People v. Benavides

• Decision Date: 17 February 2005
• Docket Number: No. S033440.,S033440.
• Citation: 35 Cal.4th 69,105 P.3d 1099,24 Cal.Rptr.3d 507
• Parties: The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Vicente Figueroa BENAVIDES, Defendant and Appellant.
• Court: California Supreme Court

24 Cal.Rptr.3d 507

35 Cal.4th 69

105 P.3d 1099

The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Vicente Figueroa BENAVIDES, Defendant and Appellant.

No. S033440.

Supreme Court of California.

February 17, 2005.

Rehearing Denied April 27, 2005.

Lynne S. Coffin and Michael J. Hersek, State Public Defenders, under appointments by the Supreme Court, and Kent Barkhurst, Deputy State Public Defender, for Defendant and Appellant.

Bill Lockyer, Attorney General, Robert R. Anderson, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Jo Graves, Assistant Attorney General, Carlos A. Martinez and Kelly E. Lebel, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

BROWN, J.

A jury found defendant Vicente Figueroa Benavides guilty of the murder of Consuelo Verdugo (Pen.Code, ? 187),¹ finding that he committed the murder under the special circumstances of felony-murder rape, felony-murder sodomy, and felony-murder lewd conduct (? 190.2, subd. (a)(17)(C), (D), (E)). The jury also found defendant guilty of rape, sodomy, and lewd conduct (?? 261, subd. (2), 286, subd. (c), 288, subd. (a)) against Consuelo, and that he inflicted great bodily injury in the commission of the sodomy and lewd conduct (? 12022.8). At the penalty phase the jury fixed the punishment for the murder at death. The trial court rendered judgment accordingly. This appeal is automatic. (? 1239, subd. (b).)

We affirm the judgment in its entirety.

I. FACTS

A. Guilt Phase Evidence

1. The People's Case

The prosecution presented evidence showing that defendant raped, sodomized, and fatally injured 21-month-old Consuelo Verdugo while babysitting her.

On November 17, 1991, at 7:30 p.m., Consuelo's mother, Estella Medina, brought her into the emergency room at the Delano Medical Center (DMC) and reported that Consuelo was hit by or had run into a door and injured her head. Consuelo was limp and flaccid, but responsive to outside stimuli in that she withdrew from pain and was moving her arms and legs. The only external signs of trauma were abrasions on her forehead. Medical personnel were concerned about a possible head injury, and the initial examination did not include a complete rectal or vaginal examination. They noted slight redness on the inside genitalia at the outer portion of the vagina, and that something obstructed their efforts to insert a catheter.

Within an hour Consuelo's stomach began to distend. Her blood pressure fell and her breathing became labored as she fell into a coma. Suspecting internal injuries, doctors transferred her to the Kern County Medical Center.

The transporting paramedic reported that Medina said Consuelo had run into a steel door while chasing her older sister Christina Medina, age nine. The emergency room charge nurse found this explanation unsatisfactory because Consuelo had blown pupils, a condition normally related to the blunt trauma of a car accident, and there were no abrasions or contusions on her body to indicate such an accident had occurred. The nurse attempted to insert a catheter and discovered a "massive" hematoma,² or bruise, to the external genitalia, and a tear from the urethra at the top of the external genitalia to the vaginal opening. Eventually a small rubber feeding tube was inserted as a catheter.

Consuelo's abdomen soon became very distended. The emergency room physician noted severe swelling throughout the entire anal area, and "absolutely no rectal tone." He suspected Consuelo had been sexually abused, but did not conduct a complete sexual abuse examination because her condition was critical and her resuscitation was his main concern.

Consuelo was taken to surgery at midnight. The pediatric surgeon found recent internal injuries in the midline section of the abdomen. All of the central organs ?€” the bowel, duodenum, and pancreas ?€” had been compressed and were "cracked in half" with portions lying over both sides of the spine, and there were injuries to the colon. The surgeon thought these injuries were caused by a kick or punch. He noted scarring and signs of prior injuries, one to two months old, in the area between the colon and the liver.

