People v. Dawkins , 230 Cal. App. 4th 991 ( 2014 )


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  • Filed 10/20/14; pub. order 10/21/14 (see end of opn.)
    IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
    SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT
    DIVISION THREE
    THE PEOPLE,                                              B245611
    Plaintiff and Respondent,                        (Los Angeles County
    Super. Ct. No. YA084616)
    v.
    RODNEY LASHAWN DAWKINS,
    Defendant and Appellant.
    APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County,
    Alan B. Honeycutt, Judge. Affirmed.
    Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld and Katherine J. Galston, under appointment by
    the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.
    Kamala D. Harris, Attorney General, Dane R. Gillette, Chief Assistant Attorney
    General, Lance E. Winters, Assistant Attorney General, Chung Mar and Jessica C. Owen,
    Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.
    _________________________
    Rodney Lawshawn Dawkins appeals from the judgment after a jury trial in which
    he was convicted of first degree burglary. (Pen. Code, § 459.) After the jury returned its
    verdict, appellant admitted he had a prior serious felony conviction that also constituted a
    strike within the meaning of the Three Strikes law (Pen. Code, §§ 667, subds. (a)-(i),
    1170.12, subds. (a)-(d)) and he had served a prior separate prison term for a felony (Pen.
    Code, § 667.5, subd. (b)).
    At sentencing, the trial court denied appellant’s motion pursuant to People v.
    Superior Court (Romero) (1996) 
    13 Cal. 4th 497
    to sentence him as if he had no prior
    strike conviction. It sentenced him to an aggregate term in state prison of 14 years,
    consisting of a doubled middle term of four years, or eight years, enhanced by five years
    for the prior serious felony conviction and by one year for having served a prior separate
    prison term.1
    CONTENTION
    Appellant contends the audio recording of the 9-1-1 call was inadmissible in
    evidence as it was not properly authenticated.
    BACKGROUND
    1. The trial evidence.
    We view the evidence in the light most favorable to the judgment. (People v.
    Ochoa (1993) 
    6 Cal. 4th 1199
    , 1206.)
    a. The deputies’ and victim’s trial testimony.
    On June 15, 2012, Olivia Flores lived with her husband and children in an upstairs
    apartment, No. 7, at 1020 108th Street in Los Angeles County. At about 2:00 p.m. that
    1
    The jury returned its verdict on October 10, 2012, and appellant was sentenced on
    October 31, 2012. While the notice of appeal was timely filed within 60 days following
    the entry of the October 31, 2012, judgment, the text in the notice of appeal claims the
    appeal is from the “judgment rendered on October 10, 2012 . . . .” No appeal lies from
    the verdict. (In re Gray (2009) 
    179 Cal. App. 4th 1189
    , 1195-1196.) However,
    appellant’s intent appears to be clear. Consequently, we deem this appeal to be from the
    judgment entered on October 31, 2012. (Ibid.; People v. Richards (1969)
    
