People v. Bennett

• Decision Date: 02 February 1998
• Docket Number: No. S052788,S052788
• Court: California Supreme Court
• Parties: , 17 Cal.4th 969A, 949 P.2d 947, 98 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 863, 98 Daily Journal D.A.R. 1155 The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Edwin Winslow BENNETT, Defendant and Appellant. In re Edwin Winslow BENNETT, On Habeas Corpus.

Page 850

70 Cal.Rptr.2d 850

17 Cal.4th 373, 17 Cal.4th 969A, 949 P.2d 947,

98 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 863,

98 Daily Journal D.A.R. 1155

The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Edwin Winslow BENNETT, Defendant and Appellant.

In re Edwin Winslow BENNETT, On Habeas Corpus.

No. S052788.

Supreme Court of California.

Feb. 2, 1998.

As Modified April 1, 1998.

[17 Cal.4th 376] [949 P.2d 949] Martin Nebrida Buchanan, under appointment by the Supreme Court, San Diego, for Defendant and Appellant.

Daniel E. Lungren, Attorney General, George Williamson, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Gary W. Schons, Assistant Attorney General, Holly D. Wilkens, Esteban Hernandez, Janelle Marie Boustany and Karl T. Terp, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

KENNARD, Justice.

Shortly after petitioner Edwin Winslow Bennett's arrest for murder, a law enforcement investigator asked the manager of the motel where petitioner was then living not to let anyone enter petitioner's room without law enforcement authorization. The next day, the investigator entered the room and saw a .223-caliber rifle. Thereafter, the police obtained a warrant, searched the room, and seized the gun, which proved to be the murder weapon. At trial, petitioner's attorneys contended that the investigator's entry into petitioner's motel room was illegal, and that therefore the gun was inadmissible evidence. They did not, however, challenge the propriety of the investigator's request that the motel manager bar entry to petitioner's room. The trial court ruled that the gun was admissible, and a jury convicted petitioner of first degree murder (Pen.Code, § 187).

The Court of Appeal granted petitioner relief on habeas corpus and set aside his murder conviction. The court found petitioner's trial attorneys incompetent for not challenging the legality of the investigator's request that the motel manager deny others access to petitioner's room. We disagree, for a motion on this ground would not have been meritorious.

I

We begin by summarizing the evidence at petitioner's murder trial, at the hearing on the motion to suppress evidence filed by his

[949 P.2d 950] trial attorneys, and in the habeas corpus proceedings initiated by his appellate counsel.

A. Evidence at Trial

Prosecution witness Flora Larson testified that she met James Busher while he was on work furlough from federal prison, where he was serving a sentence for tax evasion. The two agreed to open a laundromat in Hesperia, a small town in San Bernardino County, California. Larson, who acted as Busher's chauffeur while he was on work furlough and in a halfway house, received $75,000 from Busher to invest in a laundromat, where Busher was to have a job after his release. In January 1988, Larson and Busher formed Swiftrail Corporation to build, own, and operate the Clean Fun Laundromat; Larson and Busher were the sole shareholders and officers. The next month, Busher was released from the halfway house.

The laundromat opened for business in September 1988. By the end of 1988, Larson and Busher were not on speaking terms. Larson replaced Busher on the corporation's board of directors with two members of her own family.

In February 1989, Larson became romantically involved with petitioner, who moved into Larson's house and began working at the laundromat. The next month, Larson signed a document giving petitioner authority to act on behalf of Swiftrail Corporation. Busher wrote petitioner a letter stating that petitioner did not have Busher's permission to represent or work on behalf of Swiftrail and asking him to cease such activities.

In April 1989, Busher filed a lawsuit seeking to gain control over Swiftrail Corporation. On April 18, 1989, the trial court in that action appointed a receiver to run the corporation. That evening, petitioner told Larson to drive him to an Orange County residential area, which Larson did not recognize until they arrived at the trailer park where Busher lived. Petitioner then pulled out a rifle and told Larson to park the car with the lights out. When Larson asked what he was doing, petitioner told her to be quiet and threatened to kill her. They waited until 2:30 or 3:00 a.m., when Busher drove up. Petitioner told Larson to start driving; when she "froze," petitioner put the car in gear. Larson drove slowly past Busher while petitioner fired, killing him. Busher had five bullet wounds in his body. Police found nine expended .223-caliber casings at the scene.

Petitioner and Larson continued to live together, but their relationship deteriorated. Once, Larson's mother was present when the two were arguing. When Larson's mother intervened to stop petitioner from choking Larson, petitioner told Larson, "I can have the same thing done to you ... that I had done to Jim Busher." On two occasions, petitioner admitted to Larson's fifteen-year-old son, Gary, that he had killed Busher.

