellant’s motion to exclude evidence of his robbery convictions constituted prejudicial error requiring reversal of the judgment. The record expressly reveals that appellant’s decision not to testify was caused by the court’s denial of the motion and the likelihood of appellant’s impeachment with identical priors should he take the stand. (Cf. People v. Broder (1983) 147 Cal.App.3d 572, 575-576 [195 Cal.Rptr. 264]; People v. Burdine (1979) 99 Cal.App.3d 442, 450 [160 Cal.Rptr. 375].)
Our Supreme Court has repeatedly held that evaluation of the impact on the jury of testimony a defendant would have given but did not give is ordinarily beyond the ability of an appellate court. {People v. Barrick (1982) 33 Cal.3d 115, 130 [187 Cal.Rptr. 716, 654 P.2d 1243]; People v. Spearman (1979) 25 Cal.3d 107, 118-119 [157 Cal.Rptr. 883, 599 P.2d 74]; People v. Fries (1979) 24 Cal.3d 222, 233-234 [155 Cal.Rptr. 194, 594 Cal.Rptr. 19]; People v. Rist (1976) 16 Cal.3d 211, 223 [127 Cal.Rptr. 457, 545 P.2d 833].)
At the heart of this case is a credibility conflict between the two prosecution witnesses, Henry Parker and Andree DeVeres, who placed appellant at Snappy’s Liquor Store, and the two defense witnesses, Alvines Richards and Olivia Verrett, who testified that appellant was sick at Richards’ house on the evening in question. A case with a credibility conflict is exactly the type of case where a defendant’s testimony is most crucial and where an appellate court is least able to evaluate the impact of a defendant’s failure to testify.
This court is bound by the holding of the Supreme Court in People v. Spearman, supra, 25 Cal.3d at pages 118-119 (fn. omitted): “Whether the jury would have believed [appellant’s] testimony calls for speculation beyond the powers of this appellate court. ‘The appellate court is limited to the mute record below. Many factors may affect the probative value of testimony, such as age, sex, intelligence, experience, occupation, demean- or, or temperament of the witness. A trial court or jury before whom witnesses appear is at least in a position to take note of such factors. An appellate court has no way of doing so. It cannot know whether a witness answered some questions forthrightly but evaded others. It may find an answer convincing and truthful in written form that may have sounded unreliable at the time it was given. A well-phrased sentence in the record may have seemed rehearsed at the trial. A clumsy sentence in the record may not convey the ring of truth that attended it when the witness groped his way to its articulation.’ (Traynor, The Riddle of Harmless Error (1970) pp. 20-21; see also, People v. Fries, supra, 24 Cal.3d at p. 228.) For this court to reject the possibility that the jury might have believed appellant *839would involve not only a high degree of presumption, but also, in certain respects, an invasion of the province of the jury. By refusing to indulge in speculation, this court preserves the right of every accused person to present his version of the case to the jury, [1] This court, therefore, has no basis for concluding that appellant’s testimony would not have affected the result of the trial. ‘[Ejrrors at a trial that deprive a litigant of the opportunity to present his version of the case . . . are . . . ordinarily reversible, since there is no way of evaluating whether or not they affected the judgment.’ (Tray-nor, op. cit. supra, at p. 68.) A conviction under such circumstances is a ‘miscarriage of justice’ within the meaning of article VI, section 13 of the California Constitution. [Citations.]”
The majority circumvents Spearman by speculating as to what appellant’s testimony might have been and declaring that “defendant Fisher’s testimony could not have affected the result of the trial . . . .” (Majority opn., ante, p. 837.) The majority’s conclusion that the prosecution case is “overwhelming” is based entirely on its determination that Henry Parker and Andree DeVeres are more credible than Alvines Richards and Olivia Verrett. Thus the majority indulges in speculation and credibility assessments, both of which are directly contrary to Spearman.
The facts of this case demonstrate the inherent inadequacy of attempting credibility determinations on the basis of selected pieces of a trial transcript. The majority omits discussion of the impeachment of the witnesses whose testimony it finds overwhelming. Henry Parker’s initial description to police of his assailant did not match appellant in several significant aspects, and Mr. Parker did not tell police that he knew his assailant until later after he had conducted his own “investigation.”