    269 Cal. App. 2d 768
    , 769, fn. 1; see also Marcotte v. Municipal Court (1976)
    
    64 Cal. App. 3d 235
    , 239.)
    2
    day, she locked her apartment and left home to go to the laundromat. She gave no one
    permission to break open the only door to her apartment, an interior front wooden door
    and an exterior security screen. Shortly after 5:00 p.m., Flores’s sister, another resident
    of the same apartment complex, telephoned Flores and instructed her to return home.
    Flores did so.
    In the meantime, at about 5:00 p.m., an anonymous caller telephoned the local
    9-1-1 operator to report a burglary in progress at the apartment house next door and to the
    west of her 1028 108th Street residence. Los Angeles County Deputy Sheriffs Zuniga
    and Dan Ramirez (Deputy Ramirez), who were in uniform, responded immediately and
    during the 9-1-1 call in their marked police vehicle. As the deputies approached the
    apartment complex, they had their flashing multi-colored lights on and their siren was
    operating.
    Deputy Ramirez testified the complex in question was a two-story apartment
    building. The apartment doors all faced one way. Apartment No. 7 was on the second
    floor. The one outside hallway for gaining access to the second floor apartments had a
    staircase at each end, front and rear, and the staircases were the exclusive means for
    reaching the second floor apartments. The deputies entered the complex using the front
    staircase. They found Flores’s doors ajar and damage to the wooden door indicating
    there may have been a forced entry. There was no one inside the apartment. The
    deputies returned curbside, again departing from the second floor by using the front
    staircase. Residents started emerging from their apartments to see what was going on.
    The deputies canvassed the area, looking for the anonymous 9-1-1 caller. Flores
    approached the deputies and identified herself as the occupant of apartment No. 7.
    According to Deputy Ramirez, at the same time, appellant walked out to the sidewalk
    from the area alongside the apartment complex and inside the fencing surrounding the
    complex. His demeanor was nonchalant.
    Deputy Ramirez testified that the complex had a rear yard, but the only reasonable
    access to the rear of the complex is the walkway that runs to the back of the complex.
    The complex’s rear yard is surrounded by tall fencing, most of which is topped with
    3
    barbed wire, making an escape out the rear of the complex through its rear yard at best
    difficult. The front of the complex is also gated.
    Appellant was wearing dark jeans and a gray shirt. He was about 40 years old and
    matched the description of the suspect described to them by the 9-1-1 operator. In his
    right hand, appellant was carrying a black duffel bag.
    As appellant walked out of the rear yard, Flores spontaneously identified the black
    duffel bag in appellant’s hand as hers. Appellant was detained, and the deputies opened
    the duffel bag. Flores identified its contents as belonging to her. Inside the duffel bag
    were about ten items of miscellaneous women’s clothing, two electronic handheld
    gaming sticks and a framed photograph of a graduation certificate for Flores’s daughter.
    There were no other African American men in the area of the apartment complex.
    The deputies arrested appellant. They advised him of his Miranda rights, and he
    waived those rights. (Miranda v. Arizona (1966) 
    384 U.S. 436
    [
    16 L. Ed. 2d 694
    , 
    86 S. Ct. 1602
    ].) When asked whether appellant had entered apartment No. 7, he claimed he had
    done so to get a few things. He added, “Who gives a sh-- if I push the door open; the
    lady knows me.” Flores denied knowing or ever having seen appellant previously.
    The deputies knocked on a few doors again in an attempt to find the anonymous
    9-1-1 caller but were unsuccessful.
    Appellant’s booking photograph, which was taken in the clothing he was wearing
    when arrested, was displayed to the jury. The photograph depicted him wearing a gray
    shirt and blue jeans. Appellant claimed his residence was located on 107th Street.
    At trial, photographs of the complex and surrounding buildings, the fencing
    around the yard, and the front door were shown to the jury. Deputy Ramirez opined the
    photographs of Flores’s front doors appeared to indicate that her front doors were forced
    open by use of a burglary tool.
    Several hours after deputies had departed, Flores telephoned the sheriff’s station.
    She reported she had found a crowbar lying on the floor of her bedroom. Deputy
    Ramirez opined the marks on Flores’s front door were consistent with the use of that
    crowbar.
    4
    Deputy Ramirez testified Flores’s identification of her duffel bag was spontaneous
    as soon as Flores saw it in appellant’s hand. In Flores’s testimony, she said appellant was
    already inside the police car and the duffel bag was sitting on the police vehicle when she
    saw it and identified it as hers.
    b. The anonymous 9-1-1 call.
    At trial, the prosecution played a computer disk (CD) for the jury. It contained an
    audio recording of a 9-1-1 telephone call received by a sheriff’s department operator at
    4:45 p.m. on June 15, 2012. The call was made by a female who refused to identify
    herself. The caller told the operator that she was observing a suspicious man who was
    trying to break into an apartment in the building next door. The burglar had a knife.
    Then the caller reported the burglar had actually entered the apartment and had achieved
    entry during the last two minutes. The operator inquired about the address of the building
    the caller was describing, but the caller was unsure. She told the operator her address
    was 1028 West 108th Street. The apartment complex she was referring to was on 108th
    Street. It was a yellow-colored apartment complex. The particular apartment being
    burglarized was on its second floor. She could see the male burglar using a knife on the
    door then kicking the door open. The caller could not presently see the burglar.
    However, the burglar was an African American man wearing a gray shirt. He had a knife
    and a tool. The tool may have been a large kitchen knife.
    At that point, the 9-1-1 operator asked the caller to stay on the line while the
    operator told another party the informant was calling from 1028 108th Street. The
    dispatcher/ 9-1-1 operator said the 9-1-1 caller had observed an ongoing burglary in
    apartment No. 7 of the yellow apartment complex to the west of her residence. The
