People v. Gomez
| Decision Date | 21 May 1999 |
| Docket Number | No. B119652,B119652 |
| Citation | 72 Cal.App.4th 405,85 Cal.Rptr.2d 101 |
| Court | California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals |
| Parties | , 99 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 3804, 1999 Daily Journal D.A.R. 4877 The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Daniel R. GOMEZ, Defendant and Appellant. |
Michael T. Shannon, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, Pasadena, for Defendant and Appellant.
Daniel E. Lungren and Bill Lockyer, Attorneys General, George Williamson, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Carol Wendelin Pollack, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Mary Sanchez, Supervising Deputy Attorney General, and Joseph P. Lee, Deputy Attorney General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.
In this case, we decide expert testimony regarding battered women's syndrome is not relevant unless there is sufficient factual evidence that the victim is a battered woman.
A jury found Daniel R. Gomez (Gomez) guilty of assault with a deadly weapon and by means of force likely to produce great bodily injury (Pen.Code, § 245, subd. (a)(1)), 1 during the commission of which he personally inflicted great bodily injury under circumstances involving domestic violence (§ 12022.7, subd. (d)), misdemeanor battery of a cohabitant (§ 243, subd. (e)), and misdemeanor assault (§ 240). The jury found Gomez not guilty of willfully inflicting corporal injury on a cohabitant (§ 273.5). In a bifurcated proceeding, the trial court found true allegations Gomez previously had been convicted of four serious or violent felonies within the meaning of the Three Strikes law (§ 667, subds. (b) to (i)). The trial court sentenced Gomez to 25 years to life in prison. He timely filed a notice of appeal.
Gomez contends the trial court erred when it allowed the prosecutor to present expert testimony regarding battered women's syndrome. He argues this expert testimony was irrelevant because no evidence showed the victim in this case was a battered woman. He further asserts the evidence was highly prejudicial and its admission requires reversal of his convictions. We agree and reverse the judgment.
In April of 1997, Vanessa De La Nunez (De La Nunez) and Gomez were living together as boyfriend and girlfriend, as they had done for approximately 13 months. De La Nunez worked at a dental office. On the morning of Wednesday, April 9, she was running late and had not stopped to prepare liver for their pit bull. Gomez, who had taken a day off from his work, was "bothered." He was unhappy because he and De La Nunez had a number of engagements they were going to have to break because she had decided to go to work that day. After complaining that De La Nunez was not doing her job, Gomez started to cook the liver himself. Gomez and De La Nunez exchanged words, then started to argue. After they had argued for several minutes, De La Nunez went into the bathroom and continued to get ready for work. Gomez remained in the kitchen, cooking the liver and preparing breakfast.
De La Nunez, who was "upset from hearing [Gomez's] constant complaining," became "very angry." Using profanity, she told Gomez that he did not have to finish the cooking. De La Nunez, who was angrier than Gomez, walked into the kitchen and grabbed Gomez's right arm as he was standing at the kitchen sink. De La Nunez pushed Gomez and, although he again complained, he said he would finish the cooking.
De La Nunez went back into the bathroom for a few minutes. When she returned to the kitchen, the situation "escalated." She became more abusive verbally and again grabbed Gomez's arm. As Gomez turned around, De La Nunez realized he had a knife in his hand. She grabbed the knife in an attempt to take it away from Gomez. De La Nunez, however, did not realize that she had grabbed the blade of the 14-inch knife. When Gomez backed up, De La Nunez continued to hold onto the blade, which cut her index and middle fingers.
After realizing she had been cut, De La Nunez, who was still angry with Gomez, also became frightened and nervous. Gomez retrieved a towel from the bathroom and wrapped De La Nunez's hand in it. The two then "headed toward [ ] the door because [De La Nunez] knew that [she] needed medical attention." However, De La Nunez was still angry with Gomez and she cursed at him, telling him that she did not want him to take her to the hospital.
As De La Nunez stepped out of the house, her parents drove up in their car. De La Nunez's parents drove her to the hospital, while Gomez followed in a separate car. De La Nunez believed the accident with the knife occurred at approximately 8:30 a.m. She arrived at the Glendale Memorial Hospital emergency room at approximately 9:30 a.m.
