California v. Hull

Defendant Tyrus Hull appealed his conviction for assaulting Marqurus Bonner with a deadly weapon (motor vehicle), for which he was sentenced defendant to two years in state prison. On appeal, defendant argued: (1) the trial court erred in admitting at trial a prosecution witness' preliminary hearing testimony after he invoked the right to remain silent because the defense did not have the opportunity to cross-examine the witness about a prior criminal conviction not disclosed by the prosecution until after the preliminary hearing or about alleged threats made to defendant’s wife the day after defendant’s arrest; (2) instead of allowing the prior testimony, either the trial court or the prosecutor should have provided the witness use immunity and the prosecutor failed to adequately explain his reason for declining to provide immunity; (3) the manner of reading the preliminary hearing testimony was inappropriate and imputed the demeanor of the reader to the witness; and (4) counsel at his preliminary hearing was constitutionally ineffective for failure to cross-examine the witness regarding his alleged participation in threatening and intimidating defendant’s wife the day after the alleged assault occurred. In the published portion of its opinion, the Court of Appeal concluded: (1) the trial court was not required to grant immunity, because the defense did not establish that what it hoped to gain by cross-examination was clearly exculpatory and essential; (2) the prosecution was not obligated to explain not giving the witness immunity because the defense failed to show that the testimony it hoped to gain was clearly exculpatory and essential, and because defendant did not clearly assert that the prosecutor’s refusal to grant immunity was prosecutorial misconduct; (3) failure to disclose the witness’s criminal history before the preliminary hearing deprived defendant of the opportunity to cross-examine the witness about it at the preliminary hearing, but this error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt; and (4) the defense could not forgo cross-examining a witness at a preliminary hearing about information then known to defendant or the defense team and later prevent the introduction of the preliminary hearing testimony at trial under Evidence Code section 1291 on the grounds that the defendant did not have the same motive or opportunity for cross-examination at the preliminary hearing. In the unpublished portion of its opinion, the Court concluded further there was nothing inappropriate about the reading of the preliminary hearing testimony, and that defendant failed to establish ineffective assistance of counsel. View "California v. Hull" on Justia Law