    burglar was a “male, black, 30-40 years old, wearing gray clothing.” The caller, who
    apparently could overhear the operator’s conversation with the deputy, corrected the
    operator, telling the operator she had seen a person wearing light gray and “also blue
    jeans . . . I’m not sure.”
    5
    The 9-1-1 caller then told the operator, she had just observed the burglar leaving
    apartment No. 7 with a “black bag.” She could also see the lights of the arriving police
    vehicle.
    The 9-1-1 caller indicated she was located in the rear house on the property next
    door to the apartment complex in question. The burglarized unit was to her west on the
    second floor, and the apartment complex was yellow in color.
    The operator at that point was apparently speaking to a deputy sheriff who had
    arrived at the scene. The operator advised the deputy at the scene the 9-1-1 caller had
    observed the burglar enter the apartment. The operator told the caller the deputies had
    arrived and were entering the complex. The caller told the operator the burglar was
    already outside. At this juncture, the caller apparently could not see the burglar’s
    location. She was inside her residence and did not want to go outside. The caller said
    she could presently see the deputies checking the apartment building.
    The operator told the deputies the caller did not want to be contacted.
    2. The proceedings and testimony relevant to authenticating the audio recording.
    a. The Evidence Code section 402 hearing.
    Before trial, the prosecutor raised the issue of the admissibility of the contents of
    an audio recording of the 9-1-1 call. The prosecutor anticipated defense objections of
    hearsay and a denial of confrontation. The trial court found the audio recording fell
    within the business record exception to the hearsay rule. It ruled there was no issue with
    confrontation, and the statements by the anonymous caller on the audio recording were
    contemporaneous statements or excited utterances, which were admissible as exceptions
    to the hearsay rule.
    Trial counsel objected to using the sheriff’s investigator, Ismael Jimenez (Deputy
    Jimenez), to authenticate the call, in lieu of using a party to the conversation or a
    custodian of the audio recording. Trial counsel suggested the prosecutor was required to
    call another person, perhaps the station’s IT technician, to authenticate the recording.
    At the section 402 hearing, the prosecutor called Deputy Jimenez as his witness.
    Deputy Jimenez testified the police station has an automated system called the voice print
    6
    system. That system automatically and contemporaneously records all telephone calls
    coming in and going out of the sheriff’s station. The 9-1-1 calls to the sheriff’s
    department operator or dispatcher are also recorded in real time on the same system.
    Deputy Jimenez was a 15-year veteran Los Angeles County Deputy Sheriff. For
    the previous two and a half years, he had been assigned as a detective. During this time,
    he had been using the voice print system several times a week. He was not trained on the
    system by an IT technician. He was trained by a training deputy or detective, who taught
    him how to download recordings from the voice print system for use in his investigative
    work. Deputy Jimenez explained that all calls to and from the station were recorded, and
    the recordings were given a time stamp and date. The recordings of the calls remain in
    the system for several months. Thereafter, the station IT technicians download the calls
    onto CD Rom disks, and the CD Rom disks are filed by the station’s IT personnel.
    In this case, as part of his duties, Deputy Jimenez used his desktop computer to
    access the voice print system. He used his password to access the program. Thereafter,
    he entered the date and time of the telephone call. He found several calls at the
    approximate time the telephone call was made. Only one was the 9-1-1 call to the
    dispatch operator related to the instant burglary. The remainder of the calls he retrieved
    were the “traffic between the units regarding the call.” He listened to the 9-1-1 call made
    in the proper time frame for the burglary. It appeared to be the telephone call he was
    looking for. It had been preserved with its time and date. The content of the entire audio
    recording conformed to what the deputy knew about the instant burglary.
    During cross-examination, Deputy Jimenez acknowledged he is not the person
    who maintains or fixes the voice print system. The deputy never discussed the telephone
    call with the 9-1-1 operator who had received the call, although in other cases that is
    something he might do. The deputy said the voice print system is a computer software
    program, just like other software programs. If he has difficulty locating a particular call,
    he seeks the assistance of the station IT personnel. When questioned about the accuracy
    of the time stamps on the recordings, he said the time stamp should be accurate as each
    call is recorded in real time. The deputy indicated the training necessary to competently
    7
    access the program was not intensive, and he and the other deputies who function as
    investigators use the voice print system constantly. Deputy Jimenez identified the IT
    supervisor at his sheriff’s station for trial counsel.
    The deputy had reviewed the transcript of the 9-1-1 call recording, Exhibit B,
    prepared by the prosecution of the contents of the 9-1-1 telephone call. The prosecutor
    said the transcript bore a date indicating the telephone call contained therein was made on
    June 15, 2012, the date of the instant burglary. The prosecutor inquired whether the
    content of the call referred to an address. The deputy replied the anonymous caller
    indicated her address was 1028 West 108th Street. The deputy said his review of the
    contents of the recording indicated that the 9-1-1 caller was telephoning about a burglary
    and indicated the burglary took place at 1020 West 108th Street, apartment No. 7, in the
    County of Los Angeles. The deputy prepared a CD of the entire call and gave it to the
    office of the district attorney. The transcript he had before him accurately reflected the
    content of the recorded 9-1-1 telephone call.2
    The deputy testified the anonymous caller identified herself at one point during the
    call as “Anna.” The deputy attempted to locate Anna at 1028 West 108th Street, the
    address she claimed was hers. However, he was unable to do so. The deputy said the