In September 1989, petitioner moved out of Larson's home and took a room at the EZ-8 Motel in Victorville, an unincorporated area of San Bernardino County not far from Hesperia, where Larson had the laundromat. On September 27, 1989, the police arrested him at the laundromat for the murder of Busher. As mentioned at the outset, the police found a .223-caliber rifle in his motel room. A criminalist for the Orange County Sheriff's Department testified that the shell casings found at the murder scene were fired from the rifle.

While in jail, petitioner prepared a letter addressed to the Orange County District Attorney, purporting to be from a "Mr. T." The letter said that Mr. T. and his cousin had killed Busher, and that petitioner and Larson were innocent. Petitioner offered $1,000 to Gary Lyles, an inmate who was about to be released, to copy the letter and to mail it from Riverside County.

Petitioner testified in his own defense, denying that he had killed Busher. He claimed that on the night of the murder he was at the home of his friends Michael and Carmen Leonard, drinking beer and using amphetamines, from 10:00 or 11:00 at night until about 4:30 the next morning, when he went home. Larson was not there when he arrived. At 6:30 or 7:00 a.m., Larson telephoned and said that Busher had been shot. Petitioner returned to the Leonards' home Petitioner denied telling Larson in front of her mother that he could have "the same thing" done to her that he had done to Busher. He said that on one occasion he found Larson's son Gary crying because Gary had overheard his mother saying that she "took care of" Busher. Not wanting Gary to think his mother was a murderer, petitioner falsely told Gary that petitioner had Busher killed. According to petitioner, the rifle in his motel room was a gift from Larson.

[949 P.2d 951] later that morning and mentioned the shooting.

Michael Leonard testified that on some unspecified date after April 14, 1989, petitioner came to his home and stayed until about 4:00 a.m., drinking beer and using amphetamines. Petitioner returned the next morning, saying that an acquaintance of his had been shot. Michael's wife Carmen corroborated Michael's testimony.

The jury convicted petitioner of first degree murder.

B. Petitioner's Motion to Suppress Evidence

Before trial, the attorneys representing petitioner, Deputy Public Defenders Leonard Gumlia and James Barnett, filed a motion under Penal Code section 1538.5 to suppress the rifle (later identified at trial as the murder weapon) that police had seized from petitioner's motel room, on the ground that the warrant authorizing the search of petitioner's room was a product of an earlier illegal search of the room. ¹ Midway through the suppression hearing before Judge Ronald Owen, the public defender's office declared a conflict of interest. William Morrissey was appointed to represent petitioner, and the matter was transferred to Judge Richard Weatherspoon. Attorney Morrissey filed no additional points and authorities in support of the suppression motion; the parties stipulated that Judge Weatherspoon could decide the motion based on the testimony that had been presented before Judge Owen and on additional testimony taken before Judge Weatherspoon. A summary of this testimony follows.

On the afternoon of September 27, 1989, San Bernardino Deputy District Attorney Terry Barnes telephoned District Attorney Investigator Brian Moore. Barnes told Moore that Santa Ana police officers had arrested petitioner for murder, and that petitioner had been staying at the EZ-8 Motel in Victorville. Investigator Moore then called Santa Ana Police Officer Gary Mata, who was working on the case, and mentioned petitioner's stay in Victorville. Moore also called the EZ-8 Motel and spoke to the manager, Louise Proctor. Proctor confirmed that petitioner had been staying at the motel, and said that he was entitled to use the room until checkout time at 11:00 the next morning, September 28. Moore told Proctor that petitioner had been arrested and would not be returning to the motel, and he asked her not to let anyone into the room without law enforcement permission. Moore reported this conversation to Officer Mata. Motel manager Proctor, meanwhile, put a "cuff" lock on the door to petitioner's room to prevent unauthorized entry.

That night and again the next morning, petitioner's father came to the EZ-8 Motel and attempted to retrieve petitioner's belongings. On each occasion, motel manager Proctor told him that only the police were permitted to enter petitioner's room. That morning, between 9:00 and 9:30, Proctor reported these events to investigator Moore and asked him what she should do with the room.

Moore then called Officer Mata. Accounts of this conversation differ. According to investigator Moore, Officer Mata asked him to search petitioner's room at 11:00 a.m., the motel's checkout time, and to look for shell casings, weapons, and "anything out of the ordinary." Officer Mata, by contrast, testified that it was his...