People v. Gonzalez

• Citation: 800 P.2d 1159,275 Cal.Rptr. 729,51 Cal.3d 1179
• Decision Date: 03 December 1990
• Docket Number: Nos. S004384,C,S012508,s. S004384
• Court: United States State Supreme Court (California)
• Parties: , 800 P.2d 1159 The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Jesse Edward GONZALEZ, Defendant and Appellant. In re Jesse Edward GONZALEZ on Habeas Corpus. The PEOPLE, Petitioner, v. The SUPERIOR COURT of Los Angeles County, Respondent; Jesse Edward GONZALEZ, Real Party in Interest. rim. 22136, Crim. 24041. Crim. 22136, 24041.

Page 729

275 Cal.Rptr. 729

51 Cal.3d 1179, 800 P.2d 1159

The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Jesse Edward GONZALEZ, Defendant and Appellant.

In re Jesse Edward GONZALEZ on Habeas Corpus.

The PEOPLE, Petitioner, v. The SUPERIOR COURT of Los Angeles County, Respondent;

Jesse Edward GONZALEZ, Real Party in Interest.

Nos. S004384, S012508, Crim. 22136, Crim. 24041.

Crim. 22136, 24041.

Supreme Court of California,

In Bank.

Dec. 3, 1990.

Rehearing Denied Feb. 27, 1991.

Richard C. Chier, Los Angeles, Perry S. Reich, Lindenhurst, N.Y., Chaleff & English, Gerald L. Chaleff and Gigi Gordon, Santa Monica, for defendant and appellant and real party in interest.

Michael G. Millman, Steven W. Parnes and Gail Weinheimer, Ephriam Margolin, San Francisco, and Nicholas C. Argiumbau, Fairfax, as amici curiae on behalf of defendant and appellant and real party in interest.

John K. Van de Kamp, Atty. Gen., Steve White and Richard B. Igelhart, Chief Asst. Attys. Gen., San Francisco, Edward T. Fogel, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen., Susan Lee Frierson, Marc E. Turchin, Ellen Birnbaum Kehr, John R. Gorey, Robert F. Katz and Susanne C. Wylie, Deputy Attys. Gen., Ira Reiner, Dist. Atty., Harry B. Sondheim, Patricia H. Horikawa, Abram Weisbrot and George G. Size, Deputy Dist. Attys., James K. Hahn, City Atty., Linda F. Lefkowitz and Donna Weisz Jones, Deputy City Attys., De Witt W. Clinton, County Counsel, and James M. Owens, Deputy County Counsel, Kent S. Scheidegger and Charles L. Hobson as amici curiae on behalf of plaintiff and respondent and petitioner, Los Angeles, for plaintiff and respondent and petitioner.

EAGLESON, Justice.

A jury convicted defendant Jesse Edward Gonzalez of the first degree murder of Deputy Sheriff Jack Williams (Pen.Code, §§ 187, 189) ¹ and of assault upon a peace officer, Deputy Sheriff Robert Esquivel, by means likely to produce great bodily injury (§ 245, former subd. (b), now subd. (c)). With respect to both offenses, the jury found that defendant had personally used a firearm. (§ 12022.5.) Under the 1978 death penalty statute, the jury also found, as a special circumstance of the murder, that defendant intentionally killed a peace officer engaged in the performance of duty. (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(7).)

A separate penalty jury became deadlocked, and the court declared a mistrial. A second penalty jury returned a death verdict. The trial judge declined to modify the verdict (§ 190.4, subd. (e)) and sentenced defendant to death for the murder. The court imposed a six-year prison term for the assault, representing the middle term of four years plus a two-year enhancement for use of a firearm. Execution of the noncapital sentence was stayed.

This appeal is automatic.

Defendant also petitions for habeas corpus, and the People petition for mandate to overturn the trial court's postjudgment discovery order. These matters have been consolidated with the appeal. We shall affirm the guilt and penalty judgments, deny the petitions for habeas corpus, and order issuance of a peremptory writ of mandate as requested by the People.

I. GUILT TRIAL

A. Prosecution's case-in-chief.

Around 7:30 p.m. on May 29, 1979, Los Angeles County deputy sheriffs and narcotics officers from two city police forces drove to 16123 Abbey Street in La Puente to execute a search warrant. (The facts surrounding the validity of the warrant are discussed below.) The officers, who included Deputies Williams and Esquivel, were of various ethnic backgrounds. They were dressed in plain clothes (Levis, tank tops, jackets, and T-shirts) and were using unmarked vehicles (a Camaro, a Ford LTD, and a Ford Granada).

One car drove quickly to the rear of the house, the second stopped in the side driveway, and the third remained in front. Four deputies, armed with pistols, positioned themselves at the front door. Williams and Deputy Zabokrtsky each knocked forcefully and announced the group's identity and purpose.

