People v. Clark

• Decision Date: 30 August 1993
• Docket Number: No. S004791,S004791
• Citation: 5 Cal.4th 950,22 Cal.Rptr.2d 689,857 P.2d 1099
• Court: California Supreme Court
• Parties: , 857 P.2d 1099, 62 USLW 2199 The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Richard Dean CLARK, Defendant and Appellant.

Page 689

22 Cal.Rptr.2d 689

5 Cal.4th 950, 857 P.2d 1099, 62 USLW 2199

The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Richard Dean CLARK, Defendant and Appellant.

No. S004791.

Supreme Court of California In Bank.

Aug. 30, 1993.

Rehearing Denied Oct. 27, 1993.

Page 700

Paul G. Bower and Mary Lee Wegner, under appointments by the Supreme Court, William R. Lindsay, Daniel S. Floyd, Howard A. Jacobson, Chad S. Hummel, Karen N. Frederiksen, Barbara G. Zelkind, Shauna Weeks and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, Los Angeles, for defendant and appellant.

Daniel E. Lungren, Atty. Gen., George Williamson, Chief Asst. Atty. Gen., John H. Sugiyama, Asst. Atty. Gen., Ronald S. Matthias and Ronald E. Niver, Deputy Attys. Gen., for plaintiff and respondent.

PANELLI, Justice.

Defendant Richard Dean Clark was convicted, following a jury trial, of the first degree murder and rape of Rosie Grover. (Pen.Code, §§ 189, 261.) ¹ The jury found true the special circumstance allegation that he committed the murder during the course of the rape (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(17)(iii)), that he inflicted bodily injury with the intent to do so (§ 1203.075, subd. (a)(1)), and that he used a deadly weapon in the commission of the murder (§ 12022, subd. (b)). The jury fixed the penalty at death. After denying the motion for modification of the penalty verdict, the court entered judgment accordingly. This appeal is automatic. (Cal. Const., art. VI, § 11; § 1239, subd. (b).)

We affirm the judgment in its entirety.

I. GUILT PHASE FACTS

A. Prosecution's Case-in-chief

1. Introduction

During the early morning of July 19, 1985, Rosie Grover was raped, stabbed with a sharpened screwdriver, and repeatedly bludgeoned about the face and neck with two pieces of concrete. Although the crime occurred in Mendocino County, a change of venue was granted on defendant's motion and the trial was held in Santa Clara County. Defendant was convicted of the murder.

2. The Victim, Rosie Grover

Rosie Grover was a 15-year-old high school student at the time of her death. On July 19, 1985, she took a Greyhound bus that left San Francisco around midnight and arrived in Ukiah around 4 a.m. After unsuccessfully attempting to obtain a ride home from the bus depot, she began to walk home. Her body was found the

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next morning in the rocky, dry bed of Doolan Creek.

3. The Defendant, Richard Clark

In early 1985, defendant met David Smith (Smith), a paraplegic, who hired defendant to care for him. About a month later, they moved to Ukiah. On July 18 and 19, 1985, defendant and Smith were staying with Smith's stepsister, Michelle Stevens, at 778 South State Street.

Defendant and Smith spent some part of the afternoon in a local bar, where each man drank three or four beers. Sometime that day, Smith traded a small amount of methamphetamine for cocaine. They returned to Michelle Stevens's house, where both men ingested the cocaine. Although Smith had seen defendant use methamphetamine in the past, defendant did not use it in Smith's presence on July 18, 1985. Defendant, Smith, and perhaps others, smoked between two and five marijuana cigarettes.

During the evening, an argument arose between defendant and Matt Williams, Michelle Stevens's boyfriend. According to Williams, defendant "looked like he was on something" and "got kind of violent, shadow boxing around the house and throwing punches." Around 10 p.m., defendant left, announcing that he "was going to beat somebody up and rob them." Dino Stevens (Stevens), Michelle's stepbrother, left with defendant.

Stevens and defendant went to Munchie's, a pool hall located on State Street. After playing pool for 30 to 40 minutes, the men left and walked to the home of Robyn Boyd, a friend of Stevens. Robyn lived at 304 Cooper Lane, near the Greyhound depot. Stevens and defendant arrived at Boyd's house around midnight. Boyd was entertaining several friends; marijuana may have been available. The 2 men remained at Boyd's for 10 to 30 minutes. Upon leaving Boyd's, Stevens and appellant parted company.

Little evidence, other than defendant's statements to police (which will be discussed below), was presented to establish defendant's location and movements between the time he left Boyd's house and the time he entered the Ron-Dee-Voo Restaurant on July 19.

