In re Lucas

• Decision Date: 26 July 2004
• Docket Number: No. S050142.,S050142.
• Citation: 16 Cal.Rptr.3d 331,94 P.3d 477,33 Cal.4th 682
• Court: California Supreme Court
• Parties: In re Larry Douglas LUCAS, On Habeas Corpus.

16 Cal.Rptr.3d 331

94 P.3d 477

33 Cal.4th 682

In re Larry Douglas LUCAS, On Habeas Corpus.

No. S050142.

Supreme Court of California.

July 26, 2004.

Cooley Godward Castro Huddleston & Tatum, Cooley Godward, Paul A. Renne, Steven L. Friedlander, San Francisco, Eric R. Fleming, Robert M. Galvan, Corpus Christi, TX, Noel C. Johnson, Tracy S. Kaplan, Jeffrey T. Lindgren, Walnut Creek, Julie C. Lythcott-Haims, Charles M. Schaible, San Francisco, David E. Garrett, Sarah L. Kowalski and Whitty Somvichian for Petitioner Larry Douglas Lucas.

Daniel E. Lungren and Bill Lockyer, Attorneys General, George Williamson, David P. Druliner and Robert R. Anderson, Chief Assistant Attorneys General, Carol Wendelin Pollack and Pamela C. Hamanaka, Assistant Attorneys General, Kenneth C. Byrne, Robert S. Henry, Susan Lee Frierson, John R. Gorey and Mary E. Sanchez, Deputy Attorneys General, for Respondent State of California.

GEORGE, C.J.

In People v. Lucas (1995) 12 Cal.4th 415, 48 Cal.Rptr.2d 525, 907 P.2d 373, we affirmed the judgment against petitioner Larry Douglas Lucas, who is confined in state prison under sentence of death for the murders of an elderly couple who resided next door to him. The prosecution's evidence was that petitioner entered the couple's home with the intent to commit a burglary and that he killed the victims when they discovered him in the course of the burglary. Petitioner's primary defense was that he killed the victims while in a drug-induced state of unconsciousness.

Petitioner filed a timely petition for writ of habeas corpus seeking relief on various grounds, and this court issued an order to show cause on issues limited to claims of asserted ineffective assistance of counsel at the penalty phase of the trial and asserted juror misconduct during deliberations at the guilt phase. We subsequently appointed a referee to conduct an evidentiary hearing and to make findings upon questions relating to these claims. After the evidentiary hearing, the referee determined that there was a factual basis for petitioner's claims with respect to asserted deficiencies of counsel at the penalty phase of trial and with respect to asserted misconduct by a juror at the guilt phase.

With respect to the claim of juror misconduct at the guilt phase, we conclude that the juror statements upon which petitioner based his claim simply reflected the juror's background and experiences. Further, even if the statements might be characterized as misconduct, they did not result in prejudice to petitioner.

With respect to the claim of ineffective assistance of counsel at the penalty phase, however, we conclude that petitioner's trial counsel failed to conduct an adequate investigation in preparation for the penalty phase of the trial. Evidence readily could have been discovered that would have demonstrated the severe emotional and physical abuse suffered by petitioner as a preschooler and young child. In addition, there was readily discoverable evidence establishing that, beginning at the age of seven years, petitioner was housed in an institution for abused and neglected children that was staffed by abusive, violent adults, and that subsequently he was placed in juvenile correctional facilities that were known for crowding, neglect, and abuse. Trial counsel's limited investigation was not consistent with prevailing professional standards at the time of trial and, in abandoning their investigation, counsel unreasonably failed to recognize indications that inquiry into petitioner's social history would disclose substantial mitigating evidence. Counsel lacked a sufficient basis upon which to make a reasoned strategic decision to forgo further investigation or for their decision not to present any evidence at the penalty phase of trial.

The available mitigating evidence was weighty. Petitioner's sister, several cousins who lived with him when he was young, an aunt, and a woman who had been married to petitioner's cousin in her youth testified consistently concerning the brutal treatment meted out to petitioner by his mother, his stepfather, and his stepfather's mother. Treatment records that were prepared when petitioner was seven years of age by doctors employed by the county child protective service agency confirm that contemporaneous medical opinion was that petitioner had been the victim of cruel abuse.

