People v. Alfaro

• Decision Date: 06 August 2007
• Docket Number: No. S027730.,S027730.
• Citation: 63 Cal.Rptr.3d 433,163 P.3d 118
• Parties: The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Maria Del Rosio ALFARO, Defendant and Appellant.
• Court: California Supreme Court

163 P.3d 118

63 Cal.Rptr.3d 433

The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Maria Del Rosio ALFARO, Defendant and Appellant.

No. S027730.

Supreme Court of California.

August 6, 2007.

Karen L. Snell and Nanci L. Clarence, under appointments by the Supreme Court, Clarence & Snell and Anne W. Lackey, San Francisco, for Defendant and Appellant.

Bill Lockyer and Edmund G. Brown, Jr., Attorneys General, David P. Druliner, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Gary W. Schons, Assistant Attorney General, Laura Whitcomb Halgren and Kyle Niki Cox Shaffer, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

GEORGE, C.J.

A jury convicted defendant Maria Del Rosio Alfaro of the first degree murder of Autumn Wallace (Pen.Code, § 187)¹ (count I), first degree residential burglary (§§ 459, 460.1) (count II), and first degree residential robbery (§ 211, 212.5 subd. (a)) (count III). The jury also found true the special circumstances allegations of robbery-murder and burglary-murder (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(17)(i), (a)(17)(vii)) and the allegation that defendant personally used a deadly weapon (a knife) in the commission of the murder.

The first penalty phase trial ended in a mistrial. After a retrial as to penalty, a jury returned a verdict of death. The trial court denied the automatic motion to modify the penalty (§ 190.4, subd. (e)), stayed imposition of sentence on counts II and III, and imposed a sentence of death. Defendant's appeal is automatic. (§ 1239, subd. (b).) We affirm the judgment in its entirety.

I. STATEMENT OF FACTS

A. Introduction

A jury found that defendant murdered nine-year-old Autumn Wallace on June 15, 1990 in the course of committing a burglary and a robbery at the Wallace home. Autumn's body was discovered in the bathroom of the home, stabbed more than 50 times. Defendant was a high school friend of the victim's sister, April Wallace, and resided approximately three blocks from the Wallace residence. DNA testing revealed that blood found on the bottom of defendant's shoe was consistent with Autumn Wallace's blood and not consistent with defendant's blood. Additionally, shoe prints and fingerprints found at the murder scene connected defendant to the murders. Upon her arrest, and after waiving her rights to an attorney and to remain silent, defendant confessed to the murder. Defendant did not testify at the guilt phase of the trial, but argued that the man who had driven her and a coconspirator to the Wallace residence had pressured her to murder Autumn under threat to the lives of defendant and her family.

Defendant's first penalty phase trial, at which she testified, ended in a mistrial. At the penalty retrial, defendant did not testify but presented evidence of her impoverished and violent childhood, her history of drug abuse, and her impaired mental state. Defendant's testimony from her first penalty phase trial was read to the jury.

B. Procedural History

Following a preliminary hearing held in mid-November 1990, at which no affirmative defense was offered, defendant was held to answer in the Orange County Superior Court. In an information filed in late November 1990, the Orange County District Attorney charged defendant in count I with the June 15, 1990 murder of Autumn Wallace in violation of section 187, subdivision (a). Defendant was charged in count II with first degree residential burglary, in violation of sections 459 and 460.1, and in count III with first degree residential robbery in violation of sections 211 and 212.5, subdivision (a). The information further alleged that defendant personally used a deadly and dangerous weapon (a knife) during the commission of all three charged offenses within the meaning of section 12022, subdivision (b). The information further alleged two special circumstances — that the murder was committed while defendant was engaged in the commission of a robbery (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(17)(i)), and that the murder was committed while defendant was engaged in the commission of a first degree burglary. (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(17)(vii).)

Defendant entered a plea of not guilty to each count and denied the special circumstances and weapon allegations. Prospective jurors were sworn, and opening statements commenced in mid-March 1992. Nearly two weeks later, the jury found defendant guilty as charged and found true the knife-use and special circumstance allegations. The first penalty phase trial began in late March 1992. The court declared a mistrial as to the penalty phase in early April 1992 after it determined there was no reasonable probability that the jury would be able to reach a verdict. (§ 1140.)

Prospective jurors were sworn, and a second penalty phase trial commenced in mid-May 1992. The jury determined early in June 1992 that defendant should be sentenced to death.

