People v. Duarte

• Court: California Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: WERDEGAR, J.
• Citation: People v. Duarte, 101 Cal.Rptr.2d 701, 12 P.3d 1110, 24 Cal.4th 603 (Cal. 2000)
• Decision Date: 04 December 2000
• Docket Number: No. S068162.,S068162.
• Parties: The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Danny DUARTE, Defendant and Appellant.

101 Cal.Rptr.2d 701

24 Cal.4th 603

12 P.3d 1110

The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Danny DUARTE, Defendant and Appellant.

No. S068162.

Supreme Court of California.

December 4, 2000.

Dennis A. Fischer, Santa Monica, under appointment by the Supreme Court; Maureen DeMaio, Santa Barbara, under appointment by the Court of Appeal; Law Offices of Dennis A. Fischer and John M. Bishop, Riverside, for Defendant and Appellant.

Daniel E. Lungren and Bill Lockyer, Attorneys General, George Williamson and David P. Druliner, Chief Assistant Attorneys General, Carol Wendelin Pollack, Assistant Attorney General, Robert Carl Schneider, Sanjay T. Kumar, Robert F. Katz and Peggie Bradford Tarwater, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

WERDEGAR, J.

The jury in this case convicted defendant Danny Duarte of shooting at an inhabited dwelling, conspiracy, and assault with a firearm after the court admitted into evidence a police sergeant's hearsay testimony relating an alleged accomplice's postarrest declarations that implicated defendant as well as the declarant. We conclude the trial court committed prejudicial error in admitting the hearsay evidence. We therefore affirm the judgment of the Court of Appeal reversing defendant's conviction.

Background

As stated by the Court of Appeal, the relevant facts are as follows.

On an October evening in 1994, Leslie Sullivan was working at the computer in her home while her two children were down the hall sleeping. Suddenly, a barrage of bullets hit the house. Running toward the children's room, Ms. Sullivan was struck in the thigh with an assault rifle bullet. Ventura County Sheriffs deputies later found numerous shell casings and spent rounds, including some from a nine-millimeter weapon and some from a 7.62 millimeter assault rifle, in front of the Sullivan residence.

Police officers served search warrants at the residences of Eran Knox, William (Billy) Morris and defendant. At defendant's residence, the officers recovered a .22-caliber revolver, a 12-gauge shotgun, ammunition, gun cleaning kits and photographs of handguns. None of the recovered guns or ammunition matched those used in the attack at the Sullivan home. Defendant refused to talk to the police officers and was arrested.

No evidence was recovered at Knox's residence, but he was handcuffed and transported to the police station. There, Knox told officers that, on the evening of the shooting, he, Morris and defendant met with friends at Borchard Park, where they smoked marijuana and drank rum. Defendant suggested they shoot at the residence of Tarn Nguyen in retaliation for a shooting several months earlier. Knox and Morris initially refused, but defendant persuaded Morris to join him. Defendant, Morris and Gilberto Lopez left in Morris's car; Knox stayed behind. A short time later, Knox heard gunshots. Subsequently, Knox telephoned his brothers and asked them to pick him up at the park. As he was waiting for his brothers to arrive, Knox saw defendant, Morris and Lopez return. Knox also told officers he previously had seen at defendant's house a Tec-9 and an SKS assault rifle and ammunition for each of these firearms.

At Morris's residence, officers recovered ammunition for a nine-millimeter weapon and a 7.62-millimeter weapon and paraphernalia for an SKS assault rifle. Several 7.62-millimeter casings found in Morris's backpack were made the same year and by the same manufacturer as those found outside the Sullivan residence. Morris was arrested, waived his rights under Miranda v. Arizona (1966) 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694, and spoke to the officers. During the interview, Morris incriminated himself and defendant, saying, among other things, that they had realized from news accounts that they had shot at the wrong house.

Defendant and Morris were tried separately, Morris first. Morris was convicted and sentenced to the care of the California Youth Authority. Knox and Morris both testified at defendant's first trial, which ended in a mistrial when the jury was unable to reach a verdict. Several jurors subsequently indicated they had been concerned about the reliability of Knox's testimony, which had been impeached with his prior inconsistent statements.

At defendant's second trial, the subject of this appeal, Knox again testified, and again his testimony was extensively impeached. Witnesses identified omissions and inconsistencies in his statements relating to, e.g., who was in Borchard Park on the night of the shooting and at what time, events in the park that night, the time at which Knox heard gunshots, marijuana and rum consumption by those present, Knox's movements and the movements of others, who was in the car and where, what kinds of guns Knox saw (or did not see) at defendant's residence, and the "slim jimming"¹ of an automobile.

