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People v. Mayfield1/2/1997
o say 'you're in this situation because you're hanging around with those losing niggers who ain't got nothing going for them.' She says, 'you know, you cannot talk back to a man with a gun. I realize you're big and you're strong and, yeah, you took the gun and you shot him. But that's not macho, it's not doing nothing for nobody. And the only person it's going to hurt in the long run is you.' " This was a direct quotation of Hester's statements as captured on tape, and it was relevant as an adoptive admission by defendant concerning the circumstances of the shooting ("you took the gun and you shot him"). Although the prosecutor could have made the point effectively without quoting the part of the statement containing the word "niggers," the brief and isolated remark, spoken originally by a person who was herself Black, was not likely to trigger racial prejudice in the jury.
Defendant also challenges this statement: "And it's no different, ladies and gentlemen, than going out and shooting a mad dog. You've got a man who has shot one officer, he's shot at two other individuals, he has shot the hostage there in the house, he is on a terror and a rampage. What are the officers to do? Let him go on and do what he wants to do? Are they to let him maybe get so agitated that he finally kills Haverstick? Or do we put upon them the charge to protect our society and eliminate the problem? And under those circumstances Dennis Mayfield was the problem. They were going to terminate that problem if they could, just the same as if you'd shoot a mad dog."
We do not agree that the jury would have understood the argument comparing defendant to a "mad dog" as a form of racial reference. Instead, the jury would have understood the reference as vigorous but fair argument based on the evidence of defendant's conduct at the time in question. (See, e.g., People v. Hawkins, (supra) , 10 Cal. 4th 920, 961; People v. Thomas (1992) 2 Cal. 4th 489, 537 [7 Cal. Rptr. 2d 199, 828 P.2d 101].)
Finally, defendant faults trial counsel for stipulating at the penalty phase to the facts underlying defendant's prior felony convictions in terms that included the word "Negro." THE STIPULATIONS WERE AS FOLLOWS:
"n June 14th, 1977, the defendant, Dennis Mayfield, while personally armed with and using a knife, together with three other Negro males, robbed Thomas Glore, age fifteen, of four dollars U.S. currency. The incident took place in a field area immediately east of Eisenhower High School in Rialto during the school lunch hour. . . . n October 25th, 1981, the defendant, Dennis Mayfield, and two Negro females stole merchandise from the J. C. Penney Store in Arcadia, California. As Dennis Mayfield was being pursued by the J. C. Penney security agents, he, Mayfield, dropped the bags he was carrying as he, Mayfield, approached his vehicle. While the security agent, James Dewitt, stopped to recover the bags of stolen merchandise, Dennis Mayfield removed a pistol from his vehicle, pointed it at James Dewitt, and ordered Dewitt to give the bags of merchandise to Mayfield. Dewitt complied and Mayfield then drove his vehicle away from the J. C. Penney parking lot."
The stipulation is couched in language apparently taken from a police report or probation officer's report. The term "Negro" was unnecessary and should have been omitted, but in context it is not reasonably probable that the remark would have evoked racial prejudice in the jurors.
U. Cumulative Prejudice
We reject defendant's contention that the cumulative effect of asserted errors in jury selection and at the guilt phase denied him his federal constitutional right to due process of law (U.S. Const., 5th & 14th
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