9 Cal.4th 579B, People v. Crittenden

• Decision Date: 22 December 1994
• Docket Number: No. S010685,S010685
• Citation: 9 Cal.4th 83,36 Cal.Rptr.2d 474
• Court: California Supreme Court
• Parties: B, 9 Cal.4th 83, 885 P.2d 887 The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Steven Edward CRITTENDEN, Defendant and Appellant.

Page 474

36 Cal.Rptr.2d 474

9 Cal.4th 579B, 9 Cal.4th 83, 885 P.2d 887

The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Steven Edward CRITTENDEN, Defendant and Appellant.

No. S010685.

Supreme Court of California In Bank.

Dec. 22, 1994.

As Modified on Denial of Rehearing Feb. 16, 1995.

Fern M. Laethem, State Public Defender, under appointment by the Supreme Court, Albert W. Brodie and Ellen J. Eggers, Deputy State Public Defenders, for defendant and appellant.

Daniel E. Lungren, Atty. Gen., George Williamson, Chief Asst. Atty. Gen., Robert R. Anderson, Asst. Atty. Gen., Edmund D. McMurray and Jesse Witt, Deputy Attys. Gen., for plaintiff and respondent.

GEORGE, Justice.

Following the guilt and special circumstance phase of a capital trial, a jury found defendant Steven Edward Crittenden guilty of the first degree murders and the robbery of Katherine and William Chiapella Pen.Code, §§ 187, 189, 211, 212.5). ¹ As to both murders, the jury found that defendant personally used a deadly weapon (§ 12022, subd. (b)), and found true the special circumstance allegation that defendant committed the murders in the course of a robbery (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(17)(i)). With respect to the murder of Katherine, the jury found true the additional special circumstance allegation that defendant committed multiple murder (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(3)), and with respect to the murder of William, the jury found true the additional special circumstance allegation that the murder involved the infliction of torture (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(18)). The jury also found defendant guilty of the additional offenses of escape from jail with force or violence (§ 4532, subd. (b)), and the kidnapping of Douglas Kronen (§ 207, subd. (a)).

Following the penalty phase of the trial, the jury imposed the death penalty. After denying defendant's motion for modification of the verdict imposing the death penalty, and imposing sentences on the other convictions, the court sentenced defendant to death for the murders of Katherine and William Chiapella. This appeal is automatic. (§ 1239, subd. (b).) We affirm the judgment in its entirety.

FACTS

The evidence at trial (held in Placer County following defendant's successful motion for change of venue from Butte County, in which the City of Chico is located) established that on January 13, 1987, defendant entered the Chico residence of William and Katherine Chiapella and, by threatening Katherine, forced her to write a personal check payable to defendant in the amount of $3,000. Defendant tied up both William and Katherine and then proceeded to kill both of them. Defendant subsequently was arrested and confined in jail. On May 11, 1987, defendant escaped from jail and confronted Douglas Kronen inside Kronen's residence. Defendant forced Kronen at gunpoint to drive defendant to Sacramento, where defendant was apprehended.

I. GUILT PHASE EVIDENCE

A. The prosecution's case

1. The Chiapella crimes

In 1986, Dr. William Chiapella (hereinafter, William), 68 years of age and suffering impaired locomotion from disease, and his wife, Katherine Chiapella (hereinafter, Katherine), 67 years of age, lived at 1416 Downing Avenue in Chico. On October 9, 1986, Katherine submitted a job order form at the Employment Development Department at California State University, Chico, seeking to employ a student to perform yard work at the rate of $4.50 per hour. On the following day, Katherine hired defendant, who then was enrolled as a student at that institution, but Employment Development Department records indicate he failed to appear for work. In the middle of that month, defendant mentioned the job to his girlfriend, Diana.

In mid-December 1986, Julie Gearing sublet her apartment to defendant. Early in January 1987, defendant's landlord telephoned defendant to discuss defendant's rent payment, because the landlord had been unable to cash defendant's check due to insufficient funds. On January 11, defendant contacted his landlord in order to reschedule their meeting from January 12 to January 14, advising him that defendant would "pay it all" at that time. Meanwhile, on January 6, 1987, William had submitted a job-order form at the Employment Development Department, seeking someone to perform yard work at the rate of $5.00 per hour.

Edith Bullard, the Chiapellas' housekeeper, last saw the couple when she cleaned their residence on January 12, 1987. At the time, she observed that the desk in the study was neat and there was no accumulated mail. She recalled five days earlier having cleaned a plastic floor runner under the desk. On the morning of January 13, Ms. Bullard telephoned the Chiapellas, informing Katherine she had the flu.

