People v. Grissom CA6

I. BACKGROUND

The Santa Clara County District Attorney charged Grissom with inflicting corporal injury on a person with whom he was in a dating relationship (Pen. Code, § 273.5, subd. (a); count 1), and misdemeanor vandalism (Pen. Code, § 594, subd. (b)(2)(A); count 2). Both counts arose from a February 2021 altercation between Grissom and his then-girlfriend, Kelly K., at the home Kelly was living in. A. Prior Uncharged Acts

Under Evidence Code section 1109,1 the prosecutor moved in limine to admit eight audio recordings of conversations between Kelly and Grissom, as well as Kelly’s “accompanying testimony” about prior uncharged acts of abuse purportedly addressed in those conversations. After listening to the recordings, the trial court overruled Grissom’s section 352 objection and admitted all but two. The court reasoned that the recordings had probative value because they consisted “mostly of [Kelly] making statements about being hit or choked or physically assaulted by Mr. Grissom, and him either not denying it, when they were clearly engaged in conversation, or actually admitting that he had done so.”2 While the court acknowledged “some danger” that the recordings…