Defense counsel did not present any evidence in mitigation at the penalty phase. The jury was not afforded any insight into what may have produced petitioner's capacity for violence or his drug dependency, nor any basis for exercising compassion. The jury found itself faced only with evidence of petitioner's ruthlessness and violence. Had defense counsel conducted an adequate investigation, readily available evidence might have been introduced that would have made the jury aware of petitioner's childhood experience of rejection and extraordinary abuse at the hands of his family. In turn, a reasonable probability exists that the jury would have found in this evidence some explanation for petitioner's criminal propensities and some basis for the exercise of mercy. Had it been made aware of this evidence, there is a reasonable probability the jury would have reached a different verdict — that "at least one juror would have struck a different balance." (Wiggins v. Smith (2003) 539 U.S. 510, 123 S.Ct. 2527, 2543, 156 L.Ed.2d 471 (Wiggins).)

I

A

A jury convicted petitioner Larry Douglas Lucas of two counts of first degree murder (Pen.Code, § 187)¹ and burglary (§ 459), and found true the special circumstance allegations of multiple murder (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(3)) and burglary murder (§ 190.2, former subd. (a)(17)(vii), now § 190.2, subd. (a)(17)(G)). The jury imposed a sentence of death.

Petitioner was represented at trial by James E. Patterson, acting as lead counsel, and by cocounsel Richard A. LaPan. After a jury trial, petitioner was convicted of the October 1986 murders of Mary and Edwin Marriott, an elderly couple who were his neighbors. The following statement of facts is taken in large part from the description of the evidence at trial that appears in our decision in petitioner's automatic appeal. (People v. Lucas, supra, 12 Cal.4th at pp. 433-436, 48 Cal.Rptr.2d 525, 907 P.2d 373.)

The bodies of the victims, Edwin and Mary Marriott, respectively 85 and 75 years of age, were discovered in their home. They had suffered multiple stab wounds and blunt force trauma. The house had been ransacked, and there were bloodstains throughout. Physical evidence suggested an intruder had broken the glass in the rear kitchen door and entered and exited through the kitchen door, which was secured with a deadbolt lock. Blood drops led from the kitchen to the driveway of petitioner's residence next door.

Petitioner's fingerprints matched those retrieved from a jewelry box and another small box found inside the victims' home. A search of petitioner's home produced a pair of pants and boxer shorts with blood on them. The blood on the pants was consistent with petitioner's blood, while the blood on the boxer shorts found inside the jeans was consistent with Edwin Marriott's blood but not with petitioner's.

Petitioner testified he had resided next door to the Marriotts for many years. He said that on October 15, 1986, having received cash from his employer, he spent the day with two men, Gary Croffoot and Daniel Sandoval. He injected crystal methamphetamine, cocaine, and heroin in very large quantities. He passed out and could recall only standing in a dark hall, with faces like "waxy fright masks" coming at him. He tried to push them away and struck at them. He ran. He remembered driving, but could not recall where. He woke up at the beach and found that his hand was stuck with blood to the seat of the car. His right hand was cut across the knuckle of the index finger and on the palm, but he had no recollection of receiving these injuries. He continued to ingest drugs, returning home on one occasion to obtain money. He had no recollection of any "problem" with the Marriotts. He had no reason or desire to kill the Marriotts, and no need to enter their home to obtain money for drugs. He identified the pants found in his home as his, but was not certain the boxer shorts found inside them were his.

In rebuttal, police officers testified that after his arrest, petitioner admitted that a bloody knife found inside the house was his, and he attempted to hide his wounded hand during the interview with the police. In addition, the officers testified that, when asked how the window of the Marriotts' back door was broken, petitioner told them that he broke the window and removed the glass. According to the officers, petitioner admitted cutting himself inside the Marriott home, but did not admit killing the victims.

At the penalty phase of the trial, the prosecution offered evidence of petitioner's 1984 violent assault against an eighteen-year-old woman who often babysat for petitioner's young children. She testified that, when she approached petitioner about being paid for her work, he accused her of stealing his marijuana. When she denied having done so, petitioner seized the young woman by the hair and pointed a gun at her neck. He hit her in the face and knocked her off the porch where they had been standing. She went home and called for assistance from the police. Petitioner approached her again in front of her home and again demanded his marijuana. She denied having anything that belonged to him. He left but soon returned with his car, stating, according to her testimony, that he "was going to get someone to kill me." On cross-examination, she commented that she had not wanted to testify against petitioner at the penalty phase, particularly because she was a friend of petitioner's wife, and that "it is all forgiven. It is in the past." Petitioner was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon for this offense.

Petitioner did not...