People v. Nelson

In his appeal and habeas corpus petition, John Paul Nelson challenges his conviction of premeditated attempted murder with a finding that he personally discharged a firearm. In the published portion of this opinion, we reject defendant’s contention that his constitutional right to confront witnesses, as defined in Crawford v. Washington (2004) 541 U.S. 36 [ 158 L.Ed.2d 177 , 124 S.Ct. 1354 ] (Crawford), was violated by the admission of the victim’s out-of-court statement identifying defendant as the perpetrator. We hold the victim’s brief informal statement, made on the night of the shooting in an ambulance when the victim was close to death, was not *1457 testimonial. Hence, admission of the statement did not contravene defendant’s rights under Crawford .

In the unpublished portion of this opinion, we address defendant’s other assertions of error, including erroneous admission of uncharged misconduct and bad character evidence; a violation of the Doyle 1 rule precluding reference to post-Miranda 2 silence; closing argument references to facts not in evidence; and inadequate cross-examination of a key prosecution witness. We find no reversible error, and accordingly…