    transcript accurately reflected the content of the conversation between the parties on the
    call.
    b. The trial court’s initial ruling on admissibility.
    After the parties and the trial court had listened to Deputy Jimenez’s testimony,
    trial counsel argued that the deputy did not have the requisite expertise to lay a proper
    foundation for authenticating the audio recording. All the deputy had done was retrieve a
    copy of the telephone call from a computer software program. The deputy was unaware
    of how the system itself was maintained, and he was not qualified to repair or maintain
    the system -- the station IT personnel have that responsibility. Trial counsel questioned
    2
    The record indicates the 9-1-1 call was played to the jury with redactions, and the
    transcript of the call would have been similarly redacted.
    8
    why the dispatch operator, who was a party to the telephone call, was unavailable to
    authenticate the call. Counsel questioned the accuracy of the time date and stamp. He
    argued no one simply listening to the deputy’s testimony was in a position to say whether
    on retrieval what was downloaded to the deputy’s computer system was accurate.
    The prosecutor urged the record is maintained in the custody of a public entity and
    the deputy had attested the recording was a true and correct copy of what was contained
    in the voice print system. The content of the recording itself demonstrated what was in
    court was the recording of the 9-1-1 call with respect to the burglary at 1020 West 108th
    Street, apartment No. 7. The prosecutor claimed establishing the record is maintained by
    a public entity provides a sufficient foundation for the record to be admitted into
    evidence.
    The trial court ruled a sufficient foundation had been established for the admission
    of the audio recording of the 9-1-1 call, marked as Exhibit A, and the transcript of that
    call, Exhibit B. The trial court commented in pertinent part the deputy had been trained
    on the system in the course of his training as a detective. He used the system frequently.
    The deputy explained how the telephone calls for the station were all recorded in
    “realtime.” To access the recording, the deputy had entered the date and the time of the
    incident into the computer program. The address recited in the recording matched the
    address pertinent to this case.
    The trial court made the further observation the prosecutor had demonstrated the
    recording is a business record made in the regular use of the 9-1-1 call system maintained
    by this particular sheriff’s station. The context of the call shows it was made to a local
    9-1-1 operator. The deputy was qualified as a witness to testify to the manner of the
    call’s collection, and he was properly trained to retrieve such telephone calls over the
    voice print system. The deputy had used proper procedures to obtain the recording of the
    call. The recording here appeared to pertain to the burglary before the trial court.
    c. The trial testimony.
    Deputy Jimenez testified at trial as to the foundation for the 9-1-1 call in the same
    terms as he had testified pretrial at the Evidence Code section 402 hearing. He added that
    9
    the recording was related to the instant burglary that had occurred at 4:55 p.m. on June
    15, 2012. The 9-1-1 caller was reporting a burglary in progress at 1020 108th Street,
    apartment No. 7.
    The prosecutor had Deputy Jimenez look at photographs of the various apartment
    buildings and structures surrounding the apartment complex located at 1020 108th Street.
    The deputy testified the burglarized premises, apartment No. 7, was located at 1020 West
    108th Street. There was a residence next to it to the west. From the photographs of the
    burglary scene, it was apparent that while the 9-1-1 caller claimed the apartment
    burglarized was to her west, in fact, an apartment building was to the east of the
    apartment complex in question. However, there was a residence to the west of the
    apartment complex.
    On the recording, the 9-1-1 caller had identified her address as 1028 108th Street.
    After examining the photographs of the structures surrounding the apartment complex,
    the deputy had concluded the anonymous caller was mistaken, or deliberately
    misrepresented her location, when she told the operator she could see the burglarized
    apartment next door to the west. The burglarized apartment was actually to the east of
    the only residence next door to the complex.
    The deputy said he had gone to the residence next to the apartment complex
    looking for the anonymous caller. He could not enter the residence’s yard as there were
    three large dogs inside the yard. No one appeared to be home. He returned several days
    later. A woman emerged from the residence. She refused to identify herself and denied
    she was present when the burglary occurred. He gave her his business card and asked her
    to give it to the person who made the telephone call and have the person call him. No
    one contacted him concerning the 9-1-1 call.
    DISCUSSION
    Appellant contends he is entitled to a reversal of the judgment as the audio
    recording was improperly admitted into evidence and admitting the audio recording into
    evidence constitutes prejudicial error. (People v. Watson (1956) 
    46 Cal. 2d 818
    , 836.)
    We disagree.
    10
    1. The relevant legal authority.
    This court reviews claims regarding a trial court’s ruling on the admissibility of
    evidence for an abuse of discretion. (People v. Goldsmith (2014) 
    59 Cal. 4th 258
    , 266
    (Goldsmith).)
    Audio recordings are writings as defined by the Evidence Code. (Evid. Code,
    § 250.)3 “To be admissible in evidence, a writing must be relevant and authenticated.
    (§§ 350, 1401.) The proffered evidence must be an original writing or otherwise
    admissible secondary evidence of the writing’s content. (§§ 1520, 1521.) It must not be
    subject to any exclusionary rule. (See, e.g., § 1200.)” 
    (Goldsmith, supra
    , 59 Cal.4th at
    p. 266.)
    Here, we are concerned only with the trial court’s ruling on admissibility as to
    authenticating the audio recording. That ruling is made as a “preliminary fact (§ 403,
    subd. (a)(3)) and is statutorily defined as the ‘introduction of evidence sufficient to
    sustain a finding that it is the writing that the proponent of the evidence claims it is’ or
    ‘the establishment of such facts by any other means provided by law’ (§ 1400.)”
    
