People v. Earp
| Decision Date | 24 June 1999 |
| Docket Number | No. S025423,S025423 |
| Citation | 20 Cal.4th 826,978 P.2d 15,85 Cal.Rptr.2d 857 |
| Parties | , 978 P.2d 15, 99 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 5002, 1999 Daily Journal D.A.R. 6457 The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Ricky Lee EARP, Defendant and Appellant |
| Court | California Supreme Court |
Robert S. Gerstein, Chatsworth, and Dean R. Gits, Santa Monica, under appointments by the Supreme Court, for Defendant and Appellant.
Daniel E. Lungren and Bill Lockyer, Attorneys General, George Williamson, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Carol Wendelin Pollack, Assistant Attorney General, Susan D. Martynec, Robert S. Henry, Sharon Wooden Richard, Mary Sanchez and William H. Davis, Jr., Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.
Defendant appeals his conviction by jury verdict of one count of first degree murder (Pen.Code, § 187; unless otherwise stated, all further statutory references are to this code), with three felony-murder special circumstances: murder in the commission of rape, of sodomy, and of a lewd or lascivious act upon a child less than fourteen years old (§ 190.2, former subd. (a)(17)(iii), (iv), and (v)). The jury returned a penalty verdict of death. This appeal is automatic. (§ 1239, subd. (b).)
In August 1988, defendant was living with his girlfriend, Virginia MacNair, at her house in Palmdale located in the Antelope Valley area of Los Angeles County. The two often cared for Amanda Doshier, the 18-month-old daughter of their friend, Cindy Doshier. On August 22, Doshier left Amanda with MacNair and defendant for a few days. Over the next couple of days, MacNair changed the baby's diapers several times but did not notice any bruising, redness, or swelling in the anal or vaginal area.
On Thursday, August 25, around 7:00 a.m., MacNair went to work leaving Amanda with defendant. Shortly before 3 p.m., defendant telephoned MacNair. He seemed frantic. Defendant mentioned something about the couple's dog, "Buster," and he said that Amanda was "not doing well" and that her breathing was "shallow." MacNair suggested that defendant check the baby's pulse and "shake her," and that he phone the paramedics.
About 3:00 p.m., Los Angeles County firefighter Daniel Elkins arrived at MacNair's Palmdale home in response to a radio call regarding an injured child. Elkins was met at the door by a young man who told him that the baby had fallen down the stairs. Elkins determined that the child was not breathing. He started cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR), but stopped to check for vital signs. He detected no pulse and noticed that the baby's lips were blue. Figuring he "could not do much" because the paramedics had not arrived and he had no medical equipment, Elkins decided to take the baby to the hospital in the fire truck.
Just after the fire truck left with Amanda, Kaylene Oliver, a neighbor, saw defendant walk away from MacNair's house toward 20th Street. As defendant passed, Oliver asked about the baby; defendant said something about "the heat" doing "that" "to her."
Sometime in the afternoon of August 25, defendant telephoned Terry Dickerson, a coworker on a construction painting crew, and asked for a ride. On his way to MacNair's house, Dickerson saw defendant walking down 20th Street. Dickerson took defendant to his mobilehome, where they watched television. When Dickerson asked about Amanda, defendant said she was with a babysitter.
After defendant's frantic call, Virginia MacNair left work and drove to Palmdale Hospital Medical Center, the hospital nearest her home, where she assumed Amanda had been taken. There she was interviewed by Deputy Sheriff Michael McNeil who was looking into the cause of Amanda's injuries. Deputy McNeil and two other deputies accompanied MacNair to her house, where she consented to a search. The deputies recovered various items including a bloodstained pillow from the living room couch. Deputy McNeil told MacNair that Amanda had been severely beaten and molested, and another deputy sheriff said something about "sodomy."
Around 6:00 or 6:30 on the evening of August 25, defendant telephoned MacNair at home and asked about Amanda. MacNair said that Amanda was not doing well. She also told him about the search of the house, and that the deputy sheriffs had said that Amanda had been sexually abused.
About 8:00 p.m., MacNair went to Kaiser Hospital on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood where Amanda was being airlifted by helicopter. At the hospital, Detectives Edwin Milkey and George Roberts of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department questioned MacNair. Later, Milkey and Roberts served a search warrant at MacNair's house and recovered a bloody paper napkin and some bedding.
