People v. Ashley

• Decision Date: 14 March 1963
• Docket Number: Cr. 7151
• Citation: 59 Cal.2d 339,29 Cal.Rptr. 16,379 P.2d 496
• Court: California Supreme Court
• Parties: , 379 P.2d 496 The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Clarence E. ASHLEY, Defendant and Appellant.

Page 16

29 Cal.Rptr. 16

59 Cal.2d 339, 379 P.2d 496

The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Clarence E. ASHLEY, Defendant and Appellant.

Cr. 7151.

Supreme Court of California, In Bank.

March 14, 1963.

Rehearing Denied April 9, 1963.

Clarence Edward Ashley, in pro. per., and Ben Curry, Merced, under appointment be the Supreme Court, for defendant and appellant.

Stanley Mosk, Atty. Gen., Doris H. Maier, Asst. Atty. Gen., and Edsel W. Haws, Deputy Atty. Gen., for plaintiff and respondent.

PETERS, Justice.

Defendant was found guilty of the kidnaping and the first degree murder of Angie Mae Stewart, six-year-old girl. The same jury also determined that defendant was sane on August 8, 1960, the date the offenses were committed, and that the penalty for the murder should be death. The appeal is automatic under the provisions of section 1239, subdivision (b), of the Penal Code.

The facts are not in dispute. Angie was kidnaped and killed on August 8, 1960. She and her family (father and mother and two brothers) had arrived in Merced County by automobile on August 6, 1960, having come from Minnesota, hoping to secure farm work. They camped at Fremont Park on the San Joaquin River, some 10 miles from Gustine in Merced County.

On August 7, 1960, around 4 p. m. Angie and her nine-year-old brother were swimming in the river. When the parents went to get the children they found the appellant in the water with them. Defendant suggested that the parents also come in swimming, and they did. A short time later defendant carried Angie up the bank to his car where he got an army blanket and wrapped it around the girl and himself, in which position they remained for about 30 minutes. Defendant then discovered that the Stewarts were short of food. He suggested that they eat together, and contributed most of the food. He also went to a nearby store and purchased several cartons of beer, and some soft drinks for the children. Mr. Stewart and defendant consumed the beer except for one can which Mrs. Stewart partially drank. After dinner Angie complained of a stomach-ache. Defendant became quite disturbed and insisted on taking the girl to Gustine to see a doctor, and offered to pay the bill. The entire group drove to Gustine in defendant's car. A doctor was located who found ailment to be minor and prescribed for it. Defendant paid the doctor's bill, and then invited the group to a nearby bar. The defendant and Mr. Stewart had two beers, and Mrs. Stewart, at defendant's suggestion, had two martinis, a drink that she had not tasted before. About midnight, the group left and returned to Fremont Park. There they retired. Angie and her infant brother were placed in the back of the Stewarts' car and the older brother on the front seat. The parents bedded down on the ground near the car. Defendant retired to a spot near his car, which was parked nearby. Before separating the Stewarts had told defendant that they had been offered a peach picking job starting early that morning, and that they had accepted.

The older boy (nine years of age) testified that during the night Ashley came over to the Stewart car and knocked on the window; that he (the boy) had called out to his mother; that his mother, who was half asleep told him to go back to sleep; that he was frightened, and left the car and got under the blankets with his parents. When the Stewarts arose the next morning defendant and his car were gone.

Defendant was driving a 1953 two-toned green Chevrolet with New York license plates. The car had a defective transmission that leaked oil so that there was a deposit of oil wherever the car was parked with a thin distinctive trail of oil leading up to and away from the parking spot.

The Stewarts, when they awoke on the morning of August 8, 1960, assumed that Angie and her brother were asleep in the back of the car covered with blankets. They started out to their promised job of peach picking near the town of Stevenson. As they entered that town, Mrs. Stewart reached into the back seat to awaken the two children and discovered that Angie was missing. She immediately screamed 'He took her,' meaning the defendant. The authorities were notified and a search for the girl started. It centered around the Fremont Park area and around and about Mt. Bullion in Mariposa County.

Defendant was a natural suspect. On August 8, 1960, about 10 a. m. he was seen in a drug store and service station in Mariposa. At 11 a. m. he was seen and recognized in a cafe in the town of Mt. Bullion. The sheriff's office was notified. At about noon of that day he was arrested near a bridge on Norwegian Creek on Highway 49 not far from the town of Mt. Bullion.

