People v. Anderson

• Decision Date: 14 May 2001
• Docket Number: No. S020378.,S020378.
• Court: California Supreme Court
• Parties: The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. James Phillip ANDERSON, Defendant and Appellant.

106 Cal.Rptr.2d 575

25 Cal.4th 543

22 P.3d 347

The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. James Phillip ANDERSON, Defendant and Appellant.

No. S020378.

Supreme Court of California.

May 14, 2001.

Rehearing Denied June 20, 2001.

Alister McAlister, under appointment by the Supreme Court, Wilton, for Defendant and Appellant.

Daniel E. Lungren and Bill Lockyer, Attorneys General, George Williamson, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Gary W. Schons, Assistant Attorney General, Laura Whitcomb Halgren and Nancy L. Palmieri, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

BAXTER, J.

In 1979, defendant was convicted of two counts each of first degree murder (Pen. Code, §§ 187, 189),¹ kidnapping for the purpose of robbery (§ 209), and robbery (§ 211) arising from a single incident in March 1979. As to each murder, the special circumstances of multiple murder (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(3)) and robbery murder (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(17)(A)) were found true. The jury sentenced defendant to death. In 1987, we affirmed the guilt judgment, struck one of the multiple-murder special circumstances, and reversed the penalty judgment for so-called Ramos error (People v. Ramos (1984) 37 Cal.3d 136, 207 Cal.Rptr. 800, 689 P.2d 430 [improper Briggs instruction on Governor's commutation power] ). (People v. Anderson (1987) 43 Cal.3d 1104, 240 Cal.Rptr. 585, 742 P.2d 1306 (Anderson I.))

In December 1990 and January 1991, defendant was retried on the issue of penalty. Again he was sentenced to death. This appeal is automatic. (§ 1239, subd. (b).)

We find no reversible error. We therefore affirm the judgment.

FACTS

The People proffered evidence of (1) the 1979 robbery murders of Donna Coselman and Louise Flanagan, which led to defendant's capital convictions, and (2) the unadjudicated robbery murder of Jack Mackey, allegedly committed by defendant in 1978. Defendant presented no affirmative case in mitigation. As to the capital crimes, he rested his defense on lingering doubt. As to the Mackey incident, he sought to raise a reasonable doubt by mounting an extensive attack on the credibility of the principal prosecution witness. Evidence bearing on the 1978 and 1979 crimes was as follows:

A. 1979 Coselman-Flanagan robbery murders (capital crimes).

Just after 3:00 p.m. on March 4, 1979, Fred Anders (Fred) approached a parked Indio patrol officer, Ted Fish, and reported a possible murder in a citrus grove off Interstate 10 between Indio and Coachella. Fred directed Fish to the grove, where they were met by other law enforcement officers. Following Fred's lead, officers discovered the body of Donna Coselman. The body was facedown, with ligature marks around the neck. On the basis of Fred's descriptions, Fred's sister Sheila Anders (Sheila) and defendant were soon arrested as they walked near the grove. The next morning, a further search of the grove revealed the body of Coselman's grandmother, Louise Flanagan. Flanagan was hanging from a tree by a rope around her neck. Both Coselman and Flanagan died by strangulation.

When arrested, Sheila had Flanagan's watch and purse. Sheila's own purse, found by the police in Fred's car, contained Coselman's wallet.

Fred testified as follows: On the afternoon of March 4, 1979, he was driving his Mercury station wagon on Interstate 10. Defendant and Sheila were passengers. The three came upon a stranded Chevette and stopped. Inside the Chevette were two women, one young and one older. Fred, who had mechanical experience, immediately saw the problem, a loose wire that he could easily repair. However, Fred followed defendant's order to return to the Mercury. Eventually, defendant brought the younger woman (Coselman) to the car and said they had to go get parts. Coselman entered the Mercury, and Fred drove away. The older woman (Flanagan) stayed with the Chevette.

Fred's testimony continued: Defendant directed Fred to take the first off-ramp from the freeway. As they came down the ramp, defendant told Coselman he was going to rob her. Coselman gave defendant everything she had, including her glasses. At defendant's direction, Fred drove into a citrus grove and stopped. Defendant, Sheila, and Coselman got out, but Fred stayed in the car, as defendant ordered. Defendant bound Coselman's wrists and tied her to a palm tree. Sheila went through Coselman's purse. Defendant returned to the car and said he wanted Fred to go back with him to get Flanagan. Fred refused, but Sheila went with defendant. While they were gone, Fred untied Coselman and tried to persuade her to go with him for help, but she refused for fear that defendant would harm Flanagan.