    (Goldsmith, supra
    , 59 Cal.4th at p. 266.) The statutory definition ties authentication to
    relevance: “ ‘[b]efore any tangible object may be admitted into evidence, the party
    seeking to introduce the object must make a preliminary showing that the object is in
    some way relevant to the issues to be decided in the action. When the object sought to be
    introduced is a writing, this preliminary showing of relevancy usually entails some proof
    that the writing is authentic—i.e., that the writing was made or signed by its purported
    maker.’ ” (Ibid.)
    Other items of writing, such as audio recordings, must also be shown to be what
    they purport to be, “i.e., that [they] are genuine for the purposes offered. [Citation.]
    Essentially, what is necessary is a prima facie case. ‘As long as the evidence would
    support a finding of authenticity, the writing is admissible. The fact conflicting
    3
    All further statutory references are to the Evidence Code unless otherwise
    designated.
    11
    inferences can be drawn regarding authenticity goes to the document’s weight as
    evidence, not its admissibility.’ (Jazayeri v. Mao (2009) 
    174 Cal. App. 4th 301
    , 321.)”
    
    (Goldsmith, supra
    , 59 Cal.4th at p. 267.)
    An audio recording is typically authenticated by showing it is a reasonable
    representation of that which it is alleged to portray. (See People v. Gonzalez (2006)
    
