People v. Cox

• Decision Date: 10 July 2000
• Docket Number: No. S070959.,S070959.
• Court: California Supreme Court
• Parties: The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Julius Lamar COX, Defendant and Appellant. In re Julius Lamar Cox on Habeas Corpus.

97 Cal.Rptr.2d 647

23 Cal.4th 665

2 P.3d 1189

The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Julius Lamar COX, Defendant and Appellant.

In re Julius Lamar Cox on Habeas Corpus.

No. S070959.

Supreme Court of California.

July 10, 2000.

As Modified on Denial of Rehearing August 9, 2000.

David B. Harrison, San Francisco, under appointment by the Supreme Court, for Defendant and Appellant.

Daniel E. Lungren and Bill Lockyer, Attorneys General, George Williamson and David P. Druliner, Chief Assistant Attorneys General, Carol Wendelin Pollack, Assistant Attorney General, Sanjay T. Kumar, Michael C. Keller, Susan D. Martynec and Rama R. Maline, Deputy Attorneys

General, Los Angeles, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

BAXTER, J.

We granted review in this case to determine whether conviction of involuntary manslaughter based on "an unlawful act, not amounting to felony" (Pen.Code, § 192, subd. (b)),¹ i.e., a killing resulting from the commission of a misdemeanor offense committed with general criminal intent, requires a further showing that the predicate misdemeanor was dangerous under the circumstances of its commission. The Court of Appeal below read our recent decision in People v. Wells (1996) 12 Cal.4th 979, 50 Cal.Rptr.2d 699, 911 P.2d 1374 (Wells) as impliedly holding that in cases not involving criminal negligence, conviction of involuntary manslaughter by "an unlawful act, not amounting to felony" (§ 192, subd. (b)) requires only that commission of the predicate misdemeanor offense with general criminal intent be shown. As will be explained, the Court of Appeal erred in approving the trial court's erroneous instruction on the nature of the elements of involuntary manslaughter. Accordingly, the judgment of the Court of Appeal shall be reversed and the matter remanded to afford that court an opportunity to determine whether the erroneous instruction was prejudicial on the evidence presented below.

Facts and Procedural Background

Defendant was tried by a jury for involuntary manslaughter by an unlawful act not amounting to felony, to wit, misdemeanor battery. (§§ 192, subd. (b), 242.) During the early morning hours of August 22, 1996, after drinking alcohol and smoking crack cocaine, Evelonia Hunter and the deceased, Duane Spann, ran into defendant and Steve Vickers in front of the motel where Hunter was renting a room in Pomona. Hunter and Vickers, her former boyfriend, began arguing. Vickers spit in Hunter's face and slapped Spann with his open left hand. About a minute later defendant punched Spann with a "solid blow" on the right side of his head, using his fist. Spann had not hit defendant or Vickers. Spann fell to the pavement and appeared to have been knocked unconscious. Defendant and Vickers left the scene.

Hunter tried to arouse Spann by touching his face and calling his name.² After two or three minutes, Spann regained consciousness and Hunter managed to assist him to his feet. He was still off-balance and unable to walk by himself. Hunter helped Spann move about 20 feet to a brick ledge where he sat for two to three minutes. Hunter then helped Spann walk the remaining 35 feet to her motel room.

Once inside the room, Hunter and Spann sat on the bed and talked for a while. Spann was unable to speak clearly; his speech, which had previously been normal, was slow and slurred. Spann was still off-balance but able to help Hunter prepare the bed for sleep. Hunter asked Spann if he was all right or if he wanted to call 911. Spann replied that he did not want to call 911. Spann and Hunter went to sleep between 3:00 and 4:00 a.m.

Hunter awoke at approximately 6:00 or 6:30 a.m. Spann was still sleeping. Hunter was unable to awaken him from his sleep, although he did cough and move his hands. She summoned the assistance of a man outside the motel and together they carried Spann outside, propped him against a wall, tried to awaken or revive him with some water, then called the police. Firemen and paramedics arrived and transported Spann by ambulance to the hospital, where he died at approximately 8:30 p.m. that same evening.

Jimmie Manning testified for the prosecution. Manning and defendant were sitting against a fence across the street from the motel on the morning in question and observed Hunter and a man carry out the victim. Defendant told Manning to "go and put some water on him" because "that was the fool that I knocked out last night."

