People v. Heilman

• Citation: 30 Cal.Rptr.2d 422,25 Cal.App.4th 391
• Decision Date: 27 May 1994
• Docket Number: No. D019082,D019082
• Court: California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals
• Parties: The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Thomas John HEILMAN, Defendant and Appellant.

Page 422

30 Cal.Rptr.2d 422

25 Cal.App.4th 391

The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Thomas John HEILMAN, Defendant and Appellant.

No. D019082.

Court of Appeal, Fourth District, Division 1, California.

May 27, 1994.

Certified for Partial Publication ¹

Review Denied Aug. 25, 1994.

[25 Cal.App.4th 393] Alisa M. Weisman, Pomona, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for defendant and appellant.

Daniel E. Lungren, Atty. Gen., George Williamson, Chief Asst. Atty. Gen., Gary W. Schons, Asst. Atty. Gen., Garrett Beaumont and Janelle B. Davis, Deputy Attys. Gen., for plaintiff and respondent.

HUFFMAN, Acting Presiding Justice.

After months of harassing his ex-girlfriend, appellant Thomas Heilman went to her place of employment in a rental car and waited for her to arrive. When the hapless victim arrived, Heilman confronted her with a loaded pistol, shot her in the stomach at point-blank range, ripped the public phone from the wall so she could not call for help, and fled.

Following a court trial, Heilman was convicted of first degree murder with the use of a firearm (PEN.CODE, §§ 187², 189, and 12022.5, subd. (a)), violating a court order (§ 273.6, subd. (a)), and stalking (§ 646.9).

Heilman appeals, contending the evidence is insufficient to support his first degree murder conviction, that the stalking statute is unconstitutionally vague, and that the standard of reasonable doubt expressed in section 1096 is unconstitutional. We find his contentions wholly without merit and affirm.

STATEMENT OF FACTS

On September 9, 1992, Heilman waited for Davis to arrive at her place of employment at the Sorrento Towers office building in San Diego. Heilman encountered Davis in an elevator while she was on her way to the office. Heilman placed a .38-caliber pistol into her midsection and shot her. When Davis attempted to use the telephone nearby, Heilman ripped it out of the wall and fled.

Janice Davis and Heilman dated off and on for three or four years. Before she became involved with Heilman, Davis had a relationship with Rodney Rodriguez. Although Davis and Rodriguez dissolved their romantic relationship, they remained close friends and continued shared living arrangements in Pacific Beach.

In February 1992 Davis was hired by Linda Fernandez as an assistant in the commercial underwriting office of the Reliance Insurance Company in the Sorrento Towers office complex. Fernandez and Davis shared a desk. In June 1992, by the time of the breakup of the relationship between Heilman and Davis, Davis was reporting to Fernandez about constant problems she was having with Heilman. Heilman frequently placed unwanted phone calls to Davis at her office.

Rodney Rodriguez testified that after the breakup of the relationship between Davis and Heilman, Heilman attempted to renew the relationship. This occurred several times. The final breakup of the relationship was in June 1992. Thereafter, Heilman left angry and profane telephone messages at Davis's residence.

On July 20, 1992, Davis spoke to Monika Kimbrough, a security guard at Sorrento Towers. Davis told Kimbrough that she was afraid of her ex-boyfriend, who was harassing her. After the meeting, Kimbrough prepared Beginning with the June 1992 breakup, Heilman began a pattern of showing up at Davis's car while she was at work. He was noticed by Monika Kimbrough on several occasions, each time driving his truck quickly out of the parking structure.

reports containing photographs of Heilman and distributed them to the building management and security personnel. After the meeting, Kimbrough escorted Davis to work from the parking lot on a daily basis and the building engineer offered to escort Davis around the office building.

Heilman left a series of threatening notes for Davis. Davis showed Kimbrough one of the notes which read, "I'm going to make your life miserable." Davis was frightened as a result of receiving the note. A week later she showed Kimbrough another note which read, "If I can't have you, nobody will."

In July or August 1992, Davis showed Rodriguez two notes Heilman had left on her car. One note read, "In my eyes now you're just another lying bitch and nothing more," and "I'm going for an AIDS test and you better pray, and I mean pray, the results are negative." The other note was a reference to Davis's former husband, Frank, who had come to Davis's place of employment in the past with a gun and who had committed suicide. The note read, "I'm beginning to wish Frank had found you that day."

Rodriguez testified Heilman left other notes for Davis which she tore up. In July 1992 Rodriguez saw the following words scribbled in mustard on the windshield of Davis's car, "You lying herpes slut whore."