Appellant was apparently known to Mr. Parker primarily as the person who reputedly had pulled a gun during a dispute several weeks earlier with Tony DeVeres, a friend of Mr. Parker. Tony DeVeres was the husband of Andree DeVeres, the only other witness who testified that appellant was at Snappy’s Liquor Store. Although Ms. DeVeres testified that she spoke at close range with appellant for 30 to 60 minutes, she also testified that she never saw the combination shotgun and rifle that Mr. Parker claimed appellant had used. Ms. DeVeres had earlier told a police officer a different version, one that corroborated Mr. Parker’s testimony, but she testified at trial that the earlier statement was not what she had actually seen. She acknowledged that she was “high” on alcohol at the time of the robbery. Since the robbery she had been charged with a felony narcotic violation which was pending at the time of her testimony. Henry Parker acknowledged that he had lied under oath at the preliminary hearing when he testified that he had not been drinking at the time of the incident. Terrence *840Melton, the store employee who testified that he saw a white-haired person running away from Mr. Parker, also testified that he was a friend of Mr. Parker and acknowledged that he had originally told the police that he did not see anyone else when he came out to help Mr. Parker. An appellate court has no way of assessing the impact of these inconsistencies and inferences of bias.
When a defendant is improperly prevented from testifying, reversal of a resultant criminal conviction is generally required unless the prosecution case is “irrebuttable.” {People v. Spearman, supra, 25 Cal.3d at p. 118.) The majority avoids this result by adopting an exception for cases in which other defense witnesses testify. The testimony of alibi witnesses is not an adequate substitute for the defendant’s own testimony. Appellant was the only witness who could testify not only as to his own whereabouts and activities at the time of the incident, but also as to his prior relationship with the prosecution witnesses. We cannot know what the jury’s verdict would have been if the testimony of Alvines Richards and Olivia Verrett had merely corroborated appellant’s own testimony, rather than constituting the entire defense.
The majority’s reliance upon People v. Betts (1980) 110 Cal.App.3d 225, [167 Cal.Rptr. 768], People v. Anjell (1979) 100 Cal.App.3d 189 [160 Cal.Rptr. 669], and People v. Lassell (1980) 108 Cal.App.3d 720 [166 Cal.Rptr. 678] is misplaced. None of these cases concerns the prejudice to a defendant who elects not to testify following the erroneous denial of his Beagle motion. People v. Betts, supra, 110 Cal.App.3d 225, concerns the impact of improper impeachment of a defendant who has testified. In both People v. Anjell, supra, 100 Cal.App.3d at pages 197-199, and People v. Lassell, supra, 108 Cal.App.3d at pages 730-731, the court reviewed the impact of the defendant’s failure to testify as one factor leading to the conclusion that the trial court properly exercised its discretion to deny the Beagle motion. Here the majority agrees that denial of the Beagle motion was error. Thus, Betts, Anjell, and Lassell are of no assistance in determining whether the error was prejudicial. That question must be resolved by following the standard articulated in People v. Spearman, supra, 25 Cal.3d 107.
“Courts exercising inferior jurisdiction must accept the law declared by courts of superior jurisdiction. It is not their function to attempt to overrule decisions of a higher court. [Citations.]” {Auto Equity Sales, Inc. v. Superior Court (1962) 57 Cal.2d 450, 455 [20 Cal.Rptr. 321, 369 P.2d 937].) I must express my heartfelt distress over my esteemed colleagues’ apparent refusal to be governed by the rule of law which requires all of us to conform to the decisions of our Supreme Court. I simply cannot accept the premise *841that the majority’s position results from a difference of opinion as to the holding in Spearman. Rather, it can only result from the majority’s disagreement with the Supreme Court’s holding in that case and in People v. Barrick, People v. Fries, and People v. Rist. Such blatant disregard of a higher court’s rulings encourages trial court error, which in turn causes the proliferation of appeals about which my colleagues so frequently complain.