People v. Corona

• Decision Date: 08 May 1978
• Docket Number: Cr. 12401 and C
• Citation: 145 Cal.Rptr. 894,80 Cal.App.3d 684
• Parties: PEOPLE of the State of California, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Juan Vallejo CORONA, Defendant and Appellant. In re Juan Vallejo CORONA, on habeas corpus. r. 15257.
• Court: California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals

Page 894

145 Cal.Rptr. 894

80 Cal.App.3d 684

PEOPLE of the State of California, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Juan Vallejo CORONA, Defendant and Appellant.

In re Juan Vallejo CORONA, on habeas corpus.

Cr. 12401 and Cr. 15257.

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

May 8, 1978.

As Amended on Denial of Rehearing June 7, 1978.

As Corrected July 10, 1978.

Hearing Denied July 20, 1978.

Exelrod & Mendelson, Alan B. Exelrod, Michael A. Mendelson, San Francisco, for defendant and appellant (under appointment of the Court of Appeal).

Evelle J. Younger, Atty. Gen. of the State of California, Jack R. Winkler, Chief Asst. Atty. Gen., Crim. Div., Joel E. Carey, Marjory Winston Parker, Paul H. Dobson, Kevin M. Corrington, Deputy Attys. Gen., Sacramento, for plaintiff and respondent.

KANE, Associate Justice.

This is a petition for habeas corpus and an appeal from a judgment of conviction entered on jury verdicts finding petitioner and defendant Juan Vallejo Corona (hereafter appellant or Corona) guilty of 25 counts of first degree murder. ¹

The prosecution and conviction at bench grew out of the killing of 25 migratory farmworkers who died during a time frame of February-May, 1971. The gravesites and bodies were discovered on the Kagehiro and Sullivan ranches in the Marysville-Yuba City area of Sutter County, between May 20 and June 4, 1971. Although with the exception of Kenneth Whitacre, whose remains were uncovered first, the exact dates of the demise of the victims could not be determined, the evidence introduced at the trial strongly indicated that the pattern of the killings and the modus operandi employed by the perpetrator were strikingly similar. Of all 25 victims, all but one had incurred one or more chop-type or hacking-type injuries to the head. The chop wounds were of two kinds: slashing wounds inflicted probably with a light weapon, such as a knife, and severe chop wounds caused by a heavy instrument such as a bolo machete. The latter wounds typically appeared in a horizontal direction covering the face, head and ear, and were inflicted with a force of such magnitude that they cut the bone and severed the upper and lower parts of the skull. The other common pattern was the infliction of stab wounds in the upper left chest of the victims by using a cutting instrument which penetrated the heart or lung and severed the aorta leading from the heart to the lungs. The common modus operandi was further bolstered by the circumstances that the victims were buried in the same general area, in a manner which was likewise similar, if not identical. Almost without exception, each of the victims was lying on his back with his hands over the head, chest or stomach, and his shirt or other clothes pulled over the head. Moreover, in at least seven graves the underwear of the victims was pulled off or removed, exposing the penis and genital area, giving rise to the inference that the crimes may have been sexually motivated, and that the perpetrator may have been a homosexual. Because of the salient likeness of the injuries inflicted, the instruments used and the mode of burial, there was a consensus on the part of all concerned (including trial counsel for appellant) that all the crimes charged were committed by the same person or persons.

Corona was connected to the crimes by an intricate and elaborate set of circumstantial evidence. To begin with, at all relevant times Corona was employed as a labor contractor by Messrs. Kagehiro and Sullivan for the purpose of hiring and supervising itinerant farmworkers who did seasonal harvesting and thinning jobs in the orchards. As a consequence, Corona had unquestionable access to the area where the gravesites and the bodies of the victims were found. In addition, he was seen by several eyewitnesses in the area of the crimes at crucial times, and was connected to a number of graves by demonstrative evidence as well.

At the outset, it is well to remember that of all the victims only the time of Whitacre's death could be determined with certainty. Mr. Kagehiro testified that at about 10 a. m. on May 19, 1971, he found a hole in the northeast corner of his peach orchard. The hole was about 31/2 to 4 feet deep, 7 feet long, and 30 inches wide. The dirt had been piled up alongside the hole. When later the same day, at or about 6 p. m., Kagehiro returned to the hole, the dirt had been filled back in. Kagehiro called the police. In response to the call, the following morning, about 9 a. m., the police uncovered the grave and found Whitacre's body. The victim was lying on his back with his right arm extended over his head, and left arm across his chest. His shirt was pulled over his head. The ensuing autopsy revealed that Whitacre had suffered a serious injury in the back of the head which had fractured the underlying skull bone. The wound had been caused by a machete or machete-like instrument. Also, there was a stab wound in his left chest which had been inflicted by a knife or knife-like instrument. The cause of death was the stabbing in the chest which cut the aorta between the left lung and the heart. According to expert testimony, Whitacre had been dead probably less than 24 hours.

