People v. Halvorsen

• Decision Date: 30 August 2007
• Docket Number: No. S008112.,S008112.
• Citation: 42 Cal.4th 379,64 Cal.Rptr.3d 721,165 P.3d 512
• Court: California Supreme Court
• Parties: The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Arthur Hans HALVORSEN, Defendant and Appellant.

64 Cal.Rptr.3d 721

42 Cal.4th 379

165 P.3d 512

The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Arthur Hans HALVORSEN, Defendant and Appellant.

No. S008112.

Supreme Court of California.

August 30, 2007.

Lisa M. Romo, under appointment by the Supreme Court, Berkeley, for Defendant and Appellant.

Bill Lockyer and Edmund G. Brown, Jr., Attorneys General, Robert R. Anderson, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Pamela C. Hamanaka, Assistant Attorney General, John R. Gorey, Lawrence M. Daniels and Steven D. Matthews, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

WERDEGAR, J.

A jury convicted defendant Arthur Hans Halvorsen of two counts of first degree murder (Pen.Code, § 187; unless otherwise specified, all statutory references are to the Penal Code), one count of attempted murder (§§ 187, 664), and one count of assault with a firearm (§ 245, subd. (a)(2)), a lesser included offense of the charged offense of attempted murder. The jury found true allegations that defendant used a firearm in the commission of all of the offenses (§ 12022.5) and multiple-murder special-circumstance allegations relating to the first degree murder counts (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(3)). After a penalty phase, the jury fixed the penalty at confinement in state prison for life without the possibility of parole for one of the murder counts, but was unable to reach a verdict for the remaining murder count. The trial court declared a mistrial as to that count. After retrial on the penalty for that count, a second jury fixed the penalty at death. The trial court denied defendant's motion for new trial and application for modification of penalty, and sentenced him accordingly.¹ This appeal is automatic. (§ 1239, subd. (b).)

For the reasons that follow, we affirm defendant's convictions and noncapital sentences, vacate one of the multiple-murder special-circumstance findings, and reverse the judgment as to the sentence of death.

I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

A. Guilt Phase

1. Summary

On Sunday, March 31, 1985, defendant, a 43-year-old self-employed contractor who lived in Long Beach with his wife and two daughters, shot four men in three separate incidents, killing two of them. The prosecution's theory was that defendant premeditated and deliberated the killings. The defense sought to show that the crimes resulted from the combination of defendant's, mental illness (bipolar disorder), heavy alcohol consumption, and mounting financial pressure.

2. Shooting of Benjamin Alcala

In the first incident, defendant approached an apartment building on Santa Fe Avenue in Long Beach where Benjamin Alcala lived with his wife, his sister, and her husband, Roberto Martinez. Alcala was in the yard, planting flowers and using a knife to dig in the dirt. Defendant confronted Alcala, who did not know defendant but had seen him some days earlier, and asked for Martinez. Alcala told him Martinez was not at home. Defendant walked away, toward the street.

Defendant soon returned, holding a handgun. He told Alcala he wanted to go into the house to look for Martinez. Alcala assented and walked toward the door, leaving the knife inner the garden. About four feet from the door, defendant struck Alcala with the gun on the side of his head. As Alcala opened the outer screen door, defendant fired a shot to one side of him. As Alcala opened the inner door, defendant—who was nine or 10 feet behind him—fired again, hitting Alcala near the shoulder on the left side of his back. The bullet exited his right shoulder. Alcala fell to the ground and lost consciousness, but survived the shooting after spending seven days in the hospital.

3. Murders of Calvin Ferguson and Vicente Perez

Calvin Ferguson worked in the vacuum truck business in the Signal Hill area of Los Angeles County, which was known for oil-related businesses. He owned an 18-wheel truck and leased it to the Hammett Vacuum Service, located at the intersection of McDonough and I Streets in Wilmington. Between 5:15 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. on March 31, 1985, Calvin and his brother, Delton Ferguson, went to the Hammett premises to perform mechanical work on Calvin's truck in preparation for a trip to Ventura. About 6:00 p.m., Delton was looking at a map book in Calvin's personal vehicle, having parked his own vehicle some 50 feet to the west of Calvin's. Defendant drove his yellow pickup truck into the area and yelled to Calvin, while rolling northbound on McDonough. Calvin walked toward defendant's truck. Within a minute, a shot was fired. Shortly thereafter, Delton looked up and saw Calvin lying on the ground and defendant's truck pulling away. Delton ran to his brother, who was bleeding from the head.

