People v. Braun

• Decision Date: 12 January 1973
• Docket Number: Cr. 10986
• Citation: 29 Cal.App.3d 949,106 Cal.Rptr. 56
• Court: California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals
• Parties: PEOPLE of the State of California, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Thomas Eugene BRAUN and Leonard Eugene Maine, Defendants and Appellants.

Page 56

106 Cal.Rptr. 56

29 Cal.App.3d 949

PEOPLE of the State of California, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Thomas Eugene BRAUN and Leonard Eugene Maine, Defendants and Appellants.

Cr. 10986.

Court of Appeal, First District, Division 2, California.

Jan. 12, 1973.

Hearing Denied March 8, 1973.

David N. Bortin, Concord, for defendant and appellant Thomas Eugene Braun (under Court appointment).

David P. Lucchesi, Vallejo, for defendant and appellant Leonard Eugene Maine (under Court appointment).

Thomas C. Lynch, Atty. Gen., Albert W. Harris, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen., Derald E. Granberg, Deputy Atty. Gen., San Francisco, for plaintiff and respondent.

KANE, Associate Justice.

Defendants Thomas Eugene Braun ('Braun') and Leonard Eugene Maine ('Maine') appeal ¹ from their respective judgments of conviction entered on jury verdicts finding both of them guilty of kidnaping and murdering Timothy Luce ('Tim'), kidnaping and raping Susan B. ('Susan'), and finding Braun guilty of assaulting Susan with intent to commit murder.

Prosecution Evidence

Tim and Susan, the two teenage victims of the crimes, were residents of Ukiah, California. On the evening of August 21, 1967, shortly before 6 p.m., they left Ukiah in a car and drove to a wrecking yard in Hopland. During the return trip something went wrong with their car. They pulled over and started walking back toward Ukiah. They were given a ride by Braun and Maine who were driving south but turned around and drove back to pick them up. Braum and Maine were driving a 1967 light green Buick sedan acquired in Oregon after they killed the driver, Samuel Ledgerwood.

Susan testified that Maine was driving the car when they were picked up. After traveling a short distance they turned off the highway whereupon Tim and Susan were suddenly threatened and guns were pointed at them. Susan saw two pistols. While Maine stayed in the car with her, Braun left with Tim and a shot was heard by Susan. After the shot, Braun came back to the car and Susan heard the defendants talking about a wallet and about $6. Sometime before 7 p.m. the same day, Tim's body was found on a small roadway adjacent to a vineyard south of Ukiah. As later determined, Tim's death was caused by a single gunshot wound in the nape of the neck of the base of the skull.

Shortly after Tim's murder, Braun and Maine resumed driving south, taking Susan with them. During this journey, they stopped three times--at a service station, a restaurant and a motel. Before reaching the motel, Braun and Maine talked about wanting money from Susan's parents, but she told them that her parents had no money. Arriving at the motel, Susan was taken to a cabin where first Braun, then Maine, raped her. Sometime later they got back in the car and resumed driving. At about 10 or 11 p.m. they reached another motel on Highway 99, north of Turlock, where Braun registered. After a couple of hours' stay, they left that motel, too. Susan was shot thereafter by Braun while she was outside the car. The evidence indicates that she was shot shortly before 5 a.m. on August 22, 1967, and her body was thrown into a ditch from which she crawled up back to the roadway where she was discovered by Mr. and Mrs. Mease at about 6 a.m. Before the arrival of the authorities, Susan spoke to Mrs. Mease, giving a recount of the shootings and a description of the perpetrators and the getaway car. Acting upon this information given by Mrs. Mease the police arrested appellants in the Jamestown Hotel, Jamestown, California, at about 9:15 a.m.

In the room occupied by Maine the officers found a plastic carrying case which contained a blanket, a .22 caliber Ruger automatic, and a .22 caliber Colt single-action pistol. Both pistols were fully loaded. In the pocket of a pair of jeans found in Maine's room the officers found a wallet, some change and a number of .22 caliber hollow-point bullets. In the pocket of a pair of jeans found in Braun's room the officers found a car key, two wallets and a number of .22 caliber hollow-point bullets. During the search of the Buick, which took place after it had been towed to the Sonora police station, the officers found two suitcases and a .35 caliber Remington rifle. One of the suitcases contained seven boxes of .22 caliber cartridges and a box of .35 caliber Remington cartridges. A fingerprint examiner who processed the vehicle found prints which he identified as those of Tim, Susan, Braun and Maine. A criminalist testified that, in his opinion, a cartridge casing found by Tim's body and four cartridge casings found near Susan on the highway were all fired from the Ruger .22 caliber automatic pistol found in Maine's room. The same criminalist testified that, in examining a pair of tennis shoes found in Braun's room, he discovered stains of human blood on the right shoe. These stains were of blood group A, which was Susan's blood type. Tim's blood type was O, as was the blood type of both appellants.

