People v. Blair
| Decision Date | 28 July 2005 |
| Docket Number | No. S011636.,S011636. |
| Citation | 115 P.3d 1145,31 Cal.Rptr.3d 485 |
| Court | California Supreme Court |
| Parties | The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. James Nelson BLAIR, Defendant and Appellant. |
David A. Nickerson, under appointment by the Supreme Court, San Rafael, for Defendant and Appellant.
Bill Lockyer, Attorney General, Robert R. Anderson, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Pamela C. Hamanka, Assistant Attorney General, Sharlene A. Honnaka and Marc J. Nolan, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.
A jury convicted defendant James Nelson Blair of the first degree murder of Dorothy Green (Pen.Code § 187)1 and found true the special circumstance allegation of murder by the administration of poison. (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(19).) At the penalty phase of the trial, the jury returned a verdict of death. The trial court denied defendant's automatic motion to modify the verdict (§ 190.4, subd. (e)) and imposed a death sentence.
This appeal is automatic. (§ 1239, subd. (b).) We affirm the judgment in its entirety.
Defendant was convicted of the first degree murder of his neighbor Dorothy Green by the administration of poison. The prosecution's evidence showed that, in 1984, defendant deliberately poisoned Green and Green's friend, Rhoda Miller, by placing cyanide in a gin bottle and giving the bottle to Miller to deliver to Green. The apparent motive was to obtain money that defendant believed was owed to him by Green. Green drank more of the gin than Miller, fell into a coma that lasted for several months, and sustained brain damage. Green survived for almost two years and then died from pneumonia in 1986. Medical experts testified that the cyanide poisoning caused the brain damage, which then caused the pneumonia that led to Green's death.
Defendant was tried and convicted in 1985 for the attempted murder of Green and Miller. He represented himself and was convicted. After Green died, he was tried in the present case for the first degree murder of Green with the special circumstance of murder by the administration of poison. Defendant insisted on representing himself, as he had in the earlier proceedings. He attempted, unsuccessfully, to establish that cyanide poisoning was not the cause of Green's death. At the penalty phase, the prosecution's evidence in aggravation consisted principally of proof of defendant's prior convictions, and defendant presented no witnesses and only a few college transcripts as evidence in mitigation.
a. The poisoning
In 1984, defendant lived in an apartment complex located at 5542 Sierra Vista Avenue in Hollywood. Dorothy Green shared apartment 209 in the same complex with a man named Goretha Murphy. One evening, a man whom Murphy believed was defendant came to their apartment. After Murphy let the man in, Murphy overheard the man tell Green that he wanted his money back and was going to get it. The man then left. On another occasion, the same man approached Murphy and told him that he had "better do something" about having Green return the money. Murphy then heard this man tell another person that he was going to "get" Green and Murphy. This led to a scuffle between Murphy and the man on the walkway near Green's apartment.
On September 24, 1984, Rhoda Faye Miller, a former resident of the Sierra Vista apartment complex, and her eight-year-old son, William, went to visit Michelle Dubois in apartment 203.2 Defendant was at Dubois's apartment when Miller and her son arrived. Defendant had a briefcase with him. After a while, Miller went to a store and returned with some food, soda, and a pint of rum. Miller, Dubois, and defendant consumed drinks of rum and cola.
About 40 minutes after Miller returned, defendant asked to speak with her privately in the kitchen. There, defendant asked Miller to do him a favor by delivering to Dorothy Green a tall box wrapped in butcher paper and a ribbon, which he explained contained a bottle of gin. Defendant said he did not want to deliver the package himself, because Green's "husband," Murphy, did not like them drinking together. Miller agreed and left Dubois's apartment with the package, leaving William and defendant with Dubois.
When Miller arrived at Green's apartment, she told Green that she had brought a bottle of gin as a gift from defendant. Green said "how nice," and invited Miller in for a drink. Once Miller was inside, Green took the bottle out of the box. To Miller, the seal on the cap of the bottle appeared to be intact, except for one spot that was not completely sealed. When Green opened the bottle, it made a "swish" sound as if it had been sealed. Green poured a six-to-eight-ounce glass of gin for herself. Miller put about two inches of gin into her own glass and mixed it with water.