Vicente Perez's brown car, which had a 12-foot radio antenna and bore a "911" sticker and a seal with the words "Community Alert Patrol," pulled up to the side of defendant's pickup truck soon thereafter. Both vehicles stopped, and defendant and Perez were side by side in their respective vehicles. Defendant leaned out of his truck, extended his arm, and fired his gun.

Delton Ferguson heard the shot and saw Perez's car proceed southbound on McDonough through the intersection with I Street and crash into the fence surrounding a nearby junkyard between I Street and Anaheim Street. The car's tires were spinning, and its engine was running fast. As Delton ran to his own vehicle, defendant's truck made a U-turn and then turned westbound on I Street, driving past Delton. Defendant had a "cold" demeanor as he drove by. (Delton had met defendant twice before the shootings; after viewing a photographic lineup and concluding defendant's picture could have been that of the shooter, Delton identified defendant at the preliminary hearing and at trial. To Delton's knowledge, Calvin had never met defendant. Delton testified there was no hostility between himself and defendant.) Delton parked his vehicle behind Calvin to block traffic, ran to the telephone in Hammett Vacuum Service's yard, and called the police.

An officer responding to the scene found the engine of Perez's car still running and turned it off; Perez was slumped dead in the seat with his foot lodged against the gas pedal. He had suffered a gunshot entry wound on the left side of his neck with the corresponding exit wound on the right side of his neck. Calvin Ferguson lay dead in the street, a bullet entry wound above his right upper lip and the corresponding exit wound on the back of his neck.

4. Attempted Murder of Eugene Layton

Eugene Layton, a former professional football player, testified that he became acquainted with defendant in the course of Layton's roofing and long-haul trucking businesses. On various occasions, Layton had purchased from defendant roofing gravel and used refrigerators, as well as discounted soda pop for a youth football league that Layton coached. Layton had never had any physical altercations or problems with defendant.

Within a few months before the March 31, 1985, offenses, defendant had tried to cash a $1,000 check at a bar called Curley's, which Layton frequented. The bartender, who did not know defendant, refused to cash the check until Layton vouched for him. Later, Layton learned defendant's check had bounced and, viewing the matter as his responsibility, went to defendant's house to see that defendant repaid the money. Defendant gave Layton $400 or $600 in cash that day, claiming he had money problems, and eventually repaid the remainder. At the time of the offenses, Layton testified, there was no outstanding debt between himself and defendant.

On the evening of March 31, 1985, Layton was at his home on Vista Street in Long Beach with his 13-year-old son and 10-year-old daughter. He was not expecting any visitors and was in the shower at some point between 7:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m., when his son told him someone at the door wanted to see him. Layton got out of the shower, put on shorts and a T-shirt, and headed to the front door, where defendant was standing. Layton, who had not known that defendant knew where he lived, was surprised to see him and told him to wait while he dressed. Layton did not know why defendant had come to his home, but thought perhaps he wanted to borrow money or arrange a business transaction. Layton walked toward his bedroom, but then felt "strange" and turned around. Defendant, who had not said anything, was standing about five to six feet behind him. When Layton asked what he was doing, defendant raised a gun and said: "You're dead, Gene, you're dead." As Layton asked why, defendant shot him in the left side of his upper chest from a distance of less than three feet. The shot knocked Layton backward two or three feet into the wall. Layton screamed for his children to leave the house and was grabbing for defendant when defendant fired a second shot, hitting Layton near the right nipple. Layton, who was six feet five inches tall and weighed about 270 pounds, pushed defendant backward into a china cabinet in the dining room, smashing a glass pane. Defendant and Layton lay on the broken glass. Layton pinned defendant down by the throat and grabbed defendant's gun with his left hand. He pulled the trigger two or three times but the gun did not fire, so he let go of it. Layton grabbed a piece of broken glass and cut defendant's throat. Defendant said: "You got me, Gene. I'm dead. I'm dead."

Believing he had killed defendant, Layton managed to crawl to the front door of the house, across the lawn, and to the sidewalk, where paramedics treated him. Layton later was admitted to the hospital and underwent surgery.²

5. Defense Case

a. Defendant's deterioration before the shootings

The defense called several members of defendant's family to testify about how defendant's behavior had changed in the period preceding the offenses. Amalia Diaz Halvorsen, defendant's wife, testified that although defendant drank alcohol infrequently when they first met, beginning two years before the shootings his drinking increased. H...