People v. Henderson

• Citation: 266 Cal.Rptr.3d 365,9 Cal.5th 1013,470 P.3d 71
• Decision Date: 30 July 2020
• Docket Number: S098318
• Court: United States State Supreme Court (California)
• Parties: The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Paul Nathan HENDERSON, Defendant and Appellant.

9 Cal.5th 1013

470 P.3d 71

266 Cal.Rptr.3d 365

The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent,

v.Paul Nathan HENDERSON, Defendant and Appellant.

S098318

Supreme Court of California.

July 30, 2020

Martin H. Dodd, under appointment by the Supreme Court, for Defendant and Appellant.

Kamala D. Harris and Xavier Becerra, Attorneys General, Dane R. Gillette and Gerald A. Engler, Chief Assistant Attorneys General, Ronald S. Matthias and Julie L. Garland, Assistant Attorneys General, Ronald A. Jakob, Holly D. Wilkens, Robin Urbanski and Jennifer A. Jadovitz, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

Opinion of the Court by Corrigan, J.

Defendant Paul Nathan Henderson was convicted of the first degree murder of Reginald Baker, with special circumstances of commission during a robbery and burglary and an enhancement for personal use of a deadly weapon. He was also convicted of attempted deliberate and premeditated murder of Peggy Baker, assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury, first degree robbery, first degree burglary, and other related offenses.¹ Defendant separately admitted several prior convictions.² The jury returned a verdict of death, and the court imposed that sentence along with a separate term of life with the possibility of parole for the attempted murder and a determinate term of 15 years on the remaining counts and enhancements. This appeal is automatic.

We conclude that defendant's statements were improperly admitted in light of Miranda v. Arizona (1966) 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 ( Miranda ) and Edwards v. Arizona (1981) 451 U.S. 477, 101 S.Ct. 1880, 68 L.Ed.2d 378 ( Edwards ). Reasonable doubt exists whether the jury would have found him guilty had his statements been excluded. Accordingly, we reverse the judgment in its entirety and remand the case for further proceedings.

I. BACKGROUND

A. Guilt Phase

1. Prosecution

Viewed in the light most favorable to the judgment, the evidence presented at trial, including defendant's statements, was as follows.

a. The Charged Crimes

Late in the evening on June 22, 1997, 71-year-old Reginald and his wife Peggy were watching television in their Cathedral City mobile home. Defendant entered and said, " ‘Don't yell or scream and no one will get hurt.’ " He held a knife to Reginald's throat, demanded the car keys, and bound the victims. Peggy pleaded that he remove Reginald's gag, fearing he would be unable to breathe and suffer a heart attack. Defendant refused and ordered Peggy to put a gag in her mouth.

Defendant took the victims’ "bingo money" from a can on the dresser, looked through Peggy's costume jewelry, and asked if they had any guns. Peggy said that they did not and asked: " ‘Why are you doing this? We don't have anything.’ " Defendant left Reginald kneeling on the floor and moved Peggy into the bathroom. He rummaged around the home, went out to the victims’ car, then returned. Peggy asked to leave the bathroom to check on her husband. Defendant put his arm around her neck in a "strangle hold" and covered her nose with his hand. When Peggy struggled to break free, defendant "tried to crack" her neck. He struck her on the head, knocking her to the ground. Peggy lay still; when defendant lifted her arm, she let it hang limply. He covered Peggy with a sheet and left in the Bakers’ car, a maroon 1992 Chevrolet.

Peggy went to Reginald, who appeared dead. Unable to call 911 because defendant had disabled the telephone wires, Peggy went to the home of neighbor Morton Schuman. She was so badly injured that Schuman did not recognize the "grotesque figure" in front of him. Peggy was treated for a broken nose

and multiple facial contusions.

Responding officers found Reginald's body in the ransacked residence. There were two steak knives in the bedroom. Reginald's neck bore a four-inch cut about one-third of an inch deep. The wound

did not sever any major veins or arteries. An autopsy revealed that Reginald's severe heart disease, exacerbated by the stress of the attack, resulted in cardiac arrest.

b. Events Leading to Defendant's Arrest

Just after midnight on the night of the murder, Latesha Wasson and Dana Flowers were sitting in a car in Indio when defendant pulled up alongside them driving a large "burgundy" car. Defendant said the car belonged to a woman who employed his mother. Around 9:00 the next morning, a deputy sheriff patrolling in Desert Hot Springs spotted an African-American man driving a maroon Chevrolet similar to the Bakers’ stolen car. The driver sped up, turned a corner, and spun out, hitting a street sign. The deputy approached with his gun drawn, but the driver fled on foot. The deputy was unable to identify the driver from a photographic lineup containing defendant's picture. The abandoned car belonged to the Bakers.

