People v. Chavez

• Citation: 50 Cal.2d 778,329 P.2d 907
• Decision Date: 19 September 1958
• Docket Number: 6210,Cr. 6199
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of California, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Manuel Joe CHAVEZ and Clyde Bates, Defendants and Appellants. The PEOPLE of the State of California, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Manuel HERNANDEZ, Defendant and Appellant.
• Court: California Supreme Court

Page 907

329 P.2d 907

50 Cal.2d 778

The PEOPLE of the State of California, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Manuel Joe CHAVEZ and Clyde Bates, Defendants and Appellants.

The PEOPLE of the State of California, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Manuel HERNANDEZ, Defendant and Appellant.

Cr. 6199, 6210.

Supreme Court of California, In Bank.

Sept. 19, 1958.

Rehearing Denied Oct. 15, 1958.

Richard Gladstein, San Francisco, Joseph T. Forno, Harold J. Ackerman and Ward Sullivan, Los Angeles, for appellants.

Edmund G. Brown, Atty. Gen., Norman H. Sokolow and Albert Bianchi, Deputy Attys. Gen., for respondent.

GIBSON, Chief Justice.

A jury found defendants Manuel Chavez, Clyde Bates, and Manuel Hernandez guilty of murder of the first degree as charged in six counts. The punishment of Bates and Chavez was fixed at death and that of Hernandez at life imprisonment. The jury further found that each of the three defendants was guilty of arson and that, as alleged, Bates had suffered four prior convictions. The appeals of Bates and Chavez are before us automatically under section 1239, subdivision (b), of the Penal Code. Separate notice of appeal was filed by Hernandez.

A fourth man, Oscar Brenhaug, was charged with the same offenses, but the indictment was set aside as to him on the ground that he had been indicted without reasonable or probable cause. See Pen.Code, § 995.

About 11 p. m. on April 4, 1957, six persons died as a result of a fire in a Los Angeles bar called the Mecca. Five were killed by carbon monoxide, and the death of the sixth was caused by asphyxia and burns. During the morning and afternoon of that day Bates and Brenhaug consumed considerable amounts of alcoholic beverages, including wine, beer, bourbon, and tequila. Early in the evening they met Chavez and Hernandez, who joined them in heavy drinking. Later they went to the Corner Cafe, and then they drove in Chavez' car to the Mecca bar where they ordered more drinks. Hernandez, who was 18 years old, was asked for his identification card and said he did not have it. Chavez was also asked for his card and refused to show it. The bartender, believing Chavez and Hernandez might be minors, refused to fill their orders. The evidence appears to be without conflict that all of the defendants were under the influence of alcohol.

A disturbance arose which apparently developed in part out of the refusal of a waitress and another woman to dance with some of the defendants. The bartender, with the assistance of a patron, ejected Chavez, Bates and Hernandez, and there was considerable fighting both inside and outside the building, during which Chavez was knocked down. A few minutes later Chavez returned for Brenhaug, who had remained inside, and Chavez was again knocked down and ejected. Brenhaug, who was in a drunken stupor during the disturbance, left when he was told to do so. There is a conflict in the evidence as to whether Hernandez took any part in the fight. An employee of the Mecca testified that Bates and Chavez re-entered to get Brenhaug and that when the latter got up to leave, one of them said, 'We'll be back, and we'll get even.' Another witness heard one of the defendants say, 'We will be back.'

At the trial Brenhaug testified: He and defendants drove away from the Mecca in Chavez' automobile but soon parked it and got into one owned by Bates. They stopped to pick up a five-gallon paint bucket, drove to a gasoline station, and parked the car on a street nearby. Hernandez and Bates went into the station, with Bates carrying the bucket, and bought some gasoline. (According to the station attendant the amount purchased was nearly five gallons.) Bates took the bucket back to the car and put it in the front compartment between his legs, and Hernandez drove them back to the vicinity of the Mecca. Before starting the trip to the gasoline station either Bates or Chavez said 'they were going back and get even with them,' and when Bates got out to pick up the bucket one of the defendants 'said they were going back to the Mecca and fix them people back there.' Thereafter, on the way to the station, Bates said that 'we were going to get some gas and go back and scare them.' When they returned to the Mecca Brenhaug got out of the car and said that he did not want to get into any trouble. Bates seized him and shoved him into the passenger side of the front seat. Bates and Chavez left the automobile, with Bates carrying the bucket of gasoline. The engine of the car was running, and Hernandez was seated behind the steering wheel.