Green then drank her full glass of gin straight down, immediately said the gin did not "taste right," and asked where defendant was. Miller took a swallow from her own glass. Miller thought the gin tasted like kerosene. As Green was returning from her bedroom, where she had gone to get her slippers, she began to fall. Miller caught her so she would not hit her head, and then Miller herself began to feel woozy. Both of them fell to the floor. Green was vomiting, so Miller turned her on her side to prevent her from choking, then called the paramedics, and told them she believed she and Green had been poisoned.
Meanwhile, Dubois sent Miller's young son, William, to Green's apartment to look for Miller. William and defendant left Dubois's apartment at the same time; as William headed to Green's apartment, defendant left the complex. When William arrived at Green's apartment, he saw Miller on her knees by the telephone and Green lying on the floor on her side, barely moving. Miller told William to return to Dubois and tell her that she and Green had been poisoned. Miller then passed out.
When Miller regained consciousness, several paramedics were in the apartment. Miller told one of the paramedics, Robert Miller (who was no relation), that she and Green had drunk some gin, and that possibly the gin had been poisoned. It appeared to Robert Miller that Green was in a more serious condition than Miller. Green was unconscious and "critical." The paramedics inserted an "I.V." into Green's arm and took her, Miller, and the gin bottle (which they had found in the apartment) to Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital. At the hospital, the paramedics gave the gin bottle to the police. Later tests of samples of gin from the bottle revealed that it contained sodium cyanide, at a quantity of 5 percent of the solid material.
b. Defendant's arrest
A few days after the poisoning incident, William was playing with some friends outside the Sierra Vista apartment complex. He saw defendant, who was carrying the same briefcase that was in his possession on the day of the poisoning. Defendant asked William where his mother was.
Officer Keith Moreland arrested defendant at the Sierra Vista apartment complex on October 2, 1984. At the time of his arrest, defendant was carrying a briefcase. Officer Moreland took defendant to the Hollywood police station and turned him and the briefcase over to the investigating officer, Detective Richard Jackson, and his partner, Detective Michael Thrasher.
In an interview room, Detective Jackson searched the briefcase. Inside, he found an envelope with writing on it. Among such entries as "magic shave," "soap" and "Reader's Digest law book" were the words "get cyanide." Detective Jackson also searched defendant's wallet and found several items, including: (1) a piece of paper with "Chem Lab Supply" and a telephone number and address written on it; (2) another piece of paper with "RJM Lab," "Chem Lab Supplies," and corresponding addresses and phone numbers written on it; (3) and a business card with "Chem Lab" and "Haw" written on it. Detectives Jackson and Thrasher later visited Chem Lab Supply and RJM Lab in Hawthorne, but no one there recognized a photo of defendant as someone who had purchased cyanide.
On October 3, 1984, Miller, who had been released from the hospital, identified defendant from a photo line-up as the person who had handed her the gin bottle to give to Green.
A police handwriting analyst compared the writing on the envelope found in defendant's briefcase with handwriting exemplars taken from defendant on the day of his arrest in October 1984, in October 1986, and again in April 1989.3 The analyst was able to state that the writing on the envelope matched that of the first and third of defendant's exemplars, but not the second. The analyst testified that the handwriting in the second exemplar had been "disguised," that is, the person giving the exemplar had attempted to change the characteristics of the writing.
c. Green's illness and death
Meanwhile, Green remained at Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital. When first admitted she was in a coma and unable to breathe, with a blood pressure reading as low as 33, indicating shock. This condition had to be reversed immediately to avoid death. An intratracheal tube was placed in her throat, and a machine helped her breathe for the first few days. When she regained the ability to breathe on her own, a tracheotomy was performed so that a tube could be placed directly in her trachea, bypassing her nose and throat. Without breathing assistance, she would have died. Toxicology screens performed on Green's blood and urine when she was admitted to the hospital revealed the presence of cyanide, as well as amphetamine and Valium.
Green remained in a coma for approximately three months. She was fed and medicated through tubes connected to her nose and stomach. During that time, she developed pneumonia, a common complication for patients in her condition. When she awakened from the coma briefly,...
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