Appellant vigorously denied knowing anything about the disappearance of Angie. Examination of defendant disclosed that his undershorts in an area of about 10 inches were wet, as if recently washed. Defendant claimed that he became scared when the officers pointed their guns at him, and urinated. His trousers, however, were not wet. The officers examined the area near Norwegian Creek and, under a bridge, found defendant's wet T-shirt and some wet paper towels. Defendant claimed he had gone to the area to sponge himself.

A pathologist examined the defendant shortly after 3 p. m. on August 8th. He found spermatozoa present in defendant's urinary orifice indicating an emission of semen within the previous 36 hours. He also discovered a fresh small laceration on defendant's penis. He had two bruises on his shoulder and two scratches on his left arm. There was a three-inch charcoal smear on the back of the same arm. The significance of this smear will be mentioned later. The undershorts were examined and some small urine and seminal stains discovered, but no large urine stain.

The next day defendant was questioned by a special agent of the State Department of Justice by the name of Lazier. Defendant was then under arrest. He freely and voluntarily, without any promises or threats, answered a great many questions about his relationship with the Stewarts, but emphatically denied having anything to do with Angie's disappearance. He told the officer that he had been a member of the armed services for many years; that he was presently a warrant officer of the United States Army, and had come from New York on leave with orders to ship out to Korea from San Francisco; that he had driven out by car and ultimately arrived at Fremont Park in Merced County. He described his meeting with the Stewarts, the swimming episode, the carrying of Angie from the water and wrapping a blanket about her and him, and the trip to the doctor. He professed a great love for children, and stated that when first arrested he had had great sympathy for the Stewart family, but, because of his forced detention in jail, he was fast losing his sympathy for that family.

The next day, August 10th, defendant consented to show the officers the route he claimed that he had taken from Fremont Park to the point of his arrest. Lazier and attorney Kane, one of defendant's then attorneys, were included in the party.

Defendant, as he later admitted, deliberately misled the officials on this trip. He described his activities at Fremont Park after the Stewarts had retired. He said he was unable to sleep and walked around the park. He pointed out where his car had been parked and oil deposits and trails were observed. They indicated his initial trip into the park, his departure for Gustine, his return, and his departure. Defendant stated he had driven from the park to Merced where he had stopped for oil, but he could not locate the station. He stated he had then driven towards Mariposa, stopping off the main highway to sleep for a couple of hours. This he later admitted to be false. He was not able, of course, to locate this spot. He then said he had driven to Mariposa to the service station where he had been seen. Oil deposits similar to those in the park were here discovered. He denied ever driving off of Highway 140 to his left. He stated he had continued on Highway 140 to its interestion with Highway 49, then on Highway 49 to Mt. Bullion where he had breakfast. Then he went on to Norwegian Creek where he stopped to look for rocks, in which he was interested, and where he was arrested.

On August 11, 1960, defendant was released from custody, apparently because of the insufficiency of the evidence against him.

The body of Angie was found on August 15, 1960, near a trail leading from the Agua Fria Road in an isolated area of Mariposa County. That road is a connecting road between Highways 140 and 49, the southerly end of this road running into Highway 140 some five and a half miles from Mariposo. The body was found two and a half miles from where defendant was arrested. It was found in a clump of live oak that had been burned leaving the trees with charred limbs. Thus the charcoal smear on defendant's left arm took on significance. The body was nude, with the sleeping garments of the child near her feet. A large quartz rock about twelve inches long and five inches across was found near the child's head. The body was badly decomposed, but identifiable. An autopsy revealed a skull fracture which could have caused death. It could not be determined from the examination because of the state of the body whether there had been any sexual abuse.

Just off the Agua Fria Road, by some cabins in the general area where the body was discovered, a car had been parked leaving oil deposits similar to those left by defendant's car. Oil trails were also found at the intersection of Highway 140 and Agua Fria Road. An expert testified that the oil in defendant's transmission and the oil in the deposits were as 'nearly identical as you get from two samples of the same material.'

Several quartz rocks on the type found in the Agua Fria area were found in defendant's car. No such rocks were to be found near Norwegian Creek, where defendant claimed that he had picked...