Dr. Ogbonna Chinwah, a forensic pathologist and deputy medical examiner with the Department of Coroner of Los Angeles County, performed an autopsy on Spann. Dr. Chinwah was unable to observe any external head injuries due to incisions that had been made in Spann's scalp as part of the craniotomy performed in the hospital to relieve pressure on his brain in an effort to save his life. The autopsy revealed an extensive skull fracture and internal head injuries that resulted in hemorrhaging of the blood vessels between the skull and the brain (subdural hematoma) and eventual death. Although Dr. Chinwah opined that blunt force trauma had caused the skull fracture and fatal head injuries, his testimony was equivocal as to whether a blow to Spann's head with a fist was the likely cause of such injuries, particularly given Hunter's account of Spann's limited ability to walk and talk for some time after the assault. The results of Spann's toxicology report indicated positive signs of alcohol, morphine, and cocaine in his blood, but Dr. Chinwah concluded the level of drugs in Spann's system was not lethal and did not cause his death.

Defendant did not testify in his own behalf. At the close of the People's case-in-chief, defense counsel moved for a directed verdict for insufficient evidence (§ 1118.1) based on Dr. Chinwah's testimony that it was not likely the fatal head injuries suffered by the victim had been caused by a blow from a fist, or that the victim could have walked and talked in the manner testified to by Hunter after having suffering such extensive injuries. The motion was denied, the trial court indicating that although it was "a circumstantial evidence case," the coroner's testimony would support a finding that defendant's blow with his fist to Spann's head had caused the injuries that eventually led to death, and that defense counsel's speculation notwithstanding, there was no other evidence that either Hunter or anyone else had caused the victim's death. In closing argument to the jury, defense counsel conceded that defendant had punched the victim but sought to cast doubt on the credibility of Hunter's testimony and emphasize the coroner's testimony that a punch with a fist was a possible but not likely cause of the fatal injuries.

The jury was instructed that, as a matter of law, battery is an inherently dangerous offense and therefore a predicate for involuntary manslaughter without any further proof regarding the circumstances surrounding commission of that underlying misdemeanor. Defendant was convicted of involuntary manslaughter as charged.

On appeal, relying on Wells, supra, 12 Cal.4th 979, 50 Cal.Rptr.2d 699, 911 P.2d 1374, defendant contended the trial court committed per se reversible error in instructing the jury on the elements of involuntary manslaughter. Specifically, he contended the jury should have been instructed that the unlawful act or misdemeanor battery that resulted in Spann's death had to be found dangerous under the circumstances of its commission in order to support a conviction of involuntary manslaughter. Defendant further contended his trial counsel's failure to object to the instruction given constituted ineffective assistance of counsel.

The Court of Appeal found no reversible error and no ineffective assistance of counsel, and affirmed. Although recognizing that the involuntary manslaughter instruction given below was wrong insofar as it characterized battery as an inherently dangerous offense (Wells, supra, 12 Cal.4th at p. 988,50 Cal.Rptr.2d 699, 911 P.2d 1374 [neither assault nor battery is an inherently dangerous misdemeanor]), the Court of Appeal went on to conclude that "[b]ecause the offense of battery necessarily involves criminal intent, no additional finding of criminal negligence is necessary." The court reasoned, "[W]e do not believe that the `dangerousness' of the unlawful act is an element of the crime of involuntary manslaughter when the unlawful act is committed with criminal intent. Rather, we believe that the element of `dangerousness' applies only to those unlawful acts which do not require a criminal intent, but which, because conducted in a dangerous, criminally negligent manner, encompass criminal culpability."

We granted review to determine whether our holding in Wells, supra, 12 Cal.4th 979, 50 Cal.Rptr.2d 699, 911 P.2d 1374, requiring that the underlying unlawful act on which a charge of involuntary manslaughter is based must be shown to be dangerous under the circumstances of its commission, applies equally to all misdemeanors committed with general criminal intent on which a charge of involuntary manslaughter is predicated.

Discussion

Instruction on Involuntary Manslaughter

In Wells, supra, 12 Cal.4th 979, 50 Cal. Rptr.2d 699, 911 P.2d 1374, this court resolved the issue of whether an unlawful act on which a charge of involuntary manslaughter is predicated must be inherently dangerous, that is, dangerous in the abstract, or dangerous under the circumstances of its commission. We held that "the offense must be dangerous under the circumstances of its commission. The inherent or abstract nature of a misdemeanor which underlies an involuntary manslaughter charge is not dispositive." (Id. at p. 988, 50 Cal.Rptr.2d 699, 911 P.2d 1374.)

Wells involved a prosecution for vehicular manslaughter under section 192, subdivision (c)(1). The evidence established that the defendant had been speeding on a curving, hilly road when his out-of-control car struck another vehicle, injuring the driver and killing...