That same day, John Eyrich, defendant's roommate, noticed that a knife he owned (used by his father years earlier in the meat packing business to drain blood from animal carcasses) was missing. Defendant informed Eyrich that defendant was using it to repair his stereo and would return it the following day.

On the morning of January 13, Dr. Joseph Chiapella, William and Katherine's son, spoke with his mother by telephone. That morning, William telephoned Janet Steunkel, a family friend, to wish her a good trip. When Steunkel informed him she was not leaving on the trip until January 16, William advised he would telephone again on January 14 or 15, but never did so. Shortly after 1 p.m. on January 13, Katherine brought a pair of slacks to a local dry cleaners, requesting that they be cleaned by the following day, but she never returned to collect them. At 3 p.m. on January 13, the Chiapellas met with their attorney, Robert Laughlin, for less than 30 minutes. The Chiapellas informed him they planned to travel to San Francisco the following day to attend the theater and visit Katherine's mother.

At approximately 1 p.m. on January 13, Rodney Cox was washing his truck in front of his residence (located four homes from the Chiapellas' residence), when he noticed a college-age man 20 feet away, on the same side of the street. The individual was African-American, approximately 6 feet 2 inches to 6 feet 3 inches tall, weighed approximately 180 to 190 pounds, and was wearing a long-sleeved, white hooded sweatshirt with front pockets and lettering on the front, as well as "walkman"-type black headphones. Cox observed the man walk toward the Chiapella residence, and approximately one hour later saw him walking along the street and up the Chiapellas' driveway. A minute later, Cox observed the man cross to the other side of the street. Cox did not identify defendant at an "in-person" lineup, but did select defendant's photograph as one of five which resembled the man he had seen. At trial, Cox identified the man as defendant.

Diana (who married defendant in November 1987) testified that she moved in with defendant on January 9, 1987 (at which time her parents discontinued providing her with financial support). On January 13, she and defendant had an argument over money. Defendant left their apartment with a bicycle at approximately 2 p.m., returning with the bicycle approximately two hours later. At that time, defendant informed Diana he had received some money from his father in Texas and asked her to prepare a budget based upon assets of $3,000.

On the following day, defendant proceeded to a bank, where he cashed a check dated January 13, 1987, for $3,000, made out to defendant and executed by Katherine. It later was determined the check had not been entered in Katherine's check register, although customarily she recorded the checks she had written. Defendant received the cash primarily in $100 bills. On that date, defendant paid in cash to his landlord the amount of late rent plus $1,277.50, representing all sums due on the lease through July 1, 1987. Defendant paid in cash an $85 traffic fine at North County Municipal Court, and paid in cash $112 to K-mart and $144.63 to Safeway Stores to cover checks he previously had written on insufficient funds. That day, defendant returned his roommate's knife, which later was determined to contain blood on the finger recess of the knife blade.

On the morning and evening of January 14, and again on January 15, Ms. Bullard telephoned the Chiapellas but received no answer. The newscarrier who delivered the Chico Enterprise Record testified he delivered it at approximately 4 p.m. on January 13. On the following day, he delivered the newspaper at approximately the same time, noticing that the previous day's paper remained on the porch. On January 15, Joseph Chiapella stopped at his parents' residence and, receiving no response to his knock, dropped a letter through the slot in the front door. On January 16, Lois Cox, a neighbor, stopped by the Chiapellas' residence, rang the doorbell, and, receiving no response, stacked the accumulating newspapers in a corner of the porch. On the same day Audrey Powers, another neighbor, removed the three morning and four evening newspapers, leaving a note.

After Ms. Bullard expressed her concern, Joseph Chiapella entered his parents' residence on January 17 and noticed a large amount of mail that had accumulated in the entryway near the mail slot in the front door, including the envelope he had left on January 15. Upon entering the main bedroom, Joseph discovered his father, dead. Joseph entered the bathroom and discovered the words, "just the beginning" written in lipstick on the mirror. The same words were written on the mirror in another bathroom. Joseph went into the kitchen and called two friends, the emergency "911" service, and his wife. While speaking to her, he saw his mother dead on the kitchen floor, on the other side of the counter.

Dr. Gwen Hall, a forensic pathologist who examined the bodies in the residence and later performed autopsies on them, testified as to their condition. We summarize this testimony at considerable length, because it bears upon some of the issues raised on appeal, including the sufficiency of the...