People v. Bryant

• Decision Date: 01 October 2014
• Docket Number: No. S049596.,S049596.
• Citation: 334 P.3d 573,178 Cal.Rptr.3d 185,60 Cal.4th 335
• Court: California Supreme Court
• Parties: The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Stanley BRYANT, Donald Franklin Smith and Leroy Wheeler, Defendants and Appellants.

60 Cal.4th 335

334 P.3d 573

178 Cal.Rptr.3d 185

The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent,

v.Stanley BRYANT, Donald Franklin Smith and Leroy Wheeler, Defendants and Appellants.

No. S049596.

Supreme Court of California

Aug. 25, 2014.

As Modified on Denial of Rehearing Oct. 1, 2014.

See 4 Witkin & Epstein, Cal. Criminal Law (4th ed. 2012) Illegally Obtained Evidence, § 239 et seq.

[178 Cal.Rptr.3d 219]

Michael J. Hersek, State Public Defender, under appointment by the Supreme Court, and Kathleen M. Scheidel, Assistant State Public Defender, for Defendant and Appellant Stanley Bryant.

David H. Goodwin, Los Angeles, under appointment by the Supreme Court, for Defendant and Appellant Donald Franklin Smith.

Conrad Petermann, Ojai, under appointment by the Supreme Court, for Defendant and Appellant Leroy Wheeler.

Bill Lockyer and Kamala D. Harris, Attorneys General, Robert R. Anderson, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Pamela C. Hamanaka, Assistant Attorney General, John R. Gorey and Victoria B. Wilson, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

CORRIGAN, J.

On August 28, 1988, Andre Armstrong, James Brown, Loretha Anderson, and Chemise English were shot and killed. Armstrong and Brown had run afoul of the Bryant Family gang and were shot at the entrance to a drug house. Ms. Anderson and her daughter Chemise, aged 28 months, were shot in a car parked at the curb. Anderson's son Carlos, aged 18 months, was also in the car. He was not shot and survived. A jury convicted defendants Stanley Bryant, Donald Franklin Smith, and Leroy Wheeler of various related crimes. Bryant and Wheeler were convicted of four counts of first degree murder (Pen.Code, § 187, subd. (a)) ¹ and one count of attempted murder ( §§ 187 & 664). Smith was convicted of the first degree murder of Armstrong and Brown, second degree murder of Anderson and Chemise, and the attempted murder of Carlos. The jury found the multiple-murder special-circumstance allegation ( § 190.2, subd. (a)(3)) was true as to each defendant. The jury was unable to reach verdicts on allegations against a fourth codefendant, Jon Preston Settle. After a penalty trial, the jury returned verdicts of death. Motions to modify were denied. ( § 190.4, subd. (e).) ² We affirm the judgments.

I. Factual Background

The presentation of guilt phase evidence lasted two and one-half months. It included the testimony of 121 witnesses and more than 270 exhibits including hundreds of pages of documents and a number of video and audio tapes. In the penalty phase, 41 witnesses testified over the course of seven days. We present here for background purposes a synopsis of the significant evidence, generally viewed in the light most favorable to the verdicts. Additional factual and procedural details necessary to resolve defendants' appellate claims are provided in the pertinent discussion.

A. Guilt Phase

1. Overview

The original charges included a number of noncapital offenses with additional defendants

[178 Cal.Rptr.3d 220]

involved in the Bryant Family drug operation. The court severed and tried the capital allegations first. The prosecution's basic theory was that Bryant directed the shootings of Armstrong and Brown because Armstrong was a threat to Bryant's business. The prosecution maintained that Smith, Wheeler, and codefendant Settle were underlings who participated in the murders at Bryant's direction. After Armstrong and Brown were killed, the prosecution asserted, Wheeler shot Ms. Anderson and Chemise and attempted to murder Carlos to eliminate them as potential witnesses.

Smith presented no evidence at the guilt phase. Wheeler testified and admitted some low-level activity in the drug business, but claimed he was not involved in the murders. Bryant also admitted he was a member of the organization. He asserted his role was less significant than the prosecution alleged, and that he had no role in the murders.

2. Prosecution Evidence

In the 1980's, Bryant and his older brother Jeff Bryant (Jeff) controlled a large-scale cocaine operation in the suburbs of Los Angeles. Their organization was known as “the Family” or “the Bryant Family” and had over 100 employees. A number of these testified at trial about Family operations. Seized records indicated the Family took in well over $1 million during three months of 1988.

The Family used a number of houses to prepare and sell drugs and process the money from sales. Typically, the houses were fortified. Windows and doors were covered and locked, metal gates with electronic locks and blackout screens were erected at front entrances to create “sally ports.” Someone entering the house would be enclosed between two locked gates and unable to see farther into the residence. Barricaded or reinforced locked doors inside blocked access between rooms.