Fred further testified: When defendant returned, he berated Fred for untying Coselman and ordered Fred to return to the car. En route, Fred looked back to see that defendant had retied Coselman's hands and was walking her into the grove. Fred followed, and defendant again ordered him back to the car. On his way back, Fred heard a single scream, rushed toward the sound, and saw defendant standing over the prostrate Coselman, pulling on a rope around her neck. Again defendant yelled at Fred to return to the car. When Fred arrived there, defendant was right behind him. Defendant and Sheila then took Flanagan from the car. They each held one of Flanagan's arms and began walking her into the grove. Fred followed, and defendant again ordered him to go back. Fred ran to Coselman, shook her body, and got no response. He then ran to the car and left to get help.²

In a police interview, defendant stated the following: Defendant, Fred, and Sheila stopped by the side of the freeway to help the women with the disabled Chevette, but neither defendant nor Fred could determine the problem. It was decided that Fred would take Coselman to a phone booth to call for help. Fred and Sheila left with Coselman, while defendant stayed with Flanagan and the Chevette. Sometime later, Fred and Sheila returned without Coselman. Fred told Flanagan that Coselman was at a phone booth, but was concerned about Flanagan remaining alone with the Chevette, so Fred would take Flanagan to meet Coselman. Fred and Sheila then left with Flanagan. Defendant remained with the Chevette. Soon Fred and Sheila returned alone, and defendant never saw Coselman or Flanagan again. Fred, Sheila, and defendant resumed their freeway trip, but Fred soon left the highway at an off-ramp, "got some kind of attitude[,] kicked [defendant and Sheila] out of the car and split."

The shoes worn by Fred, Sheila, and defendant on March 4, 1979, were examined for comparison with footprints found at the scene of the murders. The sole-prints of defendant's and Sheila's shoes were similar to footprints found around Flanagan's body, but Fred's shoes could not have made any of the footprints found at that location.

Deborah Baros visited defendant in the Indio jail within days after his March 1979 arrest. He asked her to go to the orange grove and retrieve, from under a particular rock, a black purse that contained belongings.³ Baros asked defendant, "Did you do it?" He nodded slightly.

Through cross-examination of Fred, and by other witnesses, the defense sought to expose inconsistencies in the details of the story Fred told at various times. The defense strategy was to suggest that Fred had falsely accused defendant, or exaggerated defendant's involvement in the crimes, in order to minimize Fred's own role.

B. 1978 murder of Jack Mackey.

Deborah Baros testified as follows: In approximately March and April of 1978, she, defendant, and their young child Anthony were living in a boardinghouse at 1204 Helen Street in North Las Vegas, Nevada. Baros worked as a waitress at Mom's Kitchen, a soul food restaurant. When she worked evenings, her shift ended at 11:00 or 11:30 p.m. One evening, defendant picked Baros up from work, as was customary, in their brown Camaro. They drove to the service station where they usually bought gas. Anthony was between them in the front seat. After the attendant serviced the car, defendant asked for two packs of Kool cigarettes, his usual brand. Defendant followed the attendant to the center booth, where the cigarettes were kept. After a short time, the two returned to the passenger side of the car. Defendant then ordered the attendant to get into the Camaro. As the attendant entered the backseat, Baros saw that defendant was holding a gun shaped like an "L."

Baros continued: They left the station, made several turns, and drove toward the mountains. They passed a power plant, then stopped in a desert-like area with sand, gravel, dirt, and rocks. The night sky was well illuminated with "lights coming from somewhere." There was a chain link fence and "a bunch of jeeps" in the background. The weather was cool and breezy. Defendant ordered Baros and the attendant from the car. Baros and the attendant began walking, side by side, into the desert-like area. As they did so, Baros heard three or four shots. When she woke up, defendant was gone. Baros realized she was not hurt, but the attendant lay beside her, facedown, with blood on his back. After a couple of minutes, the Camaro returned. Defendant and Anthony were in the car. Defendant ordered Baros to get in, and she complied. They did not return to 1204 Helen Street, but went immediately to a motel "across the street from the old ice plant," where they stayed for several days. During that time, Baros continued to work at Mom's Kitchen. Then she, defendant, and Anthony went to Florida.

Baros identified photographs of the station and of Jack Mackey as the murdered attendant.

North Las Vegas police officers and other witnesses testified about the unsolved murder of Mackey. In 1978, Margaret Potter and her husband owned a Discount Oil station on Bonanza Road in Las Vegas. Early on the morning of April 20, 1978, police called Potter to the station because it was "wide open" and unattended. When Potter arrived, cigarettes normally kept in the central...