4. Discovery of the Body

About 6:15 a.m. on July 19, defendant entered the Ron-Dee-Voo Restaurant, which is located on South State Street near Doolan Creek. He was wearing mirrored sunglasses and was holding a partially empty wine cooler bottle in his hand. Defendant told Karen Mertle, a waitress, that he had found a girl in a nearby ditch. The girl was hurt "real bad" and "maybe raped." Mertle offered defendant coffee in order to "hold him there until the police arrived." Defendant handed the wine cooler bottle that he had been carrying to Mertle. She later gave the bottle to the police.

The witnesses present at the Ron-Dee-Voo that morning testified that defendant did not appear intoxicated. Several witnesses also testified that he did not appear suitably upset by his discovery.

5. The Investigation

Officer Wayne McBride of the Ukiah Police Department arrived at the restaurant at 6:34 a.m. Officer McBride had an intermittent conversation with the defendant that lasted approximately 30 to 40 minutes. During this conversation, defendant explained how he discovered the body while taking a "shortcut" to buy cigarettes at a convenience store on State Street. He volunteered that he checked the body for a pulse and may have touched the luggage. Although defendant was wearing sunglasses and spoke rapidly and excitedly when he first met Officer McBride, the officer testified that defendant did not appear to be intoxicated, did not appear to be under the influence of methamphetamines and did not smell of alcohol.

At the scene of the crime, Detectives Fred Kelley and Edward Gall collected physical evidence. The body of Rosie Grover was partially clothed. Her jeans were buttoned, but a cloth belt was undone. Her jacket and blouse were open, exposing her bra. Her shoes and her pink tank top

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lay nearby. Her duffle bag and suitcase were 10 feet away from the body. Two bloody concrete blocks, the larger one weighing 18.5 pounds, lay near the body. The victim had suffered severe injuries to the head and face. Possible puncture or stab wounds were evident on the lower right portion of her abdomen.

During the search of the crime scene, a bottle of wine cooler of the same brand and flavor as the one defendant had given to Mertle was found in the victim's duffle bag.

After searching the crime scene, Kelley and Gall went to 778 South State Street. There, they received permission from David Smith to search his car. Kelley discovered a pair of Levi's 501 jeans and a sleeveless vest-type jacket on the rear seat. Blood appeared to be splattered on the legs of the jeans and wiped on the lower part of the vest. Stevens and Smith identified the clothing as that worn by defendant the previous evening.

6. Defendant's Statements to Police

Defendant gave three custodial statements to the police on the day of his arrest. The content of and circumstances surrounding these statements are more fully discussed later in the opinion.

Prior to his arrest, defendant spoke with Detectives Kelley and Gall. He waived his Miranda rights (Miranda v. Arizona (1966) 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694) and basically repeated the story that he had told Officer McBride earlier in the morning.

Following his arrest and booking, Detectives Kelley and Gall transported defendant to the hospital for a blood test. During the trip defendant confessed to killing Rosie Grover. He claimed, however, that the sexual intercourse with the victim was consensual. After the encounter, she said that she was going to report him for rape. When she repeated this intention, he quickly decided that he would receive a less severe penalty for killing her than raping her and proceeded to do so.

Upon return to the police station, defendant agreed to provide a tape-recorded statement. Detectives Kelley and Gall and Deputy District Attorney Al Kubanis were present. After a colloquy during which defendant waived his constitutional rights, he gave a statement that differed somewhat from his prior statement. In the taped statement, defendant stated that during the previous evening he ingested: eight or nine beers, several tablets of Valium, one-eighth gram of methamphetamine and several marijuana cigarettes. When describing the crime, defendant this time reported periods of time when he "blacked out."

7. Physical Evidence

The autopsy of the victim confirmed that she had been raped, stabbed and beaten. The autopsy was performed under the direction of Dr. Boyd Stephens, the Chief Medical Examiner and Coroner of the City and County of San Francisco. With respect to sexual assault, Dr. Stephens opined that the victim had suffered nonconsensual vaginal intercourse, but could not opine that sodomy had occurred. Examination of the victim's vagina revealed a laceration across the posterior aspect of the outer opening. This injury is associated with nonconsensual intercourse. No trauma to the anal opening was observed. Sperm was discovered on the outside and inside of the vagina. A "rare" sperm was found in the anus. Blood contamination in the mouth hindered attempts to locate sperm there.

Ten stab wounds were found on the body. Eight were superficial. Two deeper wounds were inflicted in the middle of the back, one of which penetrated a lung and the other the heart. The wounds could have been inflicted by a screwdriver found in Smith's car. These wounds preceded the blunt trauma injuries to the victim's head and neck.

While either of the deep stab wounds could have independently caused the victim's death, the actual cause of death was blunt trauma to the head and neck. Although Dr. Stephens was unable to determine

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how many blows...