Defendant spent the evening of August 25 at Terry Dickerson's mobilehome playing cards with Dickerson and two other friends, Mike and Colleen Levis. Colleen asked about Amanda, who she knew had been staying with defendant and MacNair. Defendant told her he had left Amanda with a babysitter. At about 9:00 p.m., Mike Levis's mother telephoned and said that the police were at her house looking for defendant. When Colleen asked defendant why the police would be looking for him, he replied that his dog had knocked Amanda down the stairs. Later, defendant asked Colleen if a doctor could tell that a baby had been sexually molested just by looking at it.
Around 2:00 a.m., Dickerson drove Colleen Levis to her mother-in-law's house; he then returned to his mobilehome. A half-hour later, Colleen telephoned her husband, Mike, at the mobilehome to tell him that police officers had twice come by his mother's house looking for defendant and that they said that Amanda had been "mutilated." Mike related this information to defendant. A few minutes later, Colleen called again and said that a "bunch of cops" were headed toward the trailer park. Defendant left immediately.
At 3:30 a.m. Friday morning, defendant arrived at the mobilehome of Patricia and Ron Avery, friends who lived in the same trailer park as Dickerson. Defendant explained that he had been driving around in a friend's car when he saw police cars and became worried because he had outstanding bench warrants. When Patricia asked after MacNair and Amanda, defendant gave her the impression that they were staying with someone in the San Fernando Valley. In the afternoon of Friday, August 26, at defendant's request, Ron Avery dropped defendant off in an area of the Antelope Valley where new houses were under construction.
That same afternoon, defendant called his mother, Helene Perusse, at her home in the Sacramento area and begged her to drive to Palmdale and get him. Perusse and her boyfriend, Ken Robson, did so the next day, Saturday, shortly after midnight. Defendant told them he was scared because he had violated his parole and was being blamed for "an accident" in which his dog had "knocked the baby down the stairs."
That Saturday morning, at 10:30 a.m., Amanda died.
The next day, at the request of defendant's mother, a church elder, James Lewis, who was also an attorney, met defendant at the Sacramento County Sheriff's office, where defendant turned himself in.
Medical examinations of baby Amanda established the following: severe bruising in the anal area; blood in the vaginal and rectal areas. The rectum showed small lacerations or tears; the vagina was gaping, which was inconsistent with the normal vagina of a 18-month-old girl, suggesting probing or poking with some object. There was "retinal hemorrhaging" or bleeding eyeballs, a condition associated with "shaken baby syndrome."
Dr. Eva Hauser, a medical examiner with the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office, performed an autopsy on baby Amanda. Dr. Hauser found bruising near the anal opening and stretched-out muscles surrounding the anus, both indicative of sexual assault. The interior of the anus had dark purple bruising, and there was hemorrhaging in the soft tissues inside Amanda's body between the vaginal and rectal areas. These injuries were consistent with blunt force trauma by a human penis either inside the rectum or inside the vagina, but were inconsistent with force applied outside the body. Other blunt force trauma injuries present near the vaginal opening were consistent with sexual penetration, although not necessarily vaginal penetration. Dr. Hauser attributed Amanda's death to two factors: multiple sharp impacts to the top of the head and severe shaking. She testified, "This baby was shaken about as forcefully as an adult can shake an infant." The injuries to the rectal and genital areas preceded the head injuries. All of the injuries were inflicted within six to eight hours, although they could have occurred in substantially less than six hours.
Defendant testified on his own behalf. He denied sodomizing, sexually molesting, or otherwise harming baby Amanda. He blamed one Dennis Morgan, who defendant claimed was present with him at MacNair's Palmdale house on August 25, 1988, just before Amanda lost consciousness.
Defendant had met Morgan at Susanville while defendant was serving time for burglary. After Morgan was paroled and moved to Los Angeles, he wrote and offered to help defendant find a job upon his release. Defendant was released on parole in May 1985, but his release was conditioned upon his remaining in the San Jose area. Shortly thereafter, defendant's parole officer gave him permission for a two-week visit to Los Angeles. There, defendant met up with Morgan who got him a job in telemarketing. Defendant stayed in Southern California, using the alias "Ricky Belliche," and never again reported to his parole officer.
Through Morgan, defendant met Diane Ellison, with whom Morgan was living, as well as Ellison's daughter Cindy Doshier, and Virginia MacNair, who became defendant's girlfriend. Sometime in 1986, defendant moved in with...
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