Morris invoked his Fifth Amendment right not to testify, an invocation the parties stipulated was valid due to his possible prosecution for perjury should he testify. The court denied defendant's motion to exclude any evidence of Morris's postarrest statements, ruling that the statements, redacted to omit any reference to Morris's companions, were admissible as being against Morris's penal interest (Evid.Code, § 1230, hereafter section 1230) and were relevant to corroborate Knox's testimony. The statements were placed into evidence by Sergeant Frank O'Hanlon, who testified about what Morris had said to him after he was arrested.

During deliberations, the jury inquired twice about Morris's statements (asking to see Morris's "confession ... in its entirety") and once about Knox's testimony.

Defendant was convicted of shooting at an inhabited dwelling (Pen. Code, § 246), conspiracy to shoot at an inhabited dwelling (id., §§ 182, subd. (a)(1), 246) and assault with a firearm (id, § 245, subd. (a)(2)). The jury also found true a personal-firearm-use enhancement (id, § 12022.5, subd. (a)(1)). Defendant was sentenced to a prison term of nine years.

On appeal, the Court of Appeal, one justice dissenting, held that the trial court erred in admitting Morris's redacted statements because they did not satisfy the reliability requirement of section 1230 and, in addition, their admission violated defendant's rights under the confrontation clause of the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Finding that the trial court's erroneous admission of the statements was not harmless beyond a reasonable doubt (Chapman v. California (1967) 386 U.S. 18, 24, 87 S.Ct. 824, 17 L.Ed.2d 705), the Court of Appeal reversed defendant's conviction.

We granted the People's petition for review and now affirm the judgment of the Court of Appeal.

Discussion

Having invoked his Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself, Morris was, for hearsay rule purposes, not available as a witness. (Evid.Code, § 240, subd. (a)(1); People v. Gordon (1990) 50 Cal.3d 1223, 1251, 270 Cal.Rptr. 451, 792 P.2d 251, overruled on another point in People v. Edwards (1991) 54 Cal.3d 787, 835, 1 Cal.Rptr.2d 696, 819 P.2d 436.) Accordingly, at his second trial defendant was afforded no opportunity to cross-examine Morris.

Defendant contends, and the Court of Appeal agreed, that the trial court erred in admitting under section 1230 Sergeant O'Hanlon's testimony relating Morris's postarrest statements. Defendant also contends that the Court of Appeal correctly reversed his conviction because it was obtained in contravention of the federal constitutional guarantee, made applicable to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment (Pointer v. Texas (1965) 380 U.S. 400, 403-405, 85 S.Ct. 1065, 13 L.Ed.2d 923), that the accused in a criminal prosecution shall enjoy the right to be confronted with the witnesses against him (U.S. Const., 6th Amend.).

"It is well established that `we do not reach constitutional questions unless absolutely required to do so to dispose of the matter before us.'" (People v. Leonard (1983) 34 Cal.3d 183, 187, 193 Cal.Rptr. 171, 666 P.2d 28.) Accordingly, before addressing defendant's confrontation clause claim, we examine his claim of error respecting the trial court's evidentiary ruling.

A. Evidence Code Section 1230

Sergeant O'Hanlon's testimony relating Morris's postarrest statements, admitted for the truth of those statements, was hearsay. (Evid.Code, § 1200, subd. (a).) Unless it falls within an exception to the general rule, hearsay is not admissible. (Id., subd. (b).) "The chief reasons for this general rule of inadmissibility are that the statements are not made under oath, the adverse party has no opportunity to cross-examine the declarant, and the jury cannot observe the declarant's demeanor while making the statements." (People v. Fuentes (1998) 61 Cal.App.4th 956, 960-961, 72 Cal.Rptr.2d 237; see also Williamson v. United States (1994) 512 U.S. 594, 598-599, 114 S.Ct. 2431, 129 L.Ed.2d 476 [discussing similar rationale underlying federal hearsay rule].)

In California, "[e]vidence of a statement by a declarant having sufficient knowledge of the subject is not made inadmissible by the hearsay rule if the declarant is unavailable as a witness and the statement, when made, ... so far subjected him to the risk of ... criminal liability ... that a reasonable man in his position would not have made the statement unless he believed it to be true." (§ 1230.) The proponent of such evidence must show that the declarant is unavailable, that the declaration was against the declarant's penal interest when made and that the declaration was sufficiently reliable to warrant admission despite its hearsay character. (People v. Lucas (1995) 12 Cal.4th 415, 462, 48 Cal.Rptr.2d 525, 907 P.2d 373.)

There is no dispute that Morris was unavailable. The question, therefore, is whether the trial court correctly determined that Morris's declaration was both against his penal interest and otherwise sufficiently reliable to warrant admission despite its hearsay character....