 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to DUI Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
People v. Mayfield1/2/1997
ayfield squarely denied making the statement to which Detective Amicone testified. The evidence the trial court admitted was clearly inconsistent with this testimony.
Defendant argues that the admissions exception does not apply to the second level of hearsay because the statement did not purport to be a verbatim account of words that defendant spoke to Roy Mayfield; rather, the statement on its face was merely Roy Mayfield's impression of what had occurred during the shooting of Sergeant Wolfley without purporting to reveal the information from which Roy Mayfield had derived that impression.
Again, we are unpersuaded. Detective Amicone testified that he asked Roy Mayfield if he would relate what defendant had told him. The statement at issue appeared to be responsive to this request. Thus, the jury could reasonably infer that the statement's description of the shooting of Sergeant Wolfley was a summary or paraphrase of defendant's statements to Roy Mayfield. This was sufficient to satisfy the hearsay exception for party admissions.
6. Ineffective Assistance of Counsel
Defendant contends that defendant's trial counsel should have elicited two items of "critical exculpatory evidence" during cross-examination of Detective Amicone and Roy Mayfield, and that counsel's failure to do so denied defendant his constitutional rights to effective assistance of counsel (U.S. Const., 6th Amend.; Cal. Const., art. I, § 15), due process of law (U.S. Const., 14th Amend.), and a reliable guilt determination in a capital case (id., 8th Amend.).
The first item that defendant characterizes as "critical exculpatory evidence" is testimony that Detective Amicone gave during the admissibility hearing. The trial court asked Amicone to read for the record the Roy Mayfield statement exactly as it appeared in Amicone's report. Amicone replied: "What I said is Mr. Mayfield stated to me, quote, basically the officer confronted him, parenthesis, suspect Mayfield, end parenthesis, with a gun, period. He, parenthesis, Wolfley, end parenthesis, pressed him, parenthesis, Mayfield, end parenthesis, and he, parenthesis, Mayfield, end parenthesis, took it. The officer took it back, comma, and that's when the shot was fired, close quote, period." (Italics added.)
Defendant notes that the italicized language was at variance with Amicone's testimony before the jury and was significantly more favorable to defendant, suggesting that the officer had undisputed possession of the gun when the fatal shot was fired. It is clear, however, that the officer simply misspoke. Amicone's report was admitted in evidence as exhibit 266, and is part of the appellate record. As it appears in the report, the Roy Mayfield statement is: " 'Basically the officer confronted him (suspect Mayfield) with a gun. He (Wolfley) pressed him (Mayfield) and he (Mayfield) took it. The officer tried to take it back, and that's when the shot was fired.' " (Italics added.) Cross-examination about Detective Amicone's erroneous reading of the report during the admissibility hearing would not have materially assisted the defense; it would merely have served to emphasize the inculpatory aspects of the Roy Mayfield statement.
The other item that defendant characterizes as "critical exculpatory evidence" is Roy Mayfield's testimony at the admissibility hearing that what he told the officers was "From what I gather there was a struggle over the gun, the gun went off." Defendant contends that his trial counsel should have brought out this testimony on cross-examination of Roy Mayfield because it was entirely consistent with defendant's testimony. But counsel's decision not to elicit this evidence was a reasonabl
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 California DUI Attorneys
DUI Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to DUI Lawyers in your area.
|
|