A pediatrician with an expertise in child endangerment examined Consuelo the following morning. He found a tear in her hymen and a bruise of the perineum. The anus was markedly swollen and gaping. There were tears in the anal sphincter and damage to the sphincter muscles caused by the insertion of some object into the anus and resulting in the loss of sphincter tone. The loss of sphincter tone, the pediatrician concluded, was not caused by the surgery. There was a tear in the back portion of the vaginal wall resulting from the insertion of some object into the vagina, which would explain the initial difficulty in inserting the catheter. The injuries to the anus and vagina were not consistent with Consuelo being hit by, or running into, a door. The pediatrician believed Consuelo had been sodomized, that something had penetrated the vaginal area and torn the vaginal wall, and that she had been kicked or punched in the abdomen, causing the internal injuries.

Consuelo's condition remained critical and on November 19, 1991, she was transferred to UCLA Medical Center for ongoing critical care. The attending physician noted that she was swollen all over, with significant swelling in the external genitalia that precluded him from fully examining her vagina. She had abnormal sphincter tone. A CAT scan revealed no evidence that Consuelo had been struck in the head. In an effort to stop continuing internal bleeding, a second operation, including a splenectomy, was performed on November 20, 1991. Following the operation, the surgeon examined the external genitalia and the anus and saw no evidence of any lacerations at that time. He explained that his inability to see any anal lacerations could have been due to the significant genital swelling.

All efforts to save Consuelo's life failed on November 25, 1991.

The forensic pathologist testified that Consuelo died as a result of acute blunt force penetrating injury of the anus that caused lacerations of the anus and injuries to multiple internal organs. The anus was expanded to seven or eight times its normal size. The injuries to the anus were consistent with penile penetration. There was an acute one-half-inch tear in the vaginal wall at the opening at the back, and the vagina was purple and bruised. Because the tip of a catheter is soft, the forensic pathologist did not think the numerous attempts to insert a catheter caused the vaginal tear, but, rather, thought the existence of the vaginal tear was the cause of the difficulty in inserting a catheter. The skin between the anus and vagina had been rubbed off. The anus, vagina, and bladder showed signs of previous injuries four weeks old.

There were bruises and contusions on both sides of the chest, and five ribs were fractured near the spinal column in a manner consistent with Consuelo being gripped tightly around the chest from behind. There were bruises on Consuelo's back where thumbs would naturally come to rest when she was grabbed around the chest. There was evidence of previous rib fractures three to four weeks old. There was an acute subdural hemorrhage and generalized swelling of the brain, suggesting Consuelo was shaken during the course of the assault.

Consuelo suffered from facial abrasions and contusions, including tearing inside the upper lip consistent with someone holding a hand over her mouth. The injuries to her face were not consistent with a fall or running into something because there were no loose teeth and her nose was not broken. The forensic pathologist believed that after such an assault, Consuelo could not have gotten up and walked around.

Medina testified that in November 1991 she lived in an apartment in Delano with her daughters Christina and Consuelo. Defendant worked as a farm laborer, living both with fellow farm workers at a motel in McFarland and with Medina in her Delano apartment on her days off from work as a nurse's aide at DMC.

On the afternoon of Sunday, November 17, 1991, Consuelo was in good health. Medina testified she changed Consuelo's diaper and then left for work about 6:40 p.m., leaving defendant to care for Christina and Consuelo. Christina and Consuelo were at the table eating hamburgers; defendant was sitting watching television.

Medina testified that at 7:20 p.m. she received a call from Christina, who told her Consuelo was pale, sick, and could not breathe. Medina returned home approximately five minutes later to find defendant sitting on the edge of her bed with Consuelo in his arms. Medina immediately drove Consuelo to DMC, accompanied by defendant and Christina. When the family arrived at the hospital, Medina parked the car in front of the emergency room and took Consuelo inside. Defendant stayed outside in the car alone for approximately 10 minutes.

Child Protective Services removed Christina from Medina's custody following Consuelo's death. As a prerequisite to regaining custody, Medina was required to stop having contact with and visiting defendant in jail, which she had done several times following his arrest. Medina testified that on May 22, 1992, six months after Consuelo's death, Christina told Medina that she remembered a time when defendant, who was caring for them alone overnight, took Consuelo and kept her in his locked bedroom until morning.

Christina testified that after her mother left for work on November 17, 1991, Christina asked defendant for permission to go out and play with her friend Mirabel, who lived in the same apartment complex. Defendant agreed to let her go, and told her to return in 30 minutes. When Christina left, Consuelo was coloring at the kitchen table and defendant was cutting onions to cook with eggs for dinner. Christina went out the front door, which opened inward into the living room of the apartment, and closed the door behind her because it was cold outside. Consuelo, who...