Carrillo

To ensure the fairness of criminal trials, the law provides that evidence of the defendant’s poverty is generally inadmissible. In this case, however, the prosecution introduced a considerable amount of evidence showing Eva Carrillo was in difficult financial straits when she allegedly aided and abetted her boyfriend in a robbery. Her poverty was used to provide convincing harmony to the factual melody of the crime. The result was a composition that convinced the jury, but contravened the law. We find this evidence deprived Carrillo of a fair trial and reverse the judgment.

Eva Montero was walking down the street when Edgar Rendon came up to her and yanked a chain and medallion from her neck. Theodore Haas and his wife witnessed the robbery. They followed Rendon in their car as he ran behind a Burger King and into an alley by a strip mall. As Rendon made his way, he looked around as if he were trying to find someone.

Upon driving into the alley, the Haases saw a white van pull up and park behind a purple car. Carrillo was behind the wheel of the purple car, and the people in the van were pointing to her vehicle. She tried to back out around the van, but Mr. Haas…