The Defense

Maine took the stand in his own behalf and testified that after Tim and Susan had been picked up by them, Braun directed him at gunpoint to leave the highway and turn onto a gravel road. It was Braun, according to Maine, who shot Tim while he and Susan remained in the car. Maine also stated that there was no talk between Braun and himself about kidnaping, raping or shooting and that he did not take Tim's wallet. He maintained that he was continuously afraid of Braun following the murder of Deana Buse by Braun in Washington, and insisted that he raped Susan in fear of his life. On cross-examination, however, he admitted that he experienced no difficulty in accomplishing intercourse with Susan. Maine finally testified that neither the bloodstained tennis shoes nor the suitcase containing ammunition were his, and explained the presence of the .22 caliber shells in his pocket by asserting that he had Braun previously had done some target shooting.

Dr. Van Dusen, a clinical psychologist, also testified in Maine's defense. In his opinion Maine's overall I.Q. was 84, which placed him in the borderline mental retardation area. He expressed his belief that although Maine was not psychotic he was an inadequate person whose ability to stand up against a dominant person was less than average. Dr. Amini, a psychiatrist, also called in Maine's defense, reaffirmed that Maine's intelligence is lower than normal and that he is an inadequate personality who follows others' instructions automatically. In his opinion, Maine did not have the capacity to meaningfully deliberate and premeditate, and was incapable of forming an intent to kill.

Braun did not testify at the trial. In his behalf the defense called Dr. Handrich, a clinical psychologist, and Dr. Catton, a psychiatrist. Dr. Handrich expressed his expert opinion that Braun is a pseudo-psychopathic schizophrenic who behaves like a psychopath showing no conscience and concern about moral values, and is free of anxiety of internal guilt and indifferent to the rules of the world. He opined that Braun lacked capacity to maturely reflect and appreciate what he was doing and he was acting automatically as a function of unconscious impulses. In his opinion, Braun did not have the mental capacity to harbor malice aforethought. Dr. Catton, who testified at the guilt phase of the trial, stated that he found Braun's intelligence to be average or better, with an I.Q. of 110. In his opinion, Braun did not suffer from schizophrenia nor was he psychotic or psychoneurotic. Although Braun's history indicated a rather extensive use of alcohol, his demeanor and attitude showed no departure from normal and his reasoning and understanding were adequate. Notwithstanding the fact that Braun knew the nature and quality of the crimes, in Dr. Catton's opinion the element of deliberation was absent because Braun simply did not take time to consider, weigh and examine each step of the happenings. Dr. Catton found Braun immature in both body and mind.

In rebuttal, the prosecution called Doctors Rappaport and Rood, psychiatrists. With regard to Maine, Dr. Rappaport testified that Maine had the mental ability to meaningfully premeditate and deliberate, to entertain malice, and to form an intent to rob and rape. With respect to Susan's rape by Maine, Dr. Rappaport expressed his opinion that a person seriously in fear of his life would be greatly impaired in his ability to consummate the act of intercourse. Dr. Rood found Maine's intelligence to be in the normal range and confirmed Dr. Rappaport's opinion that Maine had the capacity to deliberate, to entertain malice, and to form intent to kill, to rob and rape. Alluding to Susan's rape by Maine, he expressed the opinion that fear of life and the ability to engage in sexual intercourse are incompatible. Concerning Braun, Dr. Rappaport testified that Braun is a sociopath who understands and appreciates what behavior is unacceptable to society but for one reason or another commits the wrongful act because it may bring profit, pleasure, or simply to prove that he is able to do it and get away with it. He found no trace of psychosis or symptoms of schizophrenia in Braun. The same was reaffirmed by Dr. Rood, who stated that Braun committed the acts knowingly. He based his opinion on information gained from Braun who told him that he killed Tim in order to get the girl and to avoid detection. Braun also told him that he attempted to kill Susan for similar reasons to evade discovery, and that the usage of false names at the Jamestown Hotel served the same purpose.

The jury found both appellants guilty of murdering Tim, and fixed the degree of first as to Braun and second as to Maine. The jury also found both appellants guilty of kidnapping Tim, and both guilty of kidnaping and raping Susan. In addition, Braun alone was found guilty of assaulting Susan with intent to commit murder. At the end of his penalty trial, the jury, in its verdict, fixed Braun's penalty...