These fortifications were encountered during interdiction operations in 1984 and 1985. Ultimately, police served search warrants at several Family houses. Service of the warrants required the use of various entry tactics. Sometimes a vehicle resembling a military tank would break a hole in an exterior wall so officers could enter. As a result of these investigations, Jeff pleaded guilty to charges of selling cocaine and operating a house where narcotics were sold. Defendant Bryant pleaded guilty to conspiracy. He admitted hiring a coconspirator to sell cocaine at a Bryant Family “rock house” on Wheeler Avenue, the same house where the murders later occurred (hereinafter sometimes referred to as Wheeler Avenue). Apparently, these events were only a minor setback; widespread operations continued. When Bryant was released from custody, he ran the street enterprise. Although Jeff remained imprisoned, he was still considered the overall Family leader. Houses damaged during police raids were repaired, refortified, and returned to service.

The Family also engaged in ancillary violent activities. As relevant here, in 1982, Bryant and Jeff hired Andre Armstrong to act as a “hit man.” Armstrong subsequently shot Reynard Goldman for failing to pay a $50 drug debt. He killed Kenneth Gentry, who had vandalized another Bryant brother's van. Bryant, Jeff, and Armstrong were charged with the Goldman assault and Gentry murder. After the Family bribed and threatened witnesses, charges against the Bryant brothers were dropped. Armstrong, however, was convicted at trial of felony assault and first degree murder. When his convictions were reversed on appeal, he pleaded guilty

[178 Cal.Rptr.3d 221]

to felony assault and voluntary manslaughter. He was paroled in July 1988.

While Armstrong was in prison, Bryant and other Family employees sent thousands of dollars to him and his relatives. Several months before Armstrong was paroled, the Family helped his friend James Brown set up a cocaine operation in Monterey. Nonetheless, Armstrong remained unhappy with the level of support he had received. Weeks after meeting Brown in Monterey, Armstrong decided they should return to Los Angeles. Armstrong told several people, including police officers who had interviewed him in prison, that he intended to “squeeze” the Bryants for money and part of their business. He considered them weak, and felt they failed to honor their promise to prevent his conviction. While in Monterey, Armstrong began an intimate relationship with Bryant's ex-wife, Tannis Curry. These decisions proved ill-advised.

On Friday, August 26, 1988, Brown, Andrew Greer, Elaine Webb, and Loretha Anderson and her two children moved to Los Angeles. Armstrong and Tannis had gone there a few days earlier. Bryant had provided an apartment, but it was dirty. Armstrong wanted Bryant to pay for cleaning before they moved in. On Saturday, the group went to a pool hall to meet Bryant and complain about the accommodations. On Sunday, Armstrong, Brown, and Greer went to Tannis's separate apartment. Armstrong paged Bryant, then received a call. He told the others they were to meet “Stan” at a Wheeler Avenue house to pick up $500 and cleaning supplies. Armstrong told Tannis to bring a pistol, which she placed in her purse.

Before meeting Stan, the group went to the home of Tannis's aunt. When they left, Tannis remained behind. Greer was concerned about the meeting and did not attend. Anderson decided she and her children would go along to the meeting so they could all get something to eat afterwards.

Several people near the Wheeler Avenue house heard multiple gunshots at approximately 5:00 p.m. Shortly thereafter, a tall, thin African–American man emerged, went to a car parked outside, and shot into the car. He then got in the car and drove away. One witness identified a photograph of defendant Wheeler as the driver.³ A witness also saw what might have been a car owned by Bryant leaving the house after the shooting. Another witness saw a large green car with a driver, front seat passenger, and two men in the backseat leaning against each other in an unusual way.

Within minutes of the shootings, the victims' car was found about seven blocks away. Inside were the lifeless bodies of Loretha Anderson and Chemise English. Anderson had been shot several times with both a shotgun and a handgun. Chemise had been fatally shot in the neck by a handgun at close range. Carlos was also in the car. While not shot, he was injured by flying glass.

Four days later the bodies of Armstrong and Brown were found in roadside brush approximately five miles from Wheeler Avenue. Armstrong had been shot twice with a shotgun. A shot to the center of his chest was probably fired from a distance of four feet or less. A second to his head was apparently fired with the shotgun muzzle

[178 Cal.Rptr.3d 222]

almost touching his skin. He was also shot with a handgun. Brown was shot twice with a shotgun and twice in the chest with a handgun. The fatal shot was fired into his heart with the handgun muzzle pressed against him. Evidence at Wheeler Avenue, including blood patterns, bullet holes, and expended...