People v. Vivano CA1/1

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedJuly 25, 2016
DocketA141737
StatusUnpublished

This text of People v. Vivano CA1/1 (People v. Vivano CA1/1) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Vivano CA1/1, (Cal. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

Filed 7/25/16 P. v. Vivano CA1/1 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

FIRST APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION ONE

THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, A141737 v. OCTAVIO VIVANO, (Alameda County Super. Ct. No. C168026) Defendant and Appellant.

Appellant Octavio Vivano was convicted of participating in a 2000 gang rape after his DNA profile was entered into a forensic database in 2009 and found to match DNA evidence taken from the rape victim. On appeal, he maintains that his conviction must be reversed because of trial errors made by the judge, the prosecutor, and his defense counsel. He argues that the trial judge wrongly 1) allowed the trial to proceed after a testifying officer made intemperate remarks outside of the court in the presence of some jurors, 2) admitted statements the victim made to a hospital nurse after the rape; and 3) barred the defense from cross-examining the victim about an unrelated sexual assault in another state. And he argues that 1) the prosecutor improperly shifted the burden of proof in closing arguments and 2) defense counsel provided ineffective assistance. Some of these arguments were forfeited, but we reject all of them in any event. The judgment is therefore affirmed.

1 I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND On the evening of July 14, 2000, a 19-year-old woman who was visiting Oakland went out with an African-American man she met on a “party line” that people could call to meet others. Their date ended when the man, while driving in an area of Oakland known for prostitution, suggested she should get out of the car and “make him some money.” The victim was offended, argued with the man, got out of the car, walked away, and planned to call a friend on a pay phone. Before the victim could find a phone, a Hispanic man she did not know drove up from behind her and asked if she wanted a ride. She declined the offer and kept walking. Someone then came from behind her, hit her in the face, dragged her into a car, and beat her as they drove away, with part of her legs still hanging outside the car door. A total of four men, all Hispanic, were in the car, and Vivano was driving. They took the victim to a nonresidential area on Tunnel Road near Hiller Highlands in Oakland, ripped off her pants, and took turns raping her. They then pushed her out of the car and drove away. The victim ran down the mountain and flagged a passing car, and the motorist called police. The victim was taken to the hospital, where swabs were taken from her vagina and other parts of her body during a sexual-assault response team (SART) examination. Nine years later, in 2009, Vivano was convicted of different crimes and his DNA profile was entered into a forensic DNA databank, the Combined DNA Index System. DNA testing revealed that Vivano’s DNA matched the DNA of sperm found on the victim, and the statistical frequency of such a match was approximately one in one quadrillion. Vivano was eventually arrested in 2010 in Arizona. Police contacted the victim and asked her to look at a photographic lineup that included Vivano, but she could not identify him and instead said that two other people in the lineup could be possible suspects. But during the preliminary hearing and again at

2 trial, she identified Vivano as the driver of the car and testified that she remembered his distinctive facial acne scars. A jury convicted Vivano of four counts of forcible rape while acting in concert (Pen. Code, §§ 264.1, subd. (a), 261, subd. (a)(2))1 and found true allegations that he kidnapped the victim in the commission of the rape (§§ 667.61, subd. (e)(1), 667.8, subd. (a)). Vivano also was convicted of one count of kidnapping to commit another crime (§ 209, subd. (b)(1)) and one count of assault by means likely to produce great bodily injury (former § 245, subd. (a)(1)). The trial court sentenced Vivano to a term of 52 years to life. II. DISCUSSION A. Vivano’s Argument Regarding a Testifying Police Officer’s Out-of-court Statement Made in the Jurors’ Presence Was Forfeited and Lacks Merit.

1. Background. An Oakland police officer briefly testified at trial about his efforts to contact the victim and arrange for her to review a photographic lineup after Vivano was identified as a suspect. The officer was the last witness to testify before jurors were excused for their daily lunch break. During the break, he boarded an elevator with several jurors, who were all wearing their juror badges, and juror No. 4 overheard the officer speaking with someone who appeared to be affiliated with the court. The court affiliate asked the officer why the officer was at the courthouse, and the officer explained he was there to testify. Juror No. 4 then overheard the officer say, “I just hope they send him to prison,” at which point the juror told the officer, “You shouldn’t be talking like that in front of us.” The officer did not say anything else after Juror No. 4 addressed him. Juror No. 4 reported the exchange to the courtroom bailiff, and the trial judge spoke to the juror about the incident outside the presence of the other jurors. The judge asked Juror No. 4 if the officer’s comment affected the juror’s view of the trial, and she

1 All statutory references are to the Penal Code unless otherwise specified.

3 responded, “Not at all.” When asked if the exchange affected the juror’s view of the police officer, Juror No. 4 responded, “I thought it was a poor reflection on him as a police officer, but other than that, it wouldn’t affect how I would feel about his testimony, just him as an individual.” And when asked if there was “any chance” that the officer’s comment might affect how juror No. 4 viewed Vivano, she responded, “Not at all. No [e]ffect whatsoever.” Neither the prosecutor nor Vivano’s attorney suggested any further questions for the juror. The trial judge then spoke with other jurors identified as having been in the elevator at the time of the officer’s comment. Juror No. 8 overheard the officer make a remark, but he recalled the officer saying “something like, ‘Well, I wanted to keep my testimony short,’ you know, ‘it just means he’ll go to prison sooner.’ ” According to juror No. 8, the officer “quieted down” after he was told that other jurors were in the elevator. When asked by the trial court whether the officer’s remark would affect juror No. 8’s view of the case, juror No. 8 responded, “No” and stated that “it won’t influence me in any way.” The juror “took it as, you know, him [the officer] stating kind of— letting some emotion about what he had just gone through, but nothing beyond that.” Juror No. 8 also said he would be able to disregard the officer’s comment and not let it affect his view of the evidence in the case. The trial judge spoke privately with Vivano’s attorney after the attorney said he had a proposed question for juror No. 8, and the judge thereafter asked the juror whether he had a sense of who the person who spoke with the officer was. The juror responded that the person “was dressed in a suit. I don’t know if he was, you know, another attorney, if he was a plain clothes police officer, I don’t know.” The trial judge next spoke with juror No. 12, who had heard the officer say something to the effect that “[t]he faster that someone’s testimony go[es], the faster we’ll put the guy away.” Juror No. 12 “completely forgot” about the comment and did not think about it until she was asked about it. When asked whether the remark would affect the way she would look at the case, juror No.

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People v. Vivano CA1/1, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-vivano-ca11-calctapp-2016.