The officers then heard hasty movements inside the house and suspected evidence was being destroyed or concealed. Williams told Esquivel to "take the front door out." After four tries, Esquivel kicked the door open, and the officers rushed in. Forty-five seconds to one minute had elapsed between the first knock-notice and the entry.

Esquivel, his badge clipped to his Army fatigue jacket, was the first to enter. Williams, holding an open badge case in his hand, was close behind. As Esquivel's momentum brought him across the threshold, he saw defendant braced against a wall, pointing a shotgun at him. Esquivel turned aside and defendant fired. The blast struck Williams in the chest, wounding him fatally.

Defendant fled down a hallway, carrying the shotgun against his shoulder in a "port arms" position. Esquivel pursued. Seeing or hearing Esquivel behind him, defendant turned the shotgun's barrel "backwards and downwards" in Esquivel's direction. Esquivel fired his revolver several times, wounded defendant, and arrested him.

Defendant's cousin or half-brother, Steven Martinez, was found hiding in the bathtub and was also taken into custody. A six-year-old girl and defendant's two-month-old son were discovered in a back bedroom. There were narcotics paraphernalia (lactose, syringes, needles, a carbon-stained spoon, empty balloons cut in a characteristic manner) throughout the house. A .22-caliber automatic pistol was also retrieved from the residence. No controlled substances were found.

As defendant was taken by gurney to an ambulance, several officers observed him raise his left fist and say "Viva Puente." This was considered a defiant salute to the local street gang known as "Puente." Deputy Araujo also heard defendant hurl the epithet "puto," meaning "fag," at nearby officers.

Two deputies interviewed defendant in the hospital the next day. Defendant was alert and congenial. He claimed the shooting was a "freak accident" caused by mistaken identity. He had thought the house was under attack by the "Bassetts," a street gang from a rival neighborhood. At one point, defendant explained he was outside watering the lawn, but ran inside when he saw "the cops" coming. Asked to repeat what he did when he saw "the cops," defendant insisted, "I didn't say that. You must be confused."

Defendant then gave the officers the following account: He was inside talking to Martinez when he heard squealing tires and saw several cars full of men surround the house. He shouted, "Stevie, Bassett. Trucha, trucha," street language for "beware" or "watch out." He retrieved his shotgun, loaded it, and stationed himself opposite the front door. He heard pounding and indistinct shouts. Two mustachioed men--one "Mexican" and one White--burst in with guns. He knew the Bassetts sometimes attacked with "white dudes." He fired and ran.

William Acker, a fellow jail inmate, testified that defendant approached him with legal questions. At first, Acker was reluctant to get involved. However, defendant eventually explained the facts, illustrating his narrative by drawing a map of the scene. Defendant confided he had been "tipped" and suspected a police narcotics raid was imminent. He wanted to "bag a cop" and protect his "pad" because there was heroin. When the officers approached, defendant ran inside and told Martinez "Juda," meaning "the cops, police." Martinez was supposed to remove the children and dump the narcotics, then get a gun and help. Defendant had a shotgun, and "anyone coming in that door was getting it." The officers "announced theirselves," but defendant did not answer. The deputies burst in so fast that his shot hit the second man through the door, a "white dude." Defendant thought the officers would retreat after his first shot, giving him time to escape, but he found out "it didn't work that way." He was "pissed" that Martinez did not help.

Acker told defendant, "they got you," but defendant replied, "No way. I got aces." Defendant said he planned to claim, or had claimed, he thought the officers were Bassetts. Acker asked who the Bassetts were, and defendant explained they were a street gang currently at war with his neighborhood. Defendant said the Bassetts wanted peace and would be willing to testify there had been "chaos" in the area. Defendant also thought he could get neighbors to say the officers entered unannounced and shot first.

In his testimony, Acker revealed he was in jail awaiting sentence on his own conviction for "felony murder." On cross-examination, Acker said he had voluntarily approached the authorities with his information. He claimed he was a target because he hated prison gangs, and he hoped his testimony would gain him a protective transfer to an out-of-state facility. Acker insisted he had received no promises and expected no other consideration. He admitted informing about his wife's role in his own case and about two jailhouse incidents, but he denied he was an established police informant.

B. Defense.

James Noble, another jail inmate, testified defendant asked him to read the police reports in defendant's case, since defendant cannot read. Their conversations could have been overheard from Acker's cell. According to Noble, Acker approached defendant with an offer of reading assistance. Defendant spoke to few inmates. He never discussed case details with Noble and never told Noble he knew the raiders were police.

A neighbor, Nectli Garcia, testified that the Bassett gang had been shooting up the area recently. Steven Rodriguez, who lived three miles from Abbey Street, testified the Bassetts had attacked his home four times, once breaking the windows. Rodriguez said that Bassett "warriors" were both "Mexican and white" and ranged in age from 14 to 24. Rodriguez agreed he could tell whether "kids" were gang members just by looking at them.

There was evidence that Martinez, not defendant, was the focus of the drug raid. Several deputies testified they knew of no reason defendant might have been "tipped." A warrant...