The trial court denied defendant's motions for modification of sentence and for new trial, sentencing defendant to death and ordering that imposition of sentence on counts II and III for the burglary and robbery convictions be stayed pursuant to section 654. Defendant's appeal is automatic. (§ 1239, subd. (b).) She requests a stay of execution.

C. Guilt Phase Evidence

Autumn Wallace, the murder victim, was nine years of age. She resided with her mother, Linda Wallace, a clerk employed by the Orange County Superior Court, her older sister April Wallace, and April's infant son on Hedlund Street in Anaheim, California. Autumn's friend, Christina S., testified that their school had an "early day" on Friday, June 15, 1990; school recessed at 2:35 p.m., and about that time she and Autumn left school and went to Autumn's home.

Three of the Wallaces' neighbors testified that on the afternoon of Autumn's murder, they each separately observed a "reddish" or "goldish-bronze" Monte Carlo parked in the driveway of the Wallace residence and two Hispanic men standing nearby facing the street. One of the men was holding a child, approximately 18 months of age. The man with the infant subsequently was identified as Antonio "Shorty" Reynoso.

April Wallace testified that she attempted to telephone Autumn at approximately 4:30 p.m. to inform Autumn that she would arrive home late from work, but Autumn did not answer the phone. April returned to the residence at approximately 5:15 p.m. and found the front door locked. She entered and observed the residence was in a state of disarray. The hall closet was open and things were "scattered around." April called out for Autumn but received no answer. When April entered her bedroom, she noticed that her television and mirror were missing and some clothing had been thrown around. April immediately left the residence and went across the street to a neighbor's home.

At approximately 5:40 p.m., Linda Wallace arrived at the residence and was informed by April that the house had been burglarized and that Autumn was missing. Linda entered in search of Autumn and noticed that many items were missing. Unable to locate a telephone in the house, Linda instructed April to telephone the police from another location. While April ran to a neighbor's residence to make the call, Linda searched her home and discovered Autumn's body in the back bathroom.

Defendant was a high school friend of April Wallace's and resided approximately three blocks from the Wallace residence. In the course of her friendship with April, defendant visited the Wallace home on many occasions and resided there for a short time while pregnant with her second child. April testified that after 1989, she and defendant ceased to be friends because April doubted defendant's veracity. Defendant nonetheless continued to contact April to request that she drive defendant to various destinations.

Orange County Sheriff's Department Investigator Tom Giffin testified that he arrived at the Wallace residence at approximately 7:20 p.m. on the night of the homicide. At approximately 11:15 p.m., defendant, her boyfriend Manuel Cueva, and their son Manny walked past the Wallace home. Defendant asked Giffin for permission to speak with April, but Giffin declined. Giffin testified that while speaking to defendant, he recalled witness accounts that a small child had been seen in front of the house with two Hispanic men. The following day, after learning that a fingerprint lifted from the Wallace bathroom matched defendant's fingerprint, Giffin conducted an interview with defendant at the sheriff's department substation in Stanton. Defendant denied any involvement in the crimes during this interview.

Sometime after the murder, defendant left a bag of clothing at Maria Ruelas's home, where defendant and Cueva periodically stayed overnight. Ruelas testified that the clothes belonged to defendant. Defendant had telephoned Ruelas and asked her to leave the bag of clothing outside, because defendant was leaving for Mexico early the next morning, but defendant never returned for the clothes. Investigator Giffin obtained the bag from Ruelas on June 24, 1990. When the bag was searched pursuant to a warrant, it was found to contain April Wallace's boots and defendant's LA Gear tennis shoes.

Immediately thereafter, the police obtained a warrant for defendant's arrest, and she was arrested the following day. Shortly thereafter, defendant was interviewed during a videotaped session that lasted more than four hours. In the course of the interview, defendant confessed to murdering Autumn and burglarizing the Wallace residence. Defendant's videotaped confession was presented to the jury. Defendant told the police that on the day Autumn was murdered, defendant was staying at Manuel Cueva's father's home in Anaheim. Defendant was 18 years of age, the mother of two children, and pregnant with twins. Cueva was the father of defendant's younger children. Defendant was addicted to heroin and cocaine, and on the day of the murder she left Cueva's residence at approximately 11:00 a.m. to purchase drugs, taking Manny with her. Defendant was driven by...