    38 Cal. 4th 932
    , 952.) Typically, a party to the conversation recorded is called to testify
    to the audio recording’s accuracy. However, the foundation may, but need not be
    supplied by the person witnessing the event being recorded. It may be supplied by other
    witness testimony, circumstantial evidence, content and location, or any other means
    provided by law, including statutory presumption. 
    (Goldsmith, supra
    , 59 Cal.4th at
    p. 268.)
    b. The analysis.
    To be clear, appellant is concerned here only with issues of the proper
    authentication of the audio recording. He is not challenging the trial court’s rulings on
    the audio recording’s admissibility under the rules concerning hearsay, except insofar as
    the trial court may have conflated the foundation for the admission of a business record
    (§ 1271) with the requirements for authenticating a document.
    The trial court did not abuse its discretion in making its section 403 determination
    the audio recording was properly admitted into evidence. It is settled computer systems
    that automatically record data in real time, especially on government-maintained
    computers, are presumed to be accurate. Thus, a witness with the general knowledge of
    an automated system may testify to his or her use of the system and that he has
    downloaded the computer information to produce the recording. No elaborate showing
    of the accuracy of the recorded data is required. Courts in California have not required
    “testimony regarding the ‘ “acceptability, accuracy, maintenance, and reliability of …
    computer hardware and software” ’ in similar situations. (People v. Martinez (2000)
    