When Bates and Chavez arrived at the door of the Mecca, Bates threw the gasoline on the floor, and the waitress heard him say, 'I will get every one of you in there.' Chavez threw a book of lighted matches on the gasoline, and there followed an explosion or flash fire which traveled rapidly, destroying the carpeting and damaging the interior. Bates and Chavez ran from the Mecca and got into the rear seat of the car, saying, 'Let's get out of here.' They left immediately, with Hernandez driving.

Defendants and Brenhaug drove to the Corner Cafe, and en route the bucket was thrown out of the car. All of them except Brenhaug, who remained in the car and slept, went into the cafe and stayed there until closing time. They separated soon after, and Bates and Brenhaug drove to Bates' residence, where they parked in the driveway and went to sleep. Officers took Bates and Brenhaug into custody about 3:10 in the morning. Bates did not stagger and, in the opinion of one of the officers, was not intoxicated. The officer noticed a smell of gasoline on the inside of the car when he opened the door. A chemist who examined the automobile about two hours later detected odors of gasoline and wine on the passenger side of the floor of the front compartment.

Bates was questioned by a police officer at about 4 a. m. on April 5. He said that he had been at the Mecca with Brenhaug the evening before but that he did not know the identity of the other two men and that they had come in later. Chavez was placed under arrest at his home by two police officers on the afternoon of the same day, and, before they indicated why they were there, he said, 'I have been expecting you all day.' He requested his wife to get him a lawyer, stating, 'I didn't do it.' When she asked him what he was talking about he replied, 'That thing in the bar with all those people, the one you read about in the paper. I was in the bar.'

Hernandez told two police officers, when questioned on the morning of April 6, that two men whose names he did not know picked him up in an automobile and drove him to the bar where 'all of those people were burned' and that after an argument with the bartender they left and went home. Later he acknowledged that they had gone to a filling station where he purchased gasoline. He said that he bought the gasoline because Bates told him to get it, but he did not know then what Bates was going to do with it; that he drove the car when they left the gasoline station; that he did not want to go back to the Mecca, but Bates 'kept' telling him to go there and gave him directions; and that Bates sat in the front seat, with the gasolien container near his feet. Bates and Chavez got out of the car at the Mecca, with Bates carrying the gasoline. After a couple of minutes, they came running back to the car, and the place was on fire.

On April 9, Bates, Chavez, Hernandez and Brenhaug were questioned together in the police administration building. Brenhaug stated: Defendants 'got into a fight' at the Mecca, and Bates and Chavez said that they were going to 'get even.' After the four of them left the Mecca, Bates and Chavez picked up a can, and Bates drove to a filling station where Hernandez purchased gasoline. Bates said they would return to the Mecca and throw some gasoline into the place. They parked near the Mecca, and Bates and Chavez got out of the car, taking the can with them. Hernandez was in the front seat behind the steering wheel. He (Brenhaug) saw a flash of light, and Bates and Chavez came running back to the car, saying they should 'get out of there.' Either Bates or Chavez said, 'We sure fixed them,' and they left, with Hernandez driving.

The police, in the presence of Brenhaug, questioned defendants about his statement. Hernandez said that Brenhaug was mixed up a little in some places but had told the truth about what had occurred and that, when something was said about buying gasoline, he (Hernandez) thought they were only going to 'scare somebody or something.' Bates said he remembered that he and Brenhaug had picked up Chavez and Hernandez, that they had gone to the Mecca and had had a 'beef' there, and that he was at the Corner Cafe about closing time with Chavez and Hernandez, but that he did not recall anything else. Chavez said that Brenhaug and Hernandez were lying.

Hernandez did not take the stand at the trial. Bates testified that commencing on the morning of April 4 and continuing into the evening, he and Brenhaug drank considerable amounts of alcoholic beverages. He recalled going to the Mecca, but it was 'more of a dream.' He did not remember returning to the Mecca, and, if he threw gasoline there, he did not remember it.

Chavez testified that he was at the Mecca during the first visit and was ejected; that the three others left in Bates' automobile; that he entered his own car and drove away; and that he did not see Bates, Hernandez, or Brenhaug again that night or the following morning, nor did he return to either the Mecca or the Corner Cafe.

Defendants have filed separate briefs, and, although their claims of error differ in some respects, their principal contentions may be summarized as follows: (1) the evidence is insufficient to support a finding that murder was committed in the perpetration of arson, and the court erred in instructing the jury on the subject; (2) the evidence is insufficient to support a finding that...