People v. Edwards

Supreme Court of California · 2013 · Evidence

57 Cal. 4th 658 (2013)

Updated August 22, 2026

EvidenceConfrontation ClauseOther-crimes evidenceExpert testimonySufficiency of the evidenceautopsy reportsubstitute expertCrawford

Facts

At trial, because the pathologist who performed Marjorie Deeble's autopsy had retired, another pathologist, Dr. Fukumoto, testified using the autopsy report, photographs, X-rays, and microscopic slides. The report itself was not admitted, and Dr. Fukumoto recounted objective autopsy findings and gave opinions based on those materials. The prosecution also introduced evidence of defendant's later murder of Muriel Delbecq to prove identity, common plan, and intent in Deeble's murder. Defendant challenged both the substitute-pathologist testimony and the admission of the Hawaii murder evidence, and also argued the evidence was insufficient to support torture-murder and burglary-murder theories and special circumstances.

Issue

Did the trial court err by admitting a substitute pathologist's testimony based on another pathologist's autopsy materials, by admitting evidence of the Delbecq murder under Evidence Code section 1101(b), and by finding the evidence sufficient to support torture-murder and burglary-murder theories and special circumstances? More specifically, did the substitute-pathologist testimony violate the Confrontation Clause when it relayed objective medical observations and independent opinions derived from the autopsy materials?

Rule

Under Dungo, the Confrontation Clause is not violated when a testifying pathologist recounts objective medical observations from a nontestifying pathologist's autopsy report and related photographs, slides, and X-rays, and gives independent opinions based on those observations, so long as the testimony concerns anatomical and physiological observations rather than necessarily testimonial forensic conclusions. Evidence of uncharged crimes is admissible under Evidence Code section 1101(b) when the charged and uncharged crimes are sufficiently similar to support a rational inference as to identity, common plan, or intent, subject to Evidence Code section 352. Substantial evidence supports torture murder when there is evidence of torturous acts causing death, a causal relationship between those acts and death, and a willful, deliberate, and premeditated intent to inflict extreme and prolonged pain for a sadistic purpose; substantial evidence supports burglary murder when the jury can reasonably infer entry with intent to commit theft or another felony such as penetration with a foreign object.

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One of 10 multiple-choice questions for this case. Pick an answer to see why.

In a homicide trial in Sacramento, the medical examiner who performed the autopsy retired before trial. A different forensic pathologist reviews the unsigned autopsy report, photographs, X-rays, and tissue slides, then testifies that the victim had bruising, internal bleeding, and a fractured hyoid bone, and gives her own opinion that death resulted from strangulation. The autopsy report itself is not admitted.

Does admitting this testimony most likely violate the defendant’s confrontation rights?

Explanation. Under the majority rule applied in this case, a substitute pathologist may testify to objective anatomical and physiological observations reflected in autopsy materials and may offer an independent opinion based on those materials without violating the Confrontation Clause. The key features are that the report itself is not admitted and the testimony concerns objective observations and the witness’s own opinion.