People v. DeHoyos

• Decision Date: 08 July 2013
• Docket Number: No. S034800.,S034800.
• Citation: 57 Cal.4th 79,158 Cal.Rptr.3d 797,303 P.3d 1
• Parties: The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Richard Lucio DeHOYOS, Defendant and Appellant.
• Court: California Supreme Court

57 Cal.4th 79
303 P.3d 1
158 Cal.Rptr.3d 797

The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent,
v.
Richard Lucio DeHOYOS, Defendant and Appellant.

No. S034800.

Supreme Court of California

July 8, 2013.

See 5 Witkin & Epstein, Cal. Criminal Law (4th ed. 2012) Criminal Trial, § 589.

158 Cal.Rptr.3d 808]Michael J. Hersek, State Public Defender, under appointment by the Supreme Court, and Gary D. Garcia, Deputy State Public Defender, for Defendant and Appellant.
Edmund G. Brown, Jr., and Kamala D. Harris, Attorneys General, Dane R. Gillette, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Gary W. Schons, Assistant Attorney General, Holly D. Wilkens and Annie Featherman Fraser, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

CANTIL–SAKAUYE, C.J.

[303 P.3d 10

[57 Cal.4th 85]A jury found defendant Richard Lucio DeHoyos guilty of the 1989 first degree murder of nine-year-old Nadia Puente. (Pen.Code, § 187, subd. (a).) ¹ The jury determined defendant had kidnapped her in order to commit child molestation and that he raped, sodomized, and committed a lewd and lascivious act upon her.² ( §§ 207, subd. (b), 261, subd. (a)(2), former 286, subd. (c) as amended by Stats.1988, ch. 1243, § 6, p. 4133 (now 286, subd. (c)(1)), 288, subd. (a).) The jury found true the special circumstances that the murder was committed while engaged in the commission of kidnapping, forcible rape, sodomy and performing a lewd [57 Cal.4th 86]and lascivious act upon a child under the age of 14. (Former § 190.2, subd., (a)(17)(ii)-(v)), added by initiative, Prop. 7, approved by voters Nov. 7, 1978 (see now § 190.2, subd. (a)(17)(B)-(E).) The jury found defendant was sane when he committed the crimes and determined the appropriate penalty to be death. Prior to sentencing, however, the trial court granted defendant's motion for a new trial based on juror misconduct.

On retrial, the second jury found defendant guilty of the same charges: first degree murder, kidnapping for child molestation, forcible rape, sodomy, and committing a lewd

[303 P.3d 11]

and lascivious act upon a child under 14. (§§ 187, subd. (a), 207, subd. (b), 261, subd. (a)(2), former 286, subd. (c), 288, subd. (a).) The jury found true the same special circumstances. (Former § 190.2, subd. (a)(17)(ii)-(v).) The jury again found defendant to be sane at the time he committed the crimes and determined death to be the appropriate penalty. The trial court denied defendant's motion for new trial and for modification of the verdict. The trial [158 Cal.Rptr.3d 809]court imposed a sentence of death, with additional determinate terms of imprisonment totaling 19 years for the nonhomicide offenses. This appeal is automatic. (§ 1239, subd. (b).) We affirm the judgment.

I. Facts A. Introduction

As nine-year-old Nadia Puente walked home from her elementary school, defendant approached her in his car, told her he was a teacher, and asked her for help moving some books. After using this ruse to get Nadia into his car, defendant drove to a motel where he had earlier rented a room for two. There defendant raped, sodomized, and killed Nadia. He put her body in a trash can, which he stuffed into the trunk of his car. He drove to Griffith Park in Los Angeles, waited until after dark, and then left the trash can containing Nadia's body in the park. Defendant fled to San Antonio, Texas, where he was apprehended about a week later. When interviewed by investigating officers, defendant eventually admitted killing Nadia, but claimed it was unintentional, that he did not rape her, and that he sodomized her only after she was dead.

At trial, defendant additionally claimed he did not have the required mental state to commit the crimes due to mental illness. He also claimed he was insane at the time he committed the crimes. The jury rejected defendant's claims and returned a verdict of death.

[57 Cal.4th 87]B. Guilt Phase1. The prosecution's evidence

On March 20, 1989, defendant rented a room at the Ha'Penny Inn in Santa Ana, California. The Inn registration card and receipts indicated he registered for two people to stay in the room.

Sandra C., a student in the third grade at Diamond Elementary School in Santa Ana, was walking alone home from school on the afternoon of March 20, 1989, when a gray car pulled up. The driver, a thin Caucasian or Hispanic man, said “Excuse me” and called her over to the car. The man told Sandra that he was a teacher and asked her if she would carry some books over to the Carr Intermediate School. Sandra saw some books in the car, but she did not trust the man. She told him “no,” that she could not go with him. She said that her mother was waiting for her and she had to go. The man said okay and drove away. Sandra later told her mother, the assistant principal of her school, and the police, about the incident.