    22 Cal. 4th 106
    , 132, quoting People v. Lugashi (1988) 205 Cal App.3d 632, 642 [CLETS
    printout]; accord, People v. Nazary (2010) 
    191 Cal. App. 4th 727
    , 755.)” 
    (Goldsmith, supra
    , 59 Cal.4th at p. 272 [automated traffic enforcement system].)
    12
    The rationale is that while mistakes may occur, such matters may be developed on
    cross-examination and should not affect the admissibility of the printout or recording of
    the data itself. (People v. 
    Martinez, supra
    , 22 Cal.4th at p. 132; see also United States v.
    Catabran (9th Cir. 1988) 
    836 F.2d 453
    , 458 [questions as to the accuracy of computer
    printouts, whether resulting from incorrect data or the operation of the computer program,
    as with inaccuracies in other type of business records, affect only the weight of the
    printouts, not admissibility]; Hutchinson v. State (Tex.Ct.App. 1982) 
    642 S.W.2d 537
    ,
    538 [whether the computer was functioning properly on the date of the printout and had
    been tested and working properly before that date are questions affecting weight, not
    admissibility].)
    In this case, Deputy Jimenez’s testimony was sufficient to establish the results he
    obtained from inputting the appropriate time and date from the voice print system was an
    accurate printout or recording of the data contained in the system. Further, he testified
    that he had listened to all the recordings in the system within the appropriate time frame.
    What he copied onto the CD was the only 9-1-1 call in the appropriate time frame. He
    had listened to the entire call. The content of the call itself conformed to the information
    he was aware of concerning the burglary. Thus, the content of the call itself provided
    further evidence that what he had downloaded was a full and accurate version of the
    9-1-1 call in question.
    This court is not concerned that there were one or two factual inconsistencies
    between the 9-1-1 caller’s claims and the actual facts concerning the layout of the area
    where the burglary occurred. These discrepancies are explained as mistake or by the
    caller’s desire to remain anonymous. It was up to the jury to decide whether the
    discrepancies required them to disregard the information given to the 9-1-1 operator by
    the anonymous caller.
    Appellant complains the trial court erred by conflating issues of the foundation for
    the business record exception to the hearsay rule (§ 1271) with the requirements for
    authentication. The analysis in the recent decision in Goldsmith makes it apparent the
    issues of hearsay and authentication are independent of one another. (See also Stockinger
    13
    v. Feather River Cmty. Coll. (2003) 
    111 Cal. App. 4th 1014
    , 1028.) Goldsmith also held
    the output of automatically recorded computer programs is not hearsay. Printouts from
    such computer programs are not “statements of a person” within the meaning of section
    1200, and thus, the computer’s output is not hearsay. 
    (Goldsmith, supra
    , 59 Cal.4th at
    pp. 273-274.)
    Our trial court made a two-level analysis. In response to the prosecution’s motion,
    it found the content of the anonymous caller’s statements were admissible in evidence as
    exceptions to the hearsay rule as the statements were contemporaneous or excited
    utterances. It further commented there was no issue of the denial of confrontation.
    It apparently believed it needed to make a further finding the computer information was a
    business record to overcome any objection there was a second level of hearsay. But the
    Goldsmith decision makes it evident there is no valid hearsay objection to the data from
    an automated computer recording.
    A “ruling or decision, itself correct in law, will not be disturbed on appeal merely
    because given for a wrong reason. If right upon any theory of the law applicable to the
    case, it must be sustained regardless of the considerations which may have moved the
    trial court to its conclusion. [¶] . . . [¶] In other words, it is judicial action, and not
    judicial reasoning or argument, which is the subject of review; and, if the former be
    correct, we are not concerned with the faults of the latter.” (Davey v. Southern Pacific
    Co. (1897) 
    116 Cal. 325
    , 329-330.)
    Deputy Jimenez’s testimony generally about the computer system’s operation and
    his downloading of computer data was sufficient, in combination with the content of the
    recording, to establish the recording was genuine and what the prosecution claimed it
    was. The trial court properly exercised its discretion by admitting the audio recording
    into evidence.
    14
    DISPOSITION
    The judgment is affirmed.
    NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS
    KLEIN, P. J.
    We concur:
    KITCHING, J.
    EDMON, J.*
    *
    Judge of the Los Angeles Superior Court, assigned by the Chief Justice pursuant to
    article VI, section 6 of the California Constitution.
    15
    Filed 10/21/14
    CERTIFIED FOR PUBLICATION
    IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
    SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT
    DIVISION THREE
    THE PEOPLE,                                           B245611
    Plaintiff and Respondent,                     (Los Angeles County
    Super. Ct. No. YA084616)
    v.
    RODNEY LASHAWN DAWKINS,                               ORDER MODIFYING OPINION;
    NO CHANGE IN JUDGMENT
    Defendant and Appellant.
    THE COURT:
    The opinion in the above entitled matter filed October 20, 2014, filed as a non-
    published opinion, is modified as follows: opinion to be published.
    No change in judgment.
    

Document Info

Docket Number: B245611

Citation Numbers: 230 Cal. App. 4th 991

Filed Date: 10/21/2014

Precedential Status: Precedential

Modified Date: 1/12/2023