At the hospital, De La Nunez told a physician that she had "cut [her]self with a knife." When the doctor inquired further, De La Nunez said, " 'I took the knife away from my boyfriend.' " De La Nunez did not tell the doctor that her boyfriend had been threatening her. De La Nunez explained to the doctor that the injuries visible on her neck had occurred two days before the "incident" with the knife. Her neck injuries occurred when she, Gomez, and other family members had gone to the park. De La Nunez's son and sister had started to wrestle and, when De La Nunez tried to break them apart, De La Nunez's sister scratched De La Nunez on the neck.
While still at the hospital, De La Nunez spoke with two police officers. She was hesitant to speak with the officers because she at "no time ... indicate[d] that [hospital personnel] should call the police or that [she] needed that type of assistance...." When she spoke with the officers, De La Nunez admitted she was "not truthful." She was still extremely angry and was "trying to get [Gomez] in trouble." Since the officers' questions were "leading and suggestive," it was easy for De La Nunez to answer them. However, De La Nunez never told the officers that Gomez had become angry, had yelled profanities at her, and had then held a large kitchen knife to her throat. De La Nunez never told officers that, while he held the knife at her throat, Gomez said, " 'Why are you making me do this?' " De La Nunez also never told the officers she was frightened and grabbed the knife blade in self-defense and to avoid serious injury.
De La Nunez returned home that evening and received a call from Gomez, who had been arrested and taken into custody. Throughout the next several months, Gomez placed numerous collect telephone calls from the jail to De La Nunez. The collect charges for De La Nunez's telephone bill for April 1997, amounted to $84.29. Collect charges were $538.39 for May, $347.46 for June, and $172.70 for July. Collect calls for August and September totaled more than $1,000.
On the morning of April 9, 1997, Los Angeles Police Officer Cynthia Griffith (Griffith) and her partner, Jose Arellano, responded to a call directing them to Glendale Memorial Hospital to investigate an assault with a deadly weapon related to domestic violence. At approximately 10:05 a.m., the officers interviewed De La Nunez. Most of the questions Griffith asked De La Nunez called for a narrative answer. De La Nunez told Griffith that she and Gomez had argued about whether she should go to work. While De La Nunez was in the bathroom getting ready to leave, the argument became more heated and Gomez began to shout profanities at her. Gomez grabbed a knife from the kitchen and moved toward her. Holding the knife in a "horizontal manner," he placed it against De La Nunez's throat and said, " 'Why are you making me do this?' " De La Nunez was frightened and grabbed the knife blade with her right hand in an attempt to defend herself. When Gomez saw De La Nunez holding the knife, he "pulled it in a sliding manner away from her hand, injuring her fingers."
When Griffith asked De La Nunez if she was afraid of Gomez, De La Nunez looked away and appeared "a little shaken." When Griffith asked De La Nunez if she was " 'afraid [Gomez] was going to hurt [her],' " De La Nunez moved her head up and down and began to cry and "shak[e] all over." Griffith noticed there were faint but distinctive scratches on De La Nunez's throat. De La Nunez explained that the scratches were "from the knife."
Dr. Karen Feeney (Feeney) was working in the emergency room when De La Nunez arrived. When Feeney interviewed De La Nunez at approximately 9:10 a.m., De La Nunez stated Gomez had been threatening her. De La Nunez had cut her hand when she tried to take a knife away from Gomez. De La Nunez did not tell Feeney that she had injured her hand because she had grabbed a knife without looking. Feeney did not treat De La Nunez for any neck injuries.
Prior to trial, the prosecutor indicated she intended to present expert testimony regarding battered women's syndrome. The expert, Gail Pinkus (Pinkus), is the director of a domestic abuse center which deals with battered women and their children as well as a licensed clinical social worker and a mental health professional. The prosecutor asserted Pinkus's testimony was necessary to show "why women who have been assaulted by their husbands or boyfriends later recant, minimize, suffer memory lapses due to post-traumatic stress, and decline to 'prosecute' their assailants."
Outside the presence of the jury, the trial court indicated it would allow the testimony on a limited basis. The court stated, "I want Defense counsel objected to Pinkus's testimony, arguing there was "no evidence of any prior conduct that would make this expert's testimony relevant...." Counsel asserted there was no evidence of any prior violent conduct or abuse, and that the People had failed to lay any factual foundation for Pinkus's testimony. In response, the trial court stated the evidence...
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