One or two weeks after Heilman scribbled the words in mustard on Davis's car, Rodriguez saw a beer bottle covered with a condom and ketchup on the hood of Davis's car. He saw "spit" on the driver's side window of the car.

On another occasion in July, Heilman telephoned Rodriguez and asked for Davis. Rodriguez lied, saying Davis was not home. Heilman said he knew Rodriguez was lying because he, Heilman, was outside the residence at the time. Shortly thereafter, Heilman came to the door, pounded on it loudly, and demanded the return of items he had given Davis.

A neighbor heard the loud noises from the apartment. She described a man's voice coming from someone who was very angry, frustrated and violent. The neighbor, who had been awakened by the shouting, threatened to call the police. Heilman told her, "Fuck you, bitch. I'll get you, too."

Shortly before the murder, Heilman damaged Davis's car by placing super glue on the gasoline cap, the driver's door lock and the passenger's door lock. On August 10, 1992, Davis obtained a restraining order against Heilman. After she obtained the restraining order and served it on Heilman, he again showed up at her residence. She told him, "Get away. I've got a restraining order. You can't be here." Davis told Fernandez Heilman drove away after her statements. Shortly thereafter, Davis moved to a new residence which she kept secret from Heilman.

On September 8, 1992, the day before the murder, Heilman answered a newspaper advertisement for the rental of single garages in North Park. Heilman signed a rental application falsely identifying himself as "Tom Johnson" and gave a false residential address in the North Park area. The location of the rented garage was about eight miles from Heilman's residence in Clairemont. Heilman left his truck at that location and rode away on a bicycle.

Around 8 a.m. on September 9, the day of the killing, an electrician at Sorrento Towers heard sounds of a desperate frantic woman crying and begging, saying, "Someone please help me." Within five seconds, he heard a loud gunshot. He went to the area and found a woman a couple of feet from the elevator door.

Around 8 a.m. Daniel Austin arrived at Sorrento Towers to go to work. He saw Heilman dressed in a brown business suit running from the elevator area of the east tower. At the same time Austin heard a woman screaming for help. The woman repeatedly said, "Help me. I've been shot. Oh, God, it hurts. Oh, God, please don't let me die."

Austin approached the woman, had her lie down, and placed a briefcase underneath her head and called for help. He smelled gunpowder in the immediate area. He attempted to use a nearby pay phone, but was unable to as the phone had been yanked out of place. Austin used another telephone nearby to call for help.

The woman told Austin her ex-boyfriend, Tom Heilman, had shot her. She said he had "stuck the gun into her stomach and pulled the trigger."

Davis also told Stephen Sparks she had been shot in the stomach by her ex-boyfriend and that Heilman had disabled the phone so that she could not call for help.

Davis was taken by ambulance to Scripps Memorial Hospital. She was in great pain and pointed to her stomach area and told the trauma nurse, "My ex-boyfriend shot me point blank." Her last words before going under the anesthesia were, "Please don't let me die."

Physical evidence at the bullet wound suggested the bullet was fired from very close range. The bullet traveled essentially from front to back and exited the back of Davis's body. Janice Davis died following surgery as a result of the gunshot injuries.

Heilman was arrested on the day of the shooting. He was stopped and detained while driving a rental car near the garage where his own truck had been parked. Heilman's truck was inside the garage. The police found a briefcase inside the truck and inside the briefcase they found bullets. The police also found a jacket inside the truck which matched the business suit pants Heilman was wearing at the time he was arrested.

Defense

Heilman was a courier truck driver prior to the crime. He was described by his supervisor as a good worker, although someone with a "temper." His supervisor noticed Heilman was depressed about trouble with his girlfriend. The supervisor testified that in the second week of August, after Davis obtained the restraining order, Heilman quit his job, saying he wanted to leave San Diego as a result of emotional problems stemming from his relationship with his girlfriend. The supervisor noticed Heilman had lost weight and did not appear to be getting enough sleep. At some point, Heilman made a threat about Davis to his supervisor. He said Davis had told him she had AIDS. Heilman said he would "get her before the AIDS do."

One of Heilman's friends described him as deteriorating in his physical appearance after the breakup with Davis. The friend did not believe Heilman had a worse temper than most other people. He testified that during the summer of 1992 Heilman acted in a strange manner, drove at excessive speeds, and had a strange facial expression at times. Heilman was using drugs at the time and told his friend that he quit his job because he was not making enough money....