What is the effect of admitting to a jury the admission of a photograph of a victim's face in pain and a recording of her groans?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from People v. Seumanu, 192 Cal.Rptr.3d 195, 355 P.3d 384, 61 Cal.4th 1293 (Cal. 2015):

This court found the admission of the photograph and recording was reversible error. The determination of penalty ... must be a rational decision. Evidence that serves primarily to inflame the passions of the jurors must therefore be excluded, and to insure that it is, the probative value and the inflammatory effect of proffered evidence must be carefully weighed. (People v. Love, supra, 53 Cal.2d at p. 856, 3 Cal.Rptr. 665, 350 P.2d 705.) Regarding the photograph and the recording, we found the evidence to have no significant probative value (ibid. ) absent some evidence that the victim's pain was intentionally inflicted (ibid. ). [E]ven if relevant and material, [the victim's] pain was more than adequately described by the doctor. There was no need to show the jurors the expression of her face in death or to fill the courtroom with her groans. Both the photograph and the tape recording served primarily to inflame the passions of the jurors and both should have been excluded. (Id. at pp. 856857, 3 Cal.Rptr. 665, 350 P.2d 705.)

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