Another student from Diamond Elementary School, Jose O., told police he saw Nadia get into a gray car on the afternoon of March 20, 1989, after she briefly talked to the man inside the car.

According to the assistant manager of the Ha'Penny Inn, defendant checked out of his room early. Defendant was given the refund of his $10 key deposit when he returned his key on March 20, 1989.

The next day, March 21, 1989, Nadia's body was found in a plastic trash can liner in an aluminum trash can located in Griffith Park in Los Angeles. She was clothed, but missing her panties, and wrapped in a bedspread from the Ha'Penny Inn. The trash can and the plastic liner were also from the Ha'Penny Inn.

An autopsy of Nadia's body showed that she died from asphyxia due to chest compression. In addition to bruising on Nadia's chest and other parts of her body, the medical examiner found an area of abrasion, bruising, and a laceration near the entry of her vagina. There was also bruising of the lining of the vagina. There was bruising around the anus and a small abrasion. There were also injuries in the area [158 Cal.Rptr.3d 810]of the rectum. The injuries to Nadia's vagina and in the area of her anus and rectum were consistent with the forcible insertion of an erect human penis. The medical examiner

[303 P.3d 12]

determined that the injuries to her vagina and anus were inflicted before her death, but could not determine whether the injuries to her rectal area were sustained before death.

[57 Cal.4th 88]The medical examiner did not find any clear indications of ingestion of fluid and could not tell if drowning was a factor in Nadia's death. But when he first examined Nadia, her hair and clothing were wet and the tips of her fingers were wrinkled. Wrinkling is caused only by immersion in water. The medical examiner testified that Nadia's injuries were consistent with her being bent over the edge of a bathtub during the infliction of the injuries to the vaginal and rectal areas. The medical examiner could not tell whether Nadia was conscious during the infliction of the injuries.

One of the fingerprints on the plastic trash can liner that held Nadia's body was identified as belonging to defendant.

Santa Ana police found defendant's silver Nissan Sentra in the long-term parking lot of the Los Angeles International Airport. They learned that defendant was in San Antonio, Texas, and that he was trying to find work there at a Taco Bell restaurant. On April 1, 1989, San Antonio police officers arrested defendant on a warrant obtained by the Santa Ana police. San Antonio police officers took defendant to a nearby police office, where he was advised of and waived his constitutional rights. In a tape-recorded interview, defendant was questioned by two Santa Ana detectives.

Defendant initially denied knowing anything about Nadia's death and said he thought he had been arrested because of something to do with a car. He admitted checking into the Ha'Penny Inn during the day of March 20, 1989 and said he checked out in the early morning hours of March 21, 1989. Attempting to account for his activities on March 20, defendant told the interviewing detectives that he had quit his job at a Santa Ana Taco Bell restaurant earlier that day after his manager had called him in and criticized his work. He later returned to the Taco Bell to apologize to the manager. He subsequently checked into the Inn because he was relocating after getting into an argument with some of his roommates. Defendant claimed that after he checked into the Inn, he went to the area near the Diamond Elementary School because he was hoping to collect a tax refund check from the post office nearby. He then returned to the Taco Bell to socialize and sometime later he went out partying at a club with a friend who had also worked at the Taco Bell. Defendant denied picking up a little girl or anyone else and taking her to his room. He agreed to give the detective samples of his hair, blood, and saliva.

Detectives described to defendant the probable kidnapping of Nadia and the finding of her body wrapped in a “blanket” and in a trash can taken from the laundry room of the Ha'Penny Inn. They told defendant his fingerprints had been found on the trash can liner. Defendant again denied killing anyone, but moments later, said the killing of Nadia was an accident.

[57 Cal.4th 89]Assuring the detectives he was telling the “absolute truth,” defendant said he picked up Nadia around 2:30 p.m. He told her that he was a teacher, that he was being transferred, and that he needed help with some school books. Nadia agreed to help him and got into his car. He drove to the Inn where he had already checked in. Nadia carried a couple of his boxes into the room. Defendant told her to “sort [his] stuff out” and to put it into the dresser[158 Cal.Rptr.3d 811]drawers; then he would take her home. When Nadia asked to use the phone, defendant told her it was not working. Although defendant did not do anything to her, Nadia started screaming as if she was afraid. Defendant said he had been getting ready to take a bath and when Nadia started screaming, he “got carried away when she freaked me out.”...