People v. Lueth

In People v. Lueth (2012) 206 Cal.App.4th 189, testimony was presented that the defendant had been seen hitting the victim over the head with a tire iron and that he used the tire iron to damage a vehicle. When police arrived, the victim had a bump on her forehead but refused to state how she was injured. The victim testified at trial that defendant had hit her indoors with his fist. (Lueth, supra, 206 Cal.App.4th at pp. 191-193.) The defendant was convicted of aggravated assault, corporal injury to a cohabitant and vandalism. On appeal, the defendant argued that the trial court erred by failing to give a unanimity instruction for the corporal injury to a cohabitant charge. (Id. at p. 192.) The Court concluded that any conceivable error in failing to give a unanimity instruction was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt as follows: "We can be certain, . . . the jury unanimously found defendant guilty based on the beating that caused the forehead bump. The bump was shown not only by a photograph, but also by the testimony of a police officer and of the victim herself. Even the defense witnesses agreed that the victim had a bump on her forehead (though they suggested that it was self-inflicted). By contrast, the victim's testimony that she developed other injuries later was uncorroborated. Certainly some or all of the jurors may have believed it; any such jurors, however, necessarily had to believe that she also had the bump on her forehead. Under these circumstances, the failure to give a unanimity instruction was harmless." (Id., at p. 199.)