Since the murder of the first victim showed the common hallmarks of all the other killings as well, the proof surrounding Whitacre's death and appellant's connection thereto gains special significance. Through a number of eyewitnesses, the prosecution established that Whitacre was last seen in the general area of the Kagehiro farm about 1 p. m. on May 19, 1971. Additional evidence produced by the prosecution revealed that appellant was present at or near gravesite No. 1 at the crucial period of time. Thus, witness Khera, who owned an orchard bordering Kagehiro's property, testified that one or two days before Whitacre's body was found, he saw appellant on his ranch close to the place where the gravesite was located. Corona was driving a "kind of white" van in the late afternoon. Khera stopped appellant and asked him what he was doing there. Corona told Khera he had come to look at the trees to see how much Khera was going to pay for work in the trees. The crew on the Kagehiro property had quit work at 2 or 3 o'clock in the afternoon, and Khera did not think that appellant had any business looking around that late. Khera had seen appellant once before in the same area.

Other eyewitnesses testifying to the presence of Corona at or near the crime scene were Sharon and David Schmidl. On May 19, between 8 and 8:30 p. m. they went to the Sullivan ranch to fish in the river. David walked over to the river while Sharon remained in their pickup. Although it was getting dark, they observed a red and white pickup parked nearby which bore the inscription " 'Juan V. Corona, Labor Contractor' " on the side. There was no one in the pickup. While Sharon was waiting for her husband, appellant was seen coming out of the brush, getting into his vehicle and leaving in a hurry.

Demonstrative evidence in the form of a plaster cast taken from the tire impressions found at Whitacre's grave showed that the tracks were made by the same kind of tires that were on Corona's van.

Appellant's connection with the killings became even more apparent when gravesite No. 3 was discovered. The body of the third victim, Melford Sample, disclosed the same type of wounds as Whitacre's: hacking in the back of the head and stab wounds in the left chest. More significantly, however, about 6 to 8 inches above the feet of the victim two pieces of pink paper were found. They were slips from the Del Pero Meat Company, dated May 21, 1971, and bore the name of Juan Corona. The two meat slips were folded together, and one of them was signed " 'Juan V. Corona.' " Mr. Frazier, a meat cutter at Del Pero Brothers Meat Market in Yuba City, testified that he sold meat to appellant on May 21, 1971; that appellant did not pay for the purchases but signed the sales slips as a charge; that he gave the slips to appellant who folded them and put them in his right shirt pocket; and the meat slips found in the third grave were identical to the sales slips given to Corona.

To dispel any possible remaining doubt, in the 25th grave, the burial ground of Joseph Maczak, the police discovered a number of sundry items (candleholder, pieces of broken mirror, child's sock) belonging to Corona (see discussion below), and more importantly two Bank of America deposit slips. Printed on the slips was "Juan V. Corona, 768 Richland Road, Yuba City, California."

In view of the incriminating evidence found in the graves and gathered from various other sources, on May 26, 1971, appellant was arrested. Thereafter, pursuant to search warrants duly executed by a magistrate, appellant's office facility (which was part of the mess-hall) on the Sullivan ranch and his home were searched by the officers.

The search of the office facility yielded the following evidence:

In the kitchen there was a glass candleholder sitting in the sink. It was 8 or 10 inches tall, and about 2 or 3 inches in diameter. The candleholder was made of red, green and yellow colored glass, and there was writing on it in Spanish. The broken pieces of the glass candleholder found in the 25th grave bore great similarity to the candleholder seized in the mess-hall. The colors, the design and the Spanish inscription of the broken glass all indicated unquestionable resemblance to the candleholder found during the search of the mess-hall.

In the corner of the mess-hall was a locked metal desk. In the lower left-hand drawer was a 9 millimeter Browning automatic pistol in a case. The gun, which had been purchased by Corona in 1967, was loaded, cocked and had one round in the chamber and three in the clip; and the safety was off. The searching officer removed the clip and ejected the shell from the chamber. It is worthy to note that the 11th victim, William Kamp, was shot in the head with a...