Later that afternoon defendant appeared at the house of Tamara Elam and Michael White. While defendant waited for White to come home, he and Elam watched a news report about a local police chase. Defendant admitted he was involved in the incident.

In late June 1997, Gregory Clayton and defendant met at a homeless center in Los Angeles. Clayton testified that defendant said several times he had killed someone. He admitted entering a trailer home, cutting a man's throat, beating his wife, and taking the victims’ maroon Chevrolet. But, according to Clayton, defendant also said that two trained killers committed the crimes while he waited outside. Clayton, who had been a police informant in the past, reported defendant's admissions, describing him and giving his name as "Caylin Hawk." Police told Clayton the description he gave did not fit the person wanted for the crimes. Clayton tried to get more details from defendant and then contacted the FBI, Crime Stoppers, a radio station, and a television outlet. He inquired about the facts of the crimes, the description of the perpetrator, and whether there was a reward. After defendant's arrest, Clayton received a $1,000 reward.

No fingerprint or biological evidence connected defendant to the murder scene or stolen car.

c. Defendant's Statements to Police

Defendant ultimately admitted the Baker crimes. He initially claimed that he had used drugs that night and could not remember what happened. He recalled seeing Reginald's bloodied body and Peggy lying on the floor. He admitted that he was the only one at the house.

He eventually gave more details. He had jumped a fence into the trailer park and tried to steal a car, but could not start it.³ He saw the Bakers watching television, entered the home, and said he was there to rob them. Peggy cried and said her husband had a heart condition.

He ordered both victims into the bedroom and bound them. Defendant took a small amount of money and tried to steal the television, but it was too heavy. It appeared to him that Reginald was having a heart attack. Finding that Reginald was not breathing, he covered him with a sheet. He did not remember cutting Reginald's throat. Defendant saw blood on Peggy's face but could not remember beating her. He did recall seeing blood on his own gloved hands. Peggy appeared to be dead, so he covered her with a sheet and fled in their car.

Defendant could not explain why he had harmed the victims and insisted that it was not like him to be violent. He expressed remorse and confirmed that he acted alone.

d. Peggy's Description of Her Assailant

During the assault Peggy got a clear look at the attacker's face. That night, Peggy told an officer that he had very pale, light skin, no facial hair, and no glasses. The next morning she wrote the following description: Black male, in his twenties, around five feet 10 inches tall, and clean shaven. On June 25, 1997, Peggy viewed a photographic lineup that did not include defendant. The person in position four most resembled her assailant, but was not him. On June 26, 1997, Peggy saw a second photographic lineup with defendant's photograph in position five. She excluded the first five people as her attacker. The man in position six bore the closest resemblance, but her assailant had lighter skin and no facial hair. At the preliminary hearing, Peggy testified that the intruder was "Caucasian," but later described him as African American. She did not identify defendant at the hearing. She explained that her memory was poor due to chemotherapy treatments. Peggy died before trial. A videotape of her preliminary hearing testimony was played for the jury.

2. Defense Case

Defendant testified on his own behalf in narrative form.⁴ He claimed that two other men, Knuck and Leon, were the killers. He had joined the two, believing they were going to a party. They drove to the trailer park where Knuck entered one of the homes. As Leon urged defendant to help him steal a car, Knuck approached and asked both men to help steal some property. Defendant refused and said he wanted to leave. Knuck and Leon reentered the mobile home and defendant heard them hitting someone whose voice sounded like a woman's. Knuck and Leon emerged and stole the Bakers’ car. Defendant drove away in the car they had all arrived in.

The three spent the rest of the evening together. Knuck and Leon admitted what they had done in the mobile home. Knuck said Reginald escaped his bonds so Knuck beat him. The next day defendant asked to borrow the Bakers’ car. He encountered a police officer but evaded detection and drove in the other direction. Based on Knuck and Leon's story, defendant thought they had only committed auto theft and assault. He saw no news coverage and decided to "be cool" and "keep [his] mouth shut." Two days later he went to Los Angeles and met Clayton. By this time he had learned that Reginald was dead. He told Clayton about the crimes, but not that he had committed them.

Defendant admitted that he had been convicted of robbery, several auto thefts, and being a felon in possession of a firearm. He had been released from prison just two